09-6-2012 at 5:31 PM

The points below have hit all of the points that you should know, but I though I'd add another.<br /> <br /> I believe breeding should only be to strengthen the breed. Yes, I support breeding two similar dog breeds* to get rid of a genetic problem, but Mini Aussies and Poms are not very similar and they will not look pure generations from now. <br /> <br /> *In a BBC documentary on purebred dog issues this was discussed. For an example, Dalmatians have a genetic bladder disease that causes lots of deaths in that breed. A few generations back, a male pointer bred with a female dalmatian. Those pups bred with other purebred dalmatians and so on, and now that disease is gone from those dogs from that line.<br /> I know the Kennel Club of England (or UK?) accepts that.

09-6-2012 at 12:12 PM

I agree with the other two. Please do not breed the dogs.<br /> <br /> #1, just because the pom is "sweet" doesn't mean anything. You don't know the true temperament of the dog and the temperament in the lineage. The same fact goes for your dog.<br /> <br /> #2. Service trainers do not just purchase dogs from random people. They are either breeders themselves or purchase them from a licensed and a full fledged competent breeder.<br /> <br /> #3. Dogs are a HUGE responsibility. Family and friends will most likely not purchase a pup from you. It is a good thought in theory, however the chances of it panning out are very slim. Hell, sometimes even licensed breeders don't sell all their pups at times. <br /> <br /> Although Clayton's post is extremely long, READ IT THOROUGHLY. I have gained the utmost respect for him as a person and a player based on 3rd party interaction with him. He is extremely intelligent and extremely truthful.

