Dog breeders don’t do it for cash

WE are baffled as to as to why you would publish an irresponsible article like ‘Puppy Farming as it should be’ (Irish Examiner Farming, November 11).

To talk about housing dogs in farm sheds and ask farmers and their wives to consider diversifying into dog breeding from livestock is simply ridiculous.

You should have got facts and figures from organisations such as the ISPCA, the Irish Kennel Club and breeders who are not members of the Dog Breeders Association before such an article was published.

If any experienced breeder had been asked how much could be made, based on the correct number of litters to bitches bred, among other things, they would suggest a figure not even one-tenth that of €4,000.

Breeders do not breed for cash. They do it to promote specific breeds.

Any good breeder will not have a variety of breeds but rather one, two or at most three about which they know everything. They do not breed dogs to pay college fees or for extra income.

Yes, we have to support Irish industry, but not by producing more and more dogs in a country where each year we destroy over 25,000 of them - pedigree and mixed breed. This does not include the greyhounds that do not make the grade.

There are farmers who breed for the right reasons, and we are not saying that farmers should not breed dogs. Farmers who do breed provide adequate housing, etc., and their first concern is the dogs’ welfare. We applaud them. Not once was there mention of the medical requirements or a suggestion of minimum housing standards for breeding establishments.

The only mention of housing for breeding dogs was to allow them to be held in class 6 agricultural structures - sheds with roofs? How is this adequate for dogs, which have completely separate needs to livestock.

Suggesting that “mothers with young children” should become dog breeders is not only condescending but implies that breeding dogs is a simple task.

What if a “young mother” was to breed Akitas, German Shepherds, Belgian Shepherds or Rottweilers? All have specific temperamental, behavioural and medical needs. How is a young mother to handle a 10-week-old dominant puppy or a puppy that shows signs of retinal problems or hip displaysia?

We would like to see the promotion of responsible dog breeding and breeds such as the Irish Wolfhound being produced in healthy quantities with excellent medical references.

Tara Choules, Lisa Whelan

Directors

www.DogTrainingIreland.com

Clonee

Co Meath