[BannaOj]

Sadly, here in the U.S. there are many abandoned dogs that die, never making it to a shelter. While farmers keep their own dogs and are compassionate, many people drive out to the country to abandon their dogs so that they won't "find their way home" Unfortunately in order to avoid destructive packs, many farmers end up shooting and killing those stray dogs on sight, although every now and then they'll take one of those same strays in if it catches their eye.

I don't know here in the U.S. what I would consider a "hobby breeder" vs a "regular breeder". I mean I would consider myself, and most of the "dog people" I associate with that breed and show dogs, "hobby breeders". With the exception of professional handlers, most responsible dog people don't make large amounts of money in breeding or showing dogs, virtually never enough to live on. (and even most pro handlers, while they assume a veneer of wealth, aren't actually that wealthy, if they don't court enough wealthy patrons, or lose one, their livelihood is on a thread)

I have bred two litters, and even with 10 puppies just barely broke even on the first one, because I had to pay $2500 for a c-section. I still owe money for the stud fee on the second litter, and probably won't break even on it ever. It was an A.I. breeding of fresh chilled semen, and that costs quite a bit at the vet's with hormone testing, shipping the semen in special containers and the like. I don't regret it because I have four lovely puppies for the future, which was why I did it, but between the actual costs the amount of time I've put into them, I'll never make money.

And the actual showing of the dogs costs money. Yes, the judges need to be paid, and the club putting on the show hopefully makes some money too. But the entry fee per dog per class per day is normally around $20. If I enter two dogs every day in a 3 day show weekend it is $120, not to mention the gas for travel and food and lodging expenses. Even being absolutely frugal, it will cost me at least $150, probably more.

Dog showing here in the U.S. partially belongs to the wealthy. The ones who can afford to advertise and pay a handler thousands of dollars to show their dog for long amounts of time and ship them all over the country to the big shows. (Oh and if you are paying a pro handler to show your dog $50 a show day is cheap, many charge $75/ day plus boarding and other expenses, and that's for the non-champions)

But, for those of us who are less wealthy, there is real financial sacrifice involved, in order to show our dogs and we do it truly for the love of the dogs and the breed. Obedience and agility add up financially also in training classes and equipment and the like, and the entry fees are the same, and many of the agility dogs end up needing acupuncturists and canine chiropractors for sports injuries, no matter how careful we are. And it's more often the little people who are involved in the grass roots rescue efforts also.

I think this is where some of our resentment comes in of the so-called "irresponsible" breeders. They create and financially benefit from the purebred dogs that we often end up rescuing for the love of the breed. And those who do the rescuing, are the ones who have to put the time and money and energy into putting a broken dog back together again. Yes, there is a moral satisfaction of rescuing a dog and seeing it end up in a happy home, but the frustration comes when there isn't a moral penalty, except perhaps in the afterlife, for those irresponsible breeders and owners that discard dogs, like articles of clothing.

Out of such was the animal rights movement born. Yet, those of us small responsible breeders, are the ones that get penalized when they try to pass the laws to punish the irresponsible ones. The irresponsible ones aren't going to follow the law anyway, and only in extreme cases are they ever caught or face penalties. While those of us who are trying to do the right thing often face laws wanting hundreds of dollars in fees for owning an unaltered purebred dog and even more for breeding a litter. Because we are the law abiding ones who want to be responsible we end up in quite a fix.

Obviously there is political lobbying going on both directions, and we are having to become more organzied throughout the purebred community as a necessity, but that is sort of the "emotional" state of the purbred dog fancy in the U.S. at the moment, and why dicussions do become so emotional so rapidly. We are fighting to keep on pursuing a hobby that we love, even if it is a financially money-losing endeavour, and cleaning up the messes of those who make money on it causes us to lose even more...

AJ