JLibourel
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- Aug 7, 2004
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Just read this breeding post on another forum:
When I was a kid, b###hes dug holes and had pups. We would wake up in the morning and just like magic there were the pups. Holes in the dirt kept the pups at just the right temperature and were just the right size. Some would die, some would be culled. They would be fed weetbix, cow's milk and raw meat, they were fed sulphur or washed with kerosene and soap or thrown in the cattle dip to control fleas and ticks, they were barely wormed and never vaccinated. The best they could hope for (if they were a promising pup) when badly injured was to be stitched up, given a shot of penicillin and locked in a cage with an old sack to sleep on. Pups who were timid were shot, as were those who were sickly or didn't work. There was no socialisation, positive training or desensitising.
While I do not advocate treating dogs like this it does have its merits. Health problems didn't exist. If it interfered with a dogs purpose he was culled. Temperament problems didn't exist, again, if it interfered with a dogs purpose he was culled.
Now I see breeders advising to take 8 weeks off work to help the little darlings into the world, the b###h needs to be scanned by ultrasound to see if she is in pup, NEVER allow a b###h alone with the pups, even for a minute, every pup needs to taken from the sack, towel dried and have the umbilicus cut and dabbed with iodine. Pups need to be wormed every week, vaccinated to within an inch of their life and treated with residual chemicals for fleas they don't have. They must be born in a super sterile, climate controlled whelping box inside your house and can only be fed premium, specially formulated, hypoallergenic, organic dog food. Breeders battle to save every pup no matter how what the cost, genetic problems such as cleft palates are fixed with surgery, dogs that cant mate naturally are AI'ed, fed supplements or given drugs. Dogs with allergies are treated with drugs and bred from, dogs with epilepsy are the same. If his immune system is weak we bombard them with drugs and supplements to stave of infection and disease. If a dog has a poor temperament we must smother him to cover it up or get around him like a closed up pocket knife for the rest of his life. We must never give a pup a correction for the first 12 months lest it damage his fragile mind. We can't let them walk up stairs, run, jump or chew on bones.
I think it's fairly evident where I stand, but what does the average pet owner say?
There's a lot of sense in that post. I have wondered about this crazy over-medication of dogs. I don't know how much of this is due to the greed of veterinarians and how much is genuinely necessary just because dogs have become such rotten animals. Likewise, I have to wonder if this overprotectiveness of puppies isn't in part a result of excessive anthropomorphism--I think we have become dementedly overprotective of children as well--and how much is sheer greed on the part of breeders. Back in the 1950s you could usually get a good purebred puppy for around $50. Even if you figure a 10X factor for inflation, the costs of a lot of puppies today are far in excess of that--$2,000 and up is not uncommon in many breeds.
The old ways may have been harsh, but they gave us a lot of wonderful dogs.
Much though I love dogs, I have really gotten so turned off by the contemporary dog scene that I seriously doubt whether I'll ever get another one.
Why is the Pit Bull being painted with spots?