02/07/2020
Why buy from an ethical breeder?
Recently, there has been a huge increase in interest surrounding adopting oodles since Covid lockdown. I know it also hasn't just been us, but many other breeders too.
This has prompted a number of regular posts on nz oodle/spoodle pages about people (many new dog owners) in search of breeder recommendations, others being quite put out at the fact there are such long waitlists for puppies, and the pricetag.
Yes. There are oodle puppy mills (housing 20 to 60+ dogs) and plenty of unethical breeders in NZ. One flaw I see with the "breeder recommendation" posts, is it favours the breeders who push out numerous puppies in a year -think about it like this; more puppies = more people who own the puppies from that particular breeder = more people who 'recommend' that breeder... not because they are an ethical breeder, but because they brought a puppy off them and think it's the cutest thing ever and are so far lucky that nothing has gone wrong with it. It's simply a question that favours mass numbers of puppies being produced. Here's something to keep in mind;
How many puppies do they advertise at what frequency?
How many different types of oodles do they breed?
Where are the puppies raised?
Does the mum get atleast one unmated heat after having a litter?
Does the 'breeder' breed more than 2 types of oodles?
Do you see puppies being raised in pens with sawdust or cages?
Does this breeder post multiple posts about adult dogs needing homes very frequently?
Yes to any of the above and you can pretty much guarantee they aren't breeding for the right reasons.
The waitlists. Currently here at Kuriwai we are running at about a 9 month wait. If a breeder has waitlists -I can't stress enough how this is a good thing! Please don't be disheartened that you may have to wait a little while longer, then go and rush out to buy a poorly bred puppy. There's a reason why puppies are advertised for sale on trademe. If that 'breeder' is advertising puppies less than 4 weeks old, or are charging more for a colour, gender, let you choose a puppy on colour alone or put a deposit down on a puppy that's fresh out of the womb -ask yourself, is that really the type breeding you want to be supporting?
Then the dreaded price. Please don't discriminate a ethical breeder for the price they set. It is NOT these breeders who are leading the increase in prices, good breeders will always have their puppy price set accordingly and likely for some time before you enquired. Sadly it is the unethical breeders who think they can ask the same price for their puppies as a ethical breeder would -but without putting the same amount of time, care, effort, money, and thought into them. These 'breeders' that are upping the prices, will likely own one or two dogs, or have a pack of dogs that they maintain 'cheaply'. Put a high price on those puppies and they pocket that - yes, I'm with you all there, it's so wrong!
A good ethical breeder will have their prices set as they are for a number of reasons. I'll save going into details (happy to elaborate on this if anyone is actually interested in another novel) but to make a long story short... buying (or retaining), raising, maintaining dogs to a very high standard is not cheap! Then not only are you looking after their physical health, but their mental health too. This means a lot of time, money, and effort goes into ensuring each dog as an individual is happy, healthy and thriving.
Once an ethical breeder has finally reached the stage of having puppies on the ground (some 18-32 months after choosing the parents, after behavioural testing, socialising, vetting, screening etc) the time and money put into the puppies increases again! Food, worm, flea, vaccinations, microchipping, toys, bedding, toiletries, etc. The time needed off work to ensure every puppy has one on one attention and training prior to leaving... puppies take up a lot of time (it's a wonderful time really, but it is as the expense of your daily job, and say goodbye to your social life for a while!).
Good breeders don't breed for profit, they breed for the passion they have of for their chosen breed of dog -by only breeding from the best, to produce the best for pet homes. Unethical breeders sadly do breed for profit, and really don't care about the existing conditions their dogs could potentially pass on to their offspring, and well and truly don't care about the poor people who end up adopting them.
As adopters YOU have so much right to ask your breeder every question under the sun regarding their dogs and breeding practices. Don't shy away from it, unethical breeders are going to keep breeding to supply demand, and they are well and truly waiting for people to come along who every so desperately want a puppy "right now" -this is more so than ever currently. You have the choice to be part of the change for good and break the cycle that unethical breeders are benefiting from.
I could keep going. But I won't for now. Hope my rant helps somebody out there. If you have made it this far, thanks for hearing me out 👏.
