The other day, my wife showed me a post on the internet of another breeder saying that you should never buy dogs from a breeder who doesn’t do all the testing on their dogs. They said this meaning that breeders who don’t test are unethical and lazy. So here is where I get on my soap box. I know it is a confrontational subject, but I have noticed a few things over the short time I have been breeding dogs. That is all the people who push the health testing super hard will never do a year or two guranteee on any OFA heraditary dieses. They are saying that the testing proves that a pup from these dogs will be good. I believe it is all about marketing. They are trying to make others look bad to push their product. I believe the real reason behind all the health testing is so they don’t have to guarantee dogs. When you sell fifty plus pups a year, of breds that have lots of health problems, and if you did a two year guarantee on pups it would cost a lot of money when you had to return money because of problems.
I might be wrong but I heard that on labs that if a sire and dam pass hip tests, 1/10 pups will still get hip dysplasia in there life. Now, don’t get me wrong we need to be responsible breeders but there are a lot more problems a dog can have than just the things they test for. When someone buys a dog they are looking for a lot of things; Size, temperament, hunting drive, retrieve, easy to train, health and many more traits. According to the “health test” equals responsible breeder mentality, a dog can pass all its tests but be an aggressive dog and the breeder would be labeled a responsible breeder. On top of that I think things can be miss labled because when someone tells me they have a 12 year old dog and it has hip dysplasia no thats called old age brother.
The thing that we forget is that there is no such thing as a perfect human and no such thing as a perfect dog. So in selecting a breeder for your next pup it is good to do your homework. See what their dogs are used for, try to find a breeder that you jive with and like, and that the dogs are in an environment/have the temperament you are looking for. You have to remember, there is a difference between someone who is just having a few litters a year vs. somone who is using it a a main source of income. The truth is that if tommorrow a law was passed that you couldn’t sell dogs in the United States dog breeding would come to a screeching halt. So if someone tells you it is not for the money, they are partly lying. The money makes it possible to give the dogs the food/treatment they need to keep doing what they enjoy.
We all have to start somewhere and when you start a business you cannot do all the upgrades you like but if you are able to stay in business and deliver the product the customer is looking for with each year you make improvments. So if someone is in business, there are people who like there product. If they do it wrong, they won’t last long. Got to love the free-market economy. I might be wrong, but in my personal experience and having been around a few dogs in my life, the best cattle dogs we ever had came out of a pair of dogs that the dad was like 75% border collie the rest mutt. All the other dogs we used, that were supposed to have all these great lines, could never produce the dogs that that combination did. Maybe I am old school, but I put my money on proof rather than some test. If the mom and dad are healthy and live to be old then I believe that holds some credentials. Just look at the NFL combine bigger faster stronger and passing all the tests doesn’t all ways translate to sucsess. Ask JaMarcus Russell. If you don’t know who that is, he was the 2007 1st overall pick by Oakland Raiders. He awwed everyone in the combine by throwing a football like 80 yards on his knee. Then by like his 3rd year in NFL he weighed enough to be an offensive lineman. I believe that testing can be used to help a sucessful breeding program, but that doesn’t mean everything. So, I guess what I am trying to say is find a breeder that you like and go get your puppy, trust your gut, not the internet.