yeah I see what you are saying, that is what I found from previous research. Mainly the fact that a lot of people buy from impulse based decisions and tend to not grasp the essential lifestyle information for a certain breed.
But then that would ask the question as to why people would not do research when the information is already out there? is it too much information to grasp or are aesthetics the main motive for people attaining a dog
More a case of too much like hard work to put the time in to
do the research.
In general, if people do any research at all, it’s what breed their favourite celebrities were seen carrying around in LA, or what breed the dog that features in their favourite film happens to be. Or they’ll do a “What breed would suit me?” quiz or post on forums like this with a list of requirements and call it job done, not expecting a “what’s in it for the dog?” reply. If people in general don’t want to think too much about what they can offer a sentient animal, just what a dog can offer them (which they typically don’t) they aren’t going to care about breed traits.
feel, especially moving forward, that there needs to be a bar risen from both the level of responsibility and standards of breeder and owner
There are breeders out there who go above and beyond for their puppies. They know their breed inside out and backside forward. They know what tests are available for their breed and what the scores should be and do them, and if their bitch fails those tests, they pull the plug and start again with another bitch puppy.
They also prove their dogs in some way - the show ring, working trials, competitive obedience. And they only breed to improve their lines.
They’re known as “hobby breeders” because they know that ethical breeding practices means they’re as likely to make a loss from the breeding as they are a profit. Most just about break even.
Ethical breeders will usually only breed from their dams once or twice during that bitch’s lifetime, and so may have a litter once every other year or so. They also have no problem telling people “Sorry, but there’s not a cat in Hell’s chance of you getting one of my puppies.” (They might put it a bit more tactfully than that - I’m just as blunt as a baseball bat
). To this day, I remember a rottie breeder on another forum moving hell and high water to get one of their puppies back because the new owner couldn’t decide if they wanted to keep it or not. She travelled through the night to get that puppy back and didn’t stop until the puppy was back home with her. And Imm not a fan of rotties.
Contrast that with the clueless and the impatient prospective owners who don’t see
why they should wait and get a dog from health-tested, proven stock because “I just want a puppy and I want one now. I’m not interested in showing, I don’t want a boring old breed featured on Crufts, I want a Cockerdoodledooapooshitski because I have the mental age of a 5 year old, it has a funny name and I saw one in the street the other day.”
Ethical breeders cannot hope to meet the demand for puppies from such people, which leaves the backyard breeders and puppy farmers who are only too happy to take money from the gullible and the impatient. Unless or until people in general have the mental and emotional maturity and the patience to do the research and wait for the right puppy, (and to be told by the breeder which puppy they’re getting, which may or may not be the one they’ve fallen in love with but which will be the one best suited to their circumstances), the irresponsible breeding practices will keep raking the money in, and, as horrific as they are, banning them won’t automatically curb the practice - they’ll just drive it underground and into the ever-waiting grubby hands of the criminals.
