Posted on 10/21/2011 3:06:09 AM PDT by KantianBurke
On Oct. 4, Jason Dubin drove to La Guardia Airport to pick up the newest member of his household. Six days after that first happy meeting, Mr. Dubin returned to La Guardia with that same member, a German shepherd named Emmi, and sent her on a Continental Airlines flight to Seattle with a one-way ticket.
“I just couldn’t control her anymore; it was just time to part ways,” said Mr. Dubin, who made the drive from his Port Jefferson home on Long Island as Emmi, who is 5, fidgeted and barked in the back seat.
Mr. Dubin had bought the 80-pound dog over the Internet for $7,500 from Kraftwerk K9, a company in Rochester, Wash., that breeds, trains and sells German shepherds.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Our Chow mix was abandoned in the apt. from which his “family” (using the term loosely)was evicted. They had decided they “didn’t need a dog” and planned to call the pound. In the end they just left him and my husband found him there when he went to check that they had gotten everything (We had helped to pack them up as the husband was a colleague of my husband’s at the time). We got him before the pound arrived (had already been called by the management). He has been a jewel and has never given us one bit of trouble. It’s been 3 years and counting... and he’s five years old now. We vetted him, had him neutered, got him on a good diet and loved him. That’s all he needed and all he wanted. He would “door dash” with his other family and run off. Never goes anywhere but to the car to greet us in the driveway and hasn’t since he got here.
I agree the economic situation is causing some to abandon their pets, but those who love them and want to keep them will find a way and those who never really wanted them will use it as an excuse. I’ve seen homeless people with their dogs and I’ve seen those who have fallen on temporary hard-times give up before they even try to keep them. Where there’s a will, etc...
As for large dogs needing a more firm hand, etc. That's really a misconception. Small dogs are far more misbehaved than large dogs. The reason is because people who own a large dog recognize that an out-of-control large dog can do a lot of damage, so they tend to correct bad behaviors at a young age (such as jumping up on people, barking, snarling, growling, and even biting). People who own small dogs think it is cute when a tiny dog growls or snarls at anyone or anything, so they laugh and inadvertently reward the dog by using a tone of voice that implies approval, and saying things like “It's ok Fido” or “Aren't you a tough doggy!” Then they laugh, giggle, pet and cuddle the dog, hug the dog, etc. All these things tell the dog it is doing a good thing and the owner approves of that behavior.
What they should be saying, in the same stern voice they would use on a large dog, is “Fido No!” And then let the dog know, through leadership, that they are not to behave that way.
Just watch at a Vet's waiting room sometime, the difference in behavior of small dogs (and how their owners react to that bad behavior) vs. large dogs.
Ultimately, an out-of-control large dog can do more damage, but it is no more acceptable for a small dog to be coddled and allowed to behave poorly. And incidentally, there are more dog bites in this country from small dogs than from large dogs. It's just the amount of damage from a small dog bite is not generally as severe.
As for “who cares” about backyard breeding and whether an animal is purebred or not. Purity of the breeding isn't that important. But ethics of the breeder is VERY important.
Every breeder should do a few things, as a bare minimum:
1. Only breed if they are trying to improve the breed. Not breed just to make more puppies (we have too many already), and not breed solely to make money (again, we have too many animals dying in shelters already).
2. Do all appropriate breed-specific health and genetic testing on the sire and dam before breeding. Only breed those dogs who are clear of any genetic health issues. Each breed will have their own breed-specific tests that should be done (i.e., breeds who have higher incidence of hip dysplasia should be tested for that, etc.).
3. The lineage of both the sire and dam should be known, so that there can be a higher degree of confidence about what kind of puppies that particular mating will produce. For example, no one should breed two dogs who have a chance of producing deaf animals (the white gene in Boxers, for example). This scrutiny includes both health and temperament.
4. Only breed if they have a list of waiting puppy homes, so that they know they can place all potential puppies (for some breeds, this can be 14 or more puppies!) in loving, forever homes.
5. Screen all purchasers of puppies, to ensure the puppies are going to forever homes.
6. Provide health and temperament guarantees.
7. Either spay/neuter all puppies before they go to their forever homes, or sell them on spay/neuter contracts, to ensure that people aren't going to contribute to the overpopulation of pets by allowing those puppies to breed (this includes males and females).
8. Require that if a person or family cannot keep the dog in the future, the dog will be returned to the breeder. This prevents the dog from going to a shelter and being killed, or from being given away to fall into the hands of dog fighters (to be used for bait) or to be sold for medical research.