09-5-2012 at 1:27 AM

I'm gonna give my honest opinion and this may come off as very blunt.<br /> <br /> I don't think you should breed your dogs, I think that there's absolutely no reason whatsoever for you to breed your dogs.<br /> You say that you want to breed your Mini Aus because "he is being trained to be a service dog". Training a dog and having it become a registered/licensed service dog <i>will not</i> effect the pups, they will not pop out service dog material. Training effects the outside of a dog, whereas breeding effects the inside. You can breed dogs that will be <i>good at activities</i> like Schutzhund or French Ring, but that's entirely dependent on other inside factors like drive, aggression levels, energy, etc. We take a dog with a very high drive and train him at things that will exploit this high drive for his benefit, like Schutzhund and French Ring. This takes <b>generations of dogs</b> not just <i>"my dog likes chasing squirrels, yours does too, let's breed and create Schutzhund-material dogs!"</i><br /> <br /> There are enough mutts out there already, shelters are <b>filled with mutts</b> and they get put to sleep <b>every day</b>. According to the <a href="http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopulation/">Humane Society of the United States</a>, <b>four million</b> cats and dogs get put to sleep <i>every day</i> in the United States, this directly caused by pet overpopulation by irresponsible breeding. That's <i>one animal put to sleep every eight seconds</i>.<br /> <br /> I am not about to say that purebreds are better than mutts or whatever people want to think I'm about to say, but there's a reason why shelters are filled with mutts instead of purebreds. People just don't value mutts as highly as they do purebreds. I'm not saying that mutts are bad; almost all of the dogs I've owned were mutts, but with mutts you can't do background checks. You can't pick up a mutt's lineage papers and see if there were disorders, diseases or past aggression issues in the lineage like you can with a purebred animal. I can contact the breeder of my cats and ask her about past issues. I have a paper that shows every single shot my cats have received, every sickness they got, every surgery, every issue they might run into, etc... and you just can't do this with a mixed breed animal.<br /> <br /> Chances are, you will not find homes for all of your puppies, what then? Where will they go? Will they be put to sleep? Will they be put in a shelter to wait and wait for someone to come along and adopt them? What if they don't get adopted? They will be another animal killed because of irresponsible breeding.<br /> <br /> I have a thread that goes into details about the hazards during the breeding, during pregnancy, during birth, after birth, and during the selling process and it's <b> too graphic</b> for me to link here. Instead, I will highlight some of the non-graphic posts, and will water down some of the graphic posts. Keep in mind these are ALL REAL SCENARIOS that have happened to either the author, or people the author knows:<br /> <br /> <b>1)</b> The stud dog you have chosen is carrying a venereal disease and gives it to your female. She not only doesn't conceive but you have to pay the vet bills to get her infection cleared up and she is now sterile.<br /> <b>2)</b> The dogs attack each other when brought together for breeding<br /> <b>3)</b> You leave your dog with the owner of the male dog because the breeding is not going very swiftly. In fact, it's been three hours and nothing is happening. The stud owner leaves the two dogs alone in the backyard. The dogs get out through a tiny hole in the fence and a truck hits your female.<br /> <b>4)</b> You get her bred. Bring her home. She bothers you so you let her out (she is still in heat and still receptive to males). You here a commotion outside there is your girl tied up with the neighborhood mutt. When she whelps there will need to be DNA tests done on the pups.<br /> <b>5)</b> The puppies are too large for the female. She never goes into labor, the puppies die and she becomes infected because of the puppies' bodies.<br /> <b>6)</b> The puppies are coming breech and they drown in their own sacks before they can be born.<br /> <b>7)</b> The puppies are too large to come out, the mother dog freaks out and kills the babies.<br /> <b>8)</b> The puppy gets stuck, neither you or the mother can get it out, you drive to the vets and the vet can't get it out. You have to get the dog a C-section to save her life<br /> <b>9)</b> The mother gives birth and wants nothing to do with the puppies and leaves them.<br /> <b>10)</b> The mother gives birth, wants nothing to do with the puppies and starts burying them with blankets/toys/etc to smother them.<br /> <b>11)</b> What if because of some hormone deficiency she turns vicious, allowing no-one near her or the babies, who she refuses to nurse, or you have to interfere with.<br /> <b>12)</b> The mother gets a prolapsed uterus from trying to give birth, she needs to get spayed.<br /> <b>13)</b> One or more of the puppies inhaled fluid during birth, pneumonia develops and death occurs within 36 hours.<br /> <b>14)</b> What if the mothers milk goes bad. You lose three of your four puppies before you discover what is wrong. You end up bottle feeding the remaining pup every two hours, day and night. After three days the puppy fades from infection and dies.<br /> <b>15)</b> The female develops mastitis.<br /> <b>16)</b> The female develops a uterine infection and vets a fever, she has to be spayed.<br /> <b>17)</b> The female gives birth, the puppies are fine, but the mother turns into a fear-biter from hormonal imbalance.<br /> <b>18)</b> The female eats the babies.<br /> <b>19)</b> You give a puppy to a friend. Their fence blows down so they tie the puppy outside while they go to work. A roving dog comes along and kills the puppy. Your friend calls you up to tell you about the poor little puppy and asks when you are having more puppies.<br /> <b>20)</b> You sell a puppy to an acquaintance. The next time you see them you ask how the puppy is doing. They tell you that it soiled their new carpet so they took it to the pound<br /> <b>21)</b> You sell a puppy to a friend (you give them a good price and payments). They make a couple of tiny payments. Six months later they move to an apartment. They ask you to take it back. You take it back and of course even the tiny payments stop. The dog they returned is so shy, and ill mannered from lack of socialization and training it takes you a year of work providing socializing and training to be able to give it away.<br /> <b>22)</b> You sell a puppy to a wonderful home. They love her like one of the family. At a vet check done by their vet it is determined that the puppy has a heart murmur. (Your vet found nothing when he checked the puppy before it was sold.) They love their puppy and want the best for her. They have an expensive surgery done. The puppy is fine. They sue you for the medical costs. They win, because you did not have a contract stipulating conditions of guarantee and so as breeder you are responsible for the puppy's genetic health.<br /> <b>23)</b> You give a puppy to your mother. she is thrilled. Two years later the puppy starts developing problems. It begins to develop odd symptoms and is suffering. Hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of tests later it is finally discovered that the dog is suffering from a terminal condition that was inherited, possibly from your female since you know nothing about her family lines.<br /> <b>24)</b> One loving home decides your puppy is un-trainable, destructive and wants to return the pup and get a full refund, which you have spent on your vet bills.<br /> <b>25)</b> One loving couple calls you and is very upset because their pup has crippling hip dysplasia and want to know what you are going to do about it. You have spayed your female so a replacement is out of the question, lookslike another big refund.<br /> <b>26)</b> You put your ad in the local paper for your pups at the usual price and get only 2 responses and no sales. You cut the pup's price in half and broaden your advertising to 3 other newspapers in which the advertising totals $120.00 a week.<br /> <b>27)</b> You get a few more puppy inquiries from people who ask all about health testing you did before breeding and if the pups are registered with AKC. You tell them your dogs are healthy and it was enough and that you could get the papers. The callers politely thank you and hang up.<br /> <br /> These are just a <b>tiny fraction</b> of what can go wrong, I had to cut out the majority of it because it was just too gorey and graphic.<br /> <br /> Let's be honest, if someone wants to buy a service dog, they will purchase a licensed, trained service dog from someone who breeds a line of service dogs. There are a couple users on here that own service dogs themselves, and they are licensed, trained, had to go through courses, etc. They were purchased from people selling service dogs.<br /> There is not a shortage of service dogs, just google "service dog" and your location and you will find breeders.<br /> <br /> In short, I don't think you should breed your dogs, there is no purpose to breeding your dogs.<br /> If you don't know what a uterine prolapse is, what mastitis is, what to do if your puppy has fluid in it's lungs, what to do if your puppy is fading away after birth, what to do about pyometra, what pyometra is, what a tie is, what to do if the dog isn't pushing the babies out (since it's your friends dog, you're likely going to be footing some of the vet bills there), the myriad of disorders, infections or diseases that can be passed from dog to dog, the cost of puppy supplies, the cost of vet bills etc.... you <b>should not breed your dogs</b>

