What Is A Backyard Breeder? Do You Know The Difference?
Author: Dee Gerrish
There are many breeder haters who post derogatory comments or outlandish stories over the internet to tug on the heart strings simply to get your attention. This article has been written so that you simply know how to tell the difference between what some call a "backyard breeder" and a professional hobby breeder. There is a very big difference between the two. The naysayers and those with a personal ax to grind or vendetta against a breeder, for whatever reason they may have, often use the term "puppy mill" and "backyard breeder" very loosely and these terms are used very loosely because those doing the name calling, more often than not, have a personal agenda. So this article is to help you, the potential consumer, learn how to know when a breeder really is a backyard breeder (which is really in layman terms, an inexperienced breeder or someone who really doesn't care to learn about the dogs they are breeding) or a puppy mill (which really in layman terms, is nothing more than a very bad breeder who sells their puppies to commercial interprises and whom doesn't spend any of the funds received on the sales, for quality dog food, vet care and other necessary essentials to operate their business.)
There really is no such thing as a "puppy mill". Let me explain why. Dogs only come into season twice a year; every six months. There is no way a female canine can literally "mill" puppies out…one after the other… like one would think of a mill operation such as a manufacturing plant. Such an operation would require an extensive amount of female dogs who stay pregnant around the clock. Dogs are physically unable to do this. When a breeder keeps their dogs in rows and rows of very small cages and their dogs are bred every six months and they are breeding their dogs only to sell the produced puppies to pet stores and pet shops around the nation, that is a commercial breeder. Commercial breeders are generally thought of as puppy mills. Where the term originated from, is anyone's guess. Many commercial breeders do not properly take care of the dogs they breed. Most are not registered with an affiliated kennel club. Many have physical health problems because the commercial breeder doesn't use the money taken in for their puppy sales, to pay a vet or to buy necessary essentials at keeping their dogs healthy. Most commercial breeders don't even take the time to do any research about the dogs they are selling. They only sell the dogs because the dogs are popular on the market. That is a bad breeder that is deemed a puppy mill by those who usually are affiliated with "rescue" groups and other such entities. I am not, in any way shape or form condoning the practice of commercial breeders. I do not condone bad breeders whether they are commercial, hobbyist or private. I am simply explaining to the general public what the facts are regarding what the difference is …because there certainly is a difference and you, as a consumer, should know the facts about the differences.
What is a backyard breeder? Naysayers will call any breeder a backyard breeder if they don't own a large facility that looks like something out of a magazine. The derogatory term is used because many "rescue" agencies or even those with an ax to grind have a personal agenda or a personal vendetta against whomever they are calling a "backyard" breeder. Many breeders can't afford a facility that looks like something out of a magazine. Such a facility requires hundreds of thousands of dollars to build and maintain. Because most (good) breeders are private breeders or hobby breeders, they do not take in enough money from their business, to afford this type of facility. Of course it is every good breeder's dream..including my own. I want you, the consumer, to understand what the difference is between a breeder who operates their business from their home and of course, keep their dogs in their backyard and what a true backyard (technical term) breeder is, because there is a huge difference. When someone who has an ax to grind, has a personal vendetta or is an "rescue" agency with a personal agenda, uses the term backyard breeder….they use the term loosely and not in the true sense of what a real backyard breeder is.
In reality, a "backyard" breeder is simply an inexperienced breeder who has failed to understand or learn about the dogs they create. They didn't take the time and perhaps may continue not to take the time, to research the lineage or history of the dogs they are breeding; their canine may not even be registered with an affiliated kennel club and most of the time, they fail to use their income received from their puppy sales, for the necessary essentials for proper food, vet care and/or operating expenses. When questioned about the dogs they have bred, they more than likely give you, the consumer, simple answers because of their failure to get deeply involved in the business they got themselves into. A "backyard" breeder can have any number of dogs. The amount of dogs doesn't matter. Owning one pair of breeding dogs and not knowing anything about those dogs and not having any knowledge of the dogs' history or lineage and not spending any money on those dogs can cause this type of breeder to be labeled a "backyard" breeder. When I personally think of a "backyard" breeder, I think of someone who thought it was a good idea to breed dogs because they thought they could make some money on the side without considering all the expenses that come with this venture. They also took on this type of business without understanding the huge responsibility that comes along with live animals. Is a "backyard" breeder a "bad" breeder? Let's consider the fact that they more than likely do love their dogs and they, in general, provide average care to their dogs and puppies. They believe they are doing the right thing by giving their puppies one set of shots and maybe deworming them once or twice. But they forget about the important things such as researching their breeding dogs' lineage and they fail to learn about the dogs they create to help you, the consumer, understand what it is you are buying or adding to your family. I don't necessary believe that a "backyard" breeder (in reality an inexperienced breeder) has bad intentions. I just believe they should do more when it comes to the business of breeding so that they can offer important information to you, the consumer.
My entire purpose for this article is to help you understand that hobby breeders and private breeders are not "backyard" breeders or "puppymills". I consider myself a private hobby breeder. I actually spent 2 years researching the pedigrees of my private dogs. Also when selecting my dogs, I wanted only the best quality dog I could possibly find. Some people only buy a dog because the breeder had the parent dogs tested. That in no way makes a dog a quality dog. There are other things to take into consideration such as personality and temperament. Since my own dogs carried an impressive history of ancestors that had over 400 ofa good, champions that dated back to the early 1930s, there was no need for me to personally have my breeding dogs tested. The naysayers will claim that a breeder isn't a good breeder or is a "backyard" breeder if they don't have their dogs tested for every test known to dog. I disagree with this notion completely. A "backyard" breeder is someone who doesn't take any time at all to research the history of their dogs much less the lineage to understand what it is they are breeding. A "backyard" breeder also fails to pay attention to any health issues, if they crop up and they continue to breed their dogs even if such an issue crops up. I am NOT that type of breeder. Had any of my selected dogs for my breeding program shown any type of health issue, while in my breeding program that would affect the genetic outcome of the offspring created, I would have never bred them and I certainly would have removed the dog/s from my program. Any breeder who wants to remain in their chosen field of business for the long haul will have common sense to do exactly what I just stated up above. I began my breeding business in 1996. When I began my Goldendoodle breeding program in 1999, I didn't even know any other breeder was intentionally pairing a Poodle with a Golden Retriever. Before I even considered pairing these two unlikely breeds together, I discussed this venture at great length, with quite a few people. These people included my personal vet, many Poodle breeders, many Golden Retriever breeders and even my own family members. I was a purebred Golden Retriever enthusiast whom like many purebred enthusiasts, would have never considered mixing their Golden Retrievers (or any other purebred dog) with anything other than another Golden Retriever. My personal reasons was because I had allergies and at the time, I had a very dear poodle/golden retriever spayed mix that I had brought to my home from my mother's home (the dog had been abandoned by a family member and my mother didn't want it) who shed so much less than my purebred Golden Retrievers. She was a beautiful shaggy dog that had eyes that sparkled of intelligence. Three years after I obtained her, she went into renal failure (she was 9 years old) and my vet unfortunately had to put her to sleep. That was a very difficult decision and one that I agonized over. To this day, I have her ashes kept in an urn with her photo next to the urn, inside my curio. She is still sadly and very deeply missed. One of my breeder friends was a Poodle enthusiast. I would off and on go over and help her shave her dogs down or just go over and spend some time with her and her Poodles. Every time I saw the face of her Poodles…several in particular…I thought of how much I missed the Poodle mix I had lost. Jokingly, we discussed the possibility of pairing her Poodles to my Golden Retrievers and we'd joke around about what we would call them. After great consideration and time had passed, I decided to purchase a couple of her Poodles and my Goldendoodle breeding program began. In the beginning, I called these beautiful Poodle/Golden Retriever mixed dogs, curly Goldens. I never would have considered calling them "Goldendoodle" . Why? Because if you were to put "Golden" with "Poodle" you would get "Groodle" or "Golden Poo"...perhaps "Goldipoo". None of those choices seemed likely, so I simply called them "curly Goldens". When my first litter was born, a customer came to purchase a puppy and brought with him a print out from some breeders in Australia. They deliberately bred the "Goldendoodle". I wasn't really keen on the idea, in the beginning, of this name…Goldendoodle…. But after some time, I decided that this was a far "on board" I was going to jump.
When I began my Goldendoodle breeding program, there wasn't any information to assist me one way or another, in learning about this mixture. Hence, why I began to write about this beautiful, intelligent, heavenly hybrid. In 1999, I was the only breeder for the entire southern region of the United States who was pairing a Golden Retriever and a Poodle together, deliberately. Yes, I did receive tons of hate mail as well as threatening phone calls, from purebred dog enthusiasts. Yes, some were even brazen enough to leave hate messages on my answering machine. I figured this came with the territory of trying something new. The hate email and the hateful phone messages did not deter me. After all, you can't allow people to run you out of dodge just because they object to something you are doing. Because I didn't know much about what would happen as far as shedding, coat, dander was concerned, I had to keep back some of my Goldendoodles so that I could photograph them; write about them; document what, if any changes occurred. You see, I am NOT a "backyard" breeder. Sure I've been called a puppymill and a backyard breeder by the hate mongers and by other Goldendoodle competitors who have a personal agenda. 98 percent of what has been posted in a derogatory manner, has been posted by estranged family members who have a personal ax to grind that has absolutely nothing at all to do with dogs, but since I'm the only family member who has a dog business who also happens to have an internet web presence, they have made it their business to specifically target me and maliciously post some very outrageous, untruthful and very hurtful accusations and claims about me as a person and my dogs/business. The truth of the matter is, anyone who has posted any type of derogatory claims that links my name to it or my business name to it, doesn't know anything about me on a personal level nor do they know anything personally, about my business and my dogs. I have been absolutely stunned and shocked at the posts I've found over the internet but at the same time, I am very much aware who is behind it and know that everything they've posted has been completely fabricated to hurt my business and stir up trouble on the internet to give my business and me, as a person, a bad rep. It is quite unfortunate that hate groups; some rescue groups and other Goldendoodle competitors have to lower themselves to such a level and it is even more alarming and quite disturbing when your own family members sink even lower. There isn't much that can be done, unless you are very wealthy or have some attorney friends, to rise above this type of hateful behavior other than to just blog about your experience and then move forward with your life, leaving them behind on their trail of hate-mongering.
A good breeder, regardless of breed, spends an enormous amount of time with their dogs and the expenses/costs can be literally staggering. If you are not in love with your dogs or hobby, you will not even consider such a venture. There is absolutely no money to gain and you will spend an enormous amount of your own money including what you take in from selling your puppies and dogs. The naysayers and "rescue" agencies will have one to believe that it is breeders who are the cause for the rising population of animal shelters. The truth is, many animal shelters deliberately fill them with dogs, cats, horses and other animal types because they are a business enterprise and they make money from the animals they take in. Whether dead or alive, shelters make a lot of money from the backs of animals. Their employees receive a weekly paycheck; they may even get a 401K; their vehicles are purchased by the state and even their gasoline, building, dog/cat food and other supplies at their shelter facility is paid for by the state and they may also receive community contributions and donations. A private/hobby breeder doesn't get any of those things. I've never been paid for what I do; I have never received a 401K and I certainly have never received any offers of assistance much less any donations. Every single expense, which can literally top $50,000 a year, comes out of my own pocket. As someone who absolutely wants their potential customer to learn everything they can about the dog they are interested in obtaining from me, I have used thousands of my own free hours to learn every imaginable thing about the Goldendoodle I possibly can so that I can turn around and provide this information to you…the consumer…free of charge. It actually COSTS me money to provide FREE information to the internet world, at large.
Whether you are seeking Goldendoodle information; have an ax to grind or have a personal vendetta and are only looking up my name and my business for no real purpose at all, it costs ME money for YOU to find me and to read what I write or post or blog about. But, all of this comes from a good breeder who has good intentions and who has dedicated many years of their own personal time helping you, the consumer or non-consumer, learn something new about a most wonderful hybrid…possibly me as a breeder and maybe just a hint of me as a person. I enjoy meeting people and I certainly enjoy talking to people about the Goldendoodle dog. I know there are tons of fabricated, worthless, untruthful claims on the internet….all over the place…about the Goldendoodle, about me, about my dogs and about my business. But there are also tons of supporters who own my dogs and who have taken the time to read what I write and have taken the time to get to know a little bit about me to know that the stories swirling about on the internet are only meant as a smear campaign and nothing even remotely close to being true. This type of behavior is called cyber bullying and it is very easy to tell when someone has intentionally targeted an individual breeder or individual person because they claim to have something against "breeders" or "puppymills" or "backyard breeders" and want to "help" you, the consumer and yet, they only mention and post derogatory content that specifically targets one individual. Take these type of posts and this type of content with a grain of salt. The consumer must make their own decision to accept what they read about a breeder as either being the truth or just overzealous hate mongering. A commercial and backyard breeder will never take the time to help you, the consumer, learn about the dogs they sell. They certainly would not spend any of their own money to pay for the costs and expenses that come with doing so. My business requires that I stay in debt to my electric company; water company, veterinarian and stores where I obtain my essentials necessary to operate my business. My business requires that I spend thousands of my own dollars because more goes out than what comes in. I am affiliated with a very reputable kennel club and all of my Goldendoodles are registered and they also have a very impressive, quite lengthy champion pedigree that dates back to the early 1930s. My Goldendoodle dogs are beautiful, intelligent, outgoing, healthy, quality dogs that would make a wonderful addition to virtually anyone who desires to own one. The Goldendoodles that come from our Goldendoodle World are loyal dogs who are playful with other dogs and people. I've never sold a single dog commercially…meaning I've never sold any of my puppies or dogs to a pet store or petshop even though I've been contacted by many, over the years, from those who seek them. I have always said no. I am definitely NOT a backyard breeder even though yes, my business is ran from my home and yes, my adult dogs are kept in my back yard. If that is what someone means by a backyard breeder…I will accept that definition of meaning my dogs are on my property and in my backyard. However, I am NOT a backyard breeder in the sense that these hate mongers and estranged family members use so loosely and in a most, vile and vulgar derogatory manner. I have NEVER been a puppymill and never would EVER consider becoming one. Raising puppies is an enormous challenge and extremely time consuming. Taking care of dogs of any age, is very expensive and also time consuming. I personally spend all year long grooming and maintaining my dogs and I personally work with my puppies and dogs around the clock at different times of the day, seven days a week. My last brief vacation was in 2009 and only for four days. Prior to that, my last "vacation" was in 2004. Being a breeder requires a very large responsibility and I understood that responsibility at the time I decided to chose to become a breeder. Consider the fact that a good parent has to understand the huge responsibility of raising a child…even though they can't possibly know what challenges really lay ahead of them down the road. 98 percent of all humans who chose to become pregnant, never consider to have themselves "tested" prior to conception. A child is certainly more costly and time consuming than an animal. So my question to the naysayers that a breeder should have their breeding dogs tested prior to breeding them is why are you saying that a breeder is a "bad" breeder for NOT having their dogs tested when they certainly have children and never had themselves tested for anything. What kind of parent does that make them? There are thousands, possibly millions of children who suffer from physical and mental disabilities that might have been prevented had the parents been tested prior to conception. And, by all means, please do not take offense to the above statement. I worked, when younger, with challenged children and my heart would swell from the love I received on a daily basis from the children I helped work with as a nursing assistant in a facility where many parents just dumped them. How many millions of children are abused, mentally and physically neglected; killed, molested and treated horrifically by their own parents who should have never become parents in the first place? Who should have received counseling prior to conception or testing? There are millions of abandoned children left in facilities with terrible conditions. There are millions of children who are raised in horrible conditions. It is rare that people speak out about the injustice and suffering of children at the hands of their parents, but too many will focus their attention on animals. I am an avid animal lover. I love all dogs….all cats…all animals…no matter what they are. I just feel sometimes, there are people who have their priorities mixed up and require higher expectations of a breeder when they, themselves, didn't require specific things about themselves. We as human beings can only do so much to prevent genetic diseases in animals. We still can not prevent many genetic diseases in ourselves, but there will be many people who require this of a breeder when that isn't possible. It is a known fact that many vets who are breeders, can't even prevent offspring from their own dogs from coming down with a genetic health issue even though they have thousands of dollars in equipment and knowledge right at the tip of their fingertips. Some of the dogs they created came down with hip dysplasia or other serious health issues…why? They had all that equipment and yet…it still happened. The reason is because we good breeders, vets and parents can only do so much.
To know more about our Goldendoodles, just visit our website at http://www.goldendoodleworld.com where we have quite a bit of photos, videos as well as other doodle information you may be interested in. Join me on facebook or on our new Goldendoodle Fans website at http://www.goldendoodlefans.ning.com
*About the author: Dee Gerrish has written about the Goldendoodle since 1999. She is one of the founding Goldendoodle breeders for the entire southern region of the United States. Dee Gerrish is a private, professional, hobby breeder who began her business in 1996. For more articles, you can find her content Articles base under "authors".
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/what-is-a-backyard-breeder-do-you-know-the-difference-2146409.html
About the AuthorDee Gerrish has been a private, professional breeder for 14 years as of Jan. 2010; She was a respite and foster care provider in Mannheim, Germany and won many community awards for her dedicated service. Dee has written very popular Goldendoodle articles that are listed across the internet.