If a “backyard breeder” is not doing these things, as a minimum, then they are not breeding ethically, and they should not be breeding.
Surprisingly, dogs who are afraid of thunder are not necessarily afraid of the sound of shooting.
We had a Black Lab and he could be around gunshots all day every day. But he was a little bit afraid of thunder (thankfully not too bad).
Video of the dog in this story doing obedience work. She was definitely trained, and definitely high-drive. Not a dog for someone looking for a lay-around-the-house pet:
https://kraftwerkk9.com/2011/10/watch-emmi-perform-obedience-exercises/
Respectfully, I disagree. My wife and I adopted a German Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix from a no-kill shelter many years ago. I'll tell you upfront that "he picked us."
He had been abused, beaten, had a bad right front shoulder, and was blind in one eye due to an injury from a cat. This dog was a mess, but he picked us. Call me a sucker. He was one year old, as best we could tell from his two or three remaining puppy teeth.
We went from the shelter to my Vet's home that day to have him checked out. It took some months for his injuries to heal, and for him to put on some weight.
It took alot of work to undo the damage this dog endured, constant reinforcement, training, and testing him to see if he trusted us. By the time he was three (two years later) I could take him anywhere without a leash, he wouldn't vary from my side.
When my wife and I had our first son, "Jerry" was 7 years old. We were worried how he'd behave after being our only "child" for 6 years.
I have to tell you that we were amazed at how gentle and protective he was of our son. Over time as family or strangers came into the home, Jerry would be right there to make sure our son was proteced, often simply placing himself between our son and whoever it was that was "new" in the house. Whereas Jerry spent his nights at the foot of our bed before our son was born, he slept in my Son's doorway during the nights and he'd wake us if our Son started crying.
When my second son was born, Jerry was 9 and he did the exact same thing. This dog bonded with me, my wife, and my children and he protected us until the very end of his life.
We had a house fire in 2000, Jerry was the one who woke us up early on before the fire got too big, and fortunately it only damaged our laundry room.
I could write stories all day about what a wonderful companion he was. If I had it to do all over again, I would. Sure it was alot of effort to "fix" this broken animal, but he was damn' sure worth it.
He lived with us for thirteen and a half years. Up to the two weeks before he died, there was nothing this wonderful animal wouldn't do for his family. The hardest thing I've had to do in my life thus far is say goodbye to him. He was that special, and I miss him to this day that much.
For me the bottom line is as much as you pour into your canine companion, they'll give you that much more x 10 in return.
Like Jerry, my current dog (Black Labradoodle) is a shelter/rescue dog. We got him at about 10 months old, and he's as wonderful of a companion as one could want. He's not Jerry, but he's unique and special in his own way. Try telling anyone that knows my family and our dog that he's not "bonded" to us and they'll laugh their behinds off at the statement.
He was a great dog, easy to train and a wonderful companion for his short time with me (8 years) but I have to say the bond between Sandy and I vs. Jerry and I were all things considered just as strong.
What I don't miss is the house training. ;-)
Awesome!!!!!! Thanks for the ping!!
What a wonderful thing you did for Jerry.
And he for you.
Thanks for sharing that!
Really. I take my puppies back at any time during their lives. 72 hours is not enough time to get to know the dog much less know if the dog has any of the various genetic problems.
Why would a breeder of that sort of dog sell one to a completely inexperienced person? (I breed a completely different sort of dog, obviously).
LOL I hate when people even ask me about that movie. I didn’t read the book and waited a long time to see the movie because I KNEW it would make me mad. All during the movie (which did have some funny spots) I kept yelling at the TV “GET A CRATE!” When I used to train classes tho, I had so many people just like that. It’s why I got out of it. I loved the dogs, but the owners were too frustrating.
A friend of mine shows airedales and has tried for years to get me to get one, but I just cannot commit to the grooming. But man are they cool dogs. I love hers. And the most adorable puppies. Altho the prey drive is something else. Love em tho.
It’s wonderful to live in a country where we can choose to get a mixed breed from a shelter or a purebred from a breeder. For now.
I've had no complaints, oddly enough, and everybody loves the results.
Our first golden, serious thunderstorm anxiety (afraid of fireworks too). She was afraid of guns when my husband started taking her out too (we had no clue how to train a gun dog, got her as a rescue from someone who was taking her to the pound —she was 18 months old completely untrained). My husband just kept taking her out with him when he went bird hunting. She did like the birds and would retrieve them at the house when he would throw them. One day she happened to see a bird fall when the gun went off and something clicked. Of course it was just dumb luck, but she became the very best hunting companion he ever had.
