Breeder Impressions

[agilityk9trainer]

OH MY STARS!! WELCOME AGILITYK9TRAINER!!!! OH PT'Rs she has the most amazing agility shelties- WELCOME WELCOME!!
That is amazing you see the opposite of smaller shelties verses larger ones. You attend alot more agility trails that I do, and your observation would be more the norm than the my observations would be in this area. Also, the flyball competitions they just broadcasted had some awfully big shelties. Do you find flyball teams using bigger shelties or smaller ones?

We don't have much flyball in my area of the country. As far as I know, there are no shelties on the teams we do have. I have had some people ask me to have Aslan join their teams, as they love to have the fast, small dogs on their teams. The small dogs set the jump heights, so having a small dog on your team means the jump heights for the entire team are lower. Right now, I have no interest in flyball, although I encourage my students who do it to continue in the sport. I can see why it's a big draw for many dog owners.

[borzoimom]

Good point about the jump height with a smaller team member. !

[wolfsoul]

Welcome agilityk9trainer! My best friend breeds shelties. She just had a litter early this year.

These are her dogs' pics, attached..
The blue merle is Can Ch ptd JewelsGlow's Absolute No-No, "Taboo," taken when she was 2 years old. The tri is Sirona's Right on Target, "Arwyn," when she was 5 months. The sable is Jo-Ro's Just in Time AgMX MADC, "Justin." Taboo just finished her agility and obedience lessons and will be competing next year as well as finishing her CH (just two more points!). Arwyn is going to start her show career next year. Justin is almost completely deaf now but he only needs one more leg before he has his ATChC, so Kelly is going to try him one more time before he retires.

She also has a little sheltie that was given to her years ago -- her name is Rosie, and she's maybe 5 pounds. I'll see if I can dig up a pic of her too.

[wolfsoul]

Here's Rosie, and a couple more pics of the others..Arwyn was just a baby (she's 10 months now) and the other puppy with Taboo is Arwyn's brother, Leader. He's going to go oversize, he's already a quarter of an inch away from 16 inches at ten months.

[mr.chiwawa]

I am with Junes the shelters out here by me dont have small dogs and i have even looked as far as VT and i found nothing. I went to a breeder for my own personal reasons but I dont regret a min of it. The women I went to have been doing it for 30 + years. If any of you are intrested in chihuahuas i do have there site. But I will only give it out to serious lookers.I WONT put it up just so some of you glorified shelter savers will find something wrong and critize her.
merry christmas
and chi hugs

[borzoimom]

IN agility. I can think of no other better.!! She came from the same place alot of us did, but she is a pro- competes all the time with OUTSTANDING scores. .. I do so hope she stays- she would be valuable to this site for sure!

[Giselle]

I am with Junes the shelters out here by me dont have small dogs and i have even looked as far as VT and i found nothing. I went to a breeder for my own personal reasons but I dont regret a min of it. The women I went to have been doing it for 30 + years. If any of you are intrested in chihuahuas i do have there site. But I will only give it out to serious lookers.I WONT put it up just so some of you glorified shelter savers will find something wrong and critize her.
merry christmas
and chi hugs

I volunteer at a city shelter (commonly referred to as the "pound" - where the most neglected dogs end up), and we have three small dogs that have been languishing in their 4'X6' kennels for three weeks. Two are terrier/chi mixes. The other is a Cocker Spaniel/Poodle mix. If you wait and search deeply, you will find a plethora of available dogs. If not, there are always people who are willing to drive a certain ways to meet you.

Secondly, experience breeding animals means nothing, nada, zilch, zip. A breeder could have been breeding for 50 years, but if she isn't breeding to better the breed (via genetic testing, proving in the ring or field, etc), she's a BYB in my book.

And lastly, we are not "glorified shelter savers". We are people who love dogs. We just don't want dogs to needlessly die.

[mr.chiwawa]

I volunteer at a city shelter (commonly referred to as the "pound" - where the most neglected dogs end up), and we have three small dogs that have been languishing in their 4'X6' kennels for three weeks. Two are terrier/chi mixes. The other is a Cocker Spaniel/Poodle mix. If you wait and search deeply, you will find a plethora of available dogs. If not, there are always people who are willing to drive a certain ways to meet you.

Secondly, experience breeding animals means nothing, nada, zilch, zip. A breeder could have been breeding for 50 years, but if she isn't breeding to better the breed (via genetic testing, proving in the ring or field, etc), she's a BYB in my book.

And lastly, we are not "glorified shelter savers". We are people who love dogs. We just don't want dogs to needlessly die.

WLL IM NOT GOING TO DIRVE ACROSS COUNRTY FOR A CHI MIX I WANTED A PURE BREED HES GOING TO SHOWS AND SUCH AND LAST I CHECKED YOU CANT HAVE MUTTS IN AN AKC SHOW. AND THATS THE EXACT REASON I WILL NEVER POST HER WEBSITE ON HERE PEOPLE ASUME THINGS ABOUT A BREEDER AND THE PERSON WHO BOUGHT FROM A BREEDER BEFORE GETTING TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THEM.