09-4-2012 at 6:16 PM

I think you should refrain from producing more mixed-breed puppies while astounding numbers of mutts and purebreds die in shelters every day.<br /> <br /> Besides the obvious ethical problems with breeding your Aussie and the Pom to create mutts, the size of your Aussie will determine whether or not the Pom will have complications resulting from huge puppies growing in a tiny female's body. How big is your Aussie expected to be once he's full grown? And how big is your Pom?<br /> <br /> A couple more things to think about:<br /> -Are you old enough to take on this responsibility in terms of time (in school? work long hours?), money (shots and prenatal care can be expensive, but if she has complications during delivery - which is likely - you'll be paying for an emergency c-section), and maturity (if you're still in school, you're probably not ready to take on this responsibility)?<br /> -Do you have any breeding experience? Caring for baby critters or knowing someone who breeds dogs doesn't constitute "breeding experience". Being present for and involved in every step of the process <i>does</i> constitute breeding experience.<br /> -Are you consulting a vet experienced with breeding dogs?<br /> -Do you have pedigrees and health records for your Aussie's and Pom's ancestors?<br /> -And finally, are you aware of the staggering numbers of dogs being put to sleep in shelters every day? Many of these dogs would make excellent nursing home dogs even though they're not often trained and not usually purebred (our shelter has nursing home days where volunteers bring one or two well-behaved dogs to a local nursing home). If you want to raise dogs to serve in nursing homes, go to a shelter and adopt a couple puppies - it'll be cheaper than breeding your own dogs, and you'll be saving lives instead of bringing more into an already overcrowded world.

09-4-2012 at 4:28 PM

It is here because i want to see what people think i should do.

09-4-2012 at 4:04 PM

What is this topic about? Why is this in the debate board?