She actually had a pretty good pedigree if you went back 2 generations (she was from a backyard breeding, someone’s pet bred to their neighbor’s golden I think). But she was my introduction to the breed. She got a CD with 6 weeks of training in 4 tries (and no obediences classes, a friend worked with me) and got me hooked. But lots of health issues.
Congrats on the CD. Goldens are definitely a great breed for Obedience.
The health (and temperament) issues are the primary reason to promote ethical breeding vs. backyard breeding.
All puppies are cute and relatively easy to sell or give away cheap. But it’s not so fun when those puppies grow up with health issues that cost thousands of dollars to treat. Or when the pup/dog gets dumped at the local pound because the owner doesn’t want to pay for those expensive health issues. “I’ll just get another one.”
It’s very sad when people think absolutely nothing of the poor animals and the families who love those animals, when they breed irresponsibly, and just to make a few bucks selling puppies. And I do mean a FEW bucks. Well-bred dogs may sell for higher amounts, but poorly bred dogs sell for $50-$200. Anyone who thinks that’s a profitable business is clearly doing zero health texts, zero vet visits, zero puppy shots/worming, zero research into pedigrees and health and temperament issues, and zero feeding of good-quality food for the animals.
Yes, show grooming is a time consuming labor of love or a really expensive haircut. I used to show but that was 25 years or so ago. I have no interest in showing so my Airedale gets his haircut about every 3-4 months and looks like a big stuffed animal near the end. He doesn’t care and I don’t. In fact I actually prefer the look when he’s shaggy.
His coat requires almost no care. I brush him every so often, but that’s it other than the haircuts and an occasional bath. Nothing like the 15 minutes a day with a stripping knife 7 days a week to keep him in a “rolling show coat.” Aragorn, my current Airedale is 9 now and never been stripped. I get to pick up some Airedale dust bunnies for the last month before haircut time where he’s knocked it off. If I brushed him more often I wouldn’t have that problem.
My Cairn gets stripped every 5-6 months. She has to or it does totally ruin the all weather coat. I’ve got a groomer in Santa Monica who does it for me. It costs me about $100 every time I have her stripped, but that’s also for nails, a bath, teeth cleaning, anal gland and ear cleaning. They charge $50 an hour. I could do her myself in about 2 hours or less, but I’m lazy. I’ve got the tools and at 15 pounds she’s a lot easier to lift onto a grooming surface than my 90 pound Airedale (yes, he’s a big boy and not fat).
If you’re not going to show the Airedale your really talking about 15-20 min a week maximum plus a trip to the groomers for a haircut every 3-4 months (I’ve gone as long as 6 months). You’ll also need to hand trim around the anus to prevent poop from collecting there every so often (only happens with a really lose stool)
My guess is that the buyer only talked them on the phone and talked a good game. Probably had more $ than brains and wanted the “best German Shepard” he could afford. Not really for the family to but to impress his friends.
Go to the Kraftwerk German Shepherds webpage https://kraftwerkk9.com/ I’m sure they do talk to the people, but this is a business selling Shutzhund trained GSD’s for protection and advanced agility. Most of their dogs come from East German and Russian lines. That means they are really really working dogs. Anyone who approaches them should know what they are getting.
The people didn’t buy a puppy rather a fully trained protection dog. My daughter and her husband have GSD’s I showed her the web page and while she really liked the looks of the dogs her comments were these guys aren’t pets and unless you really wanted a protection dogs and knew how to handle them these were a loaded gun given to a small child.
My guess is that the buyer only talked them on the phone and talked a good game. Probably had more $ than brains and wanted the “best German Shepard” he could afford. Not really for the family to but to impress his friends. He may have even told them he had a local trainer who was going to help him with the dog at first.
Go to the Kraftwerk German Shepherds webpage https://kraftwerkk9.com/ I’m sure they do talk to the people, but this is a business selling Shutzhund trained GSD’s for protection and advanced agility. Most of their dogs come from East German and Russian lines. That means they are really really working dogs. Anyone who approaches them should know what they are getting. The one thing I didn’t like about the site and kennel was the purchase contract for the dog on the website. I hope it’s only to hold the dog until they can talk to you about what your getting and making sure you can handle it. I’d certainly never buy a fully trained dog over the internet. I’d want to see it and how it interacted with the family and how well we did with it.
The people didn’t buy a puppy rather a fully trained protection dog. My daughter and her husband have GSD’s I showed her the web page and while she really liked the looks of the dogs her comments were these guys aren’t pets and unless you really wanted a protection dogs and knew how to handle them these were a loaded gun given to a small child.
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