[borzoimom]

The purpose of the AKC is for the love of the pure bred dog... etc. The fact is, like my breed on number of registrations, the Borzoi is at 94 with 696 dogs registered2005 ( 2006 is not posted yet obviously), falling from the previous year 2004 of ranking number 89 with 795 dogs registered.
I am obviously in love with the breed. Its perfect for us, even the reason to wait on a list with the rescue when we got Femka. ( flying her in from Boston. Prior to that she was in the Netherlands ..)
The fact is, we have the right to have the breed that fits us- our life style, our household situation. There is no such thing as " just a dog". The breeds are different in how they approach life, how they interact with family etc. Its what works and waiting lists or not, we each love our breeds to wait for what we want, and what works in our household. To be honest- most of the breeds would make me crazy if I had to live with them. I want quiet, calm, elegance and coat. Even within the sighthounds the breeds are slightly different. I watch my 4- and they are obviously all like minded. Slightly different in approach to things- but bascially every one of them is " on the same page" here.
With the few exceptions of having one breed outside of what I have, I have noticed that having all one breed, when you add a different one, it changes the dynamics of the house. Its just easier to have all the same. At least for us. I am devoted to my dogs, and to the breed. And with the exception of the Silken Windhound later in life, when I get too old for these larger Borzois, even then- they are similar enough. I still can not imagine my life without a Borzoi in it.. I just do not see it.
Am I missing anything? Yes- I miss competing in obedience. I am adding a collie but with enough time to see that he would fit in with 4 Borzois. He has enough spunk to be a good candiate, but calm enough to not tip the applecart here. Believe it or not- it look longer to make the decission to take a different breed into the house, than it did for adding Zubin or Galina. Having the same breed to me is like Pringles pototoe chips- they all fit together. Verses a bag of different sizes. Stupid analogy yes at first glance- but that is how I have chosen to live my life.

[borzoimom]

Some of us have a special love for one breed. Others do not, but the ones that do not, can not see the fascination and devototion we have with " our breed"...

[TFTpwnsYou]

I totally agree with that statement. Some people just fall in loooove with a certain breed and only that breed will do. I being one of those people....lol.

[applesmom]

There are many different types of pet owners. For the majority, breed doesn't matter as long as the temperament and size fit in with the family.

For many others, their pets (and their breed of choice) actually define their lifestyle, as ours did for almost 30 years. Our lives revolved around dog club meetings, training sessions, dog show, hunt test and field trial schedules.

Our social life ranged from formal parent club and AKC banquets in luxury hotels to waking up in a travel trailer on frosty mornings to the excited barking of hundreds of dogs. During those times our "banquets" were shared meals around glowing campfires. These memorable moments took place amid some of the most beautiful sunrises and scenery in many of the most primitive places in the country.

Our pets provided us with plenty of diversity and every day was a new adventure! We couldn't have done it without purebred dogs and ethical breeders!

[agilityk9trainer]

Wolfsoul,

Beautiful shelties! Thanks for posting the pics. Glad to see your friend is active not only in conformation, but in performance as well. I loved the registered names matched with their call names! Very creative.

Borzoimom, thanks for the kind words.

As far as pure breed vs. mixed - this does depend on what you want to do with your dog. I want to show in agility in the AKC. I must have a pure bred. In addition, getting a pup from a known breeder of performance lines will GREATLY enhance that dog's chance of success in agility. As many of us live in areas where we are limited to the number of dogs we can own (I can only have four in my city), I need to be sure that the dogs I get can handle the stress of performance, And, for dogs who don't have the emotional constitution to handle the stress, showing becomes almost abusive. My two shelties come from a performance breeder. They were bred to be high-drive, working dogs who can handle the stresses of competition. And, they LOVE it. My rescued American Eskimo, on the other hand, loves agility but HATES to compete. The stress of the show ring is too much for her. She was bred by a BYB.

Now, I'm limited to only one more dog. I plan on getting that puppy in about 18 months. As a professional agility instructor, I am, fairly or unfairly, judged by my dogs' performance in the ring. I really need a good working dog, and my best bet to find that dog is to go back to my performance breeder.

Of course, I'm not saying all rescues are bad agility dogs. I know tons of great agility rescues. But, I know just as many rescues that couldn't handle the stress. I'm just saying your chances of getting a good performance dog from a performance breeder are better than your chances of getting a good performance dog from rescue.

However, were I not showing, you can bet all my dogs would be rescues!!

[borzoimom]

Well- I would still have Borzois. And I want sound genetics so probably still back to a breeder. However- with Femka- we took her. If not showing, they would probably still be show quality dogs. But its hard to say for sure- I haven't crossed that bridge yet.
My real guess is my next Borzoi will be Galinas son or daughter. ( I keep saying "or"... lol verses "and"..)

[cassiesmom]

I agree with the very first post that this could be its own thread. Maybe put it in General so the cat people can read it too, because some of the questions could be about purebred cats. There is a pet store one suburb over from where I work that has purebred puppies in cages. It just breaks my heart to see them like that. Which is why I go to petsmart, because the cats waiting for adoption are not at risk of euthanasia and the petsmart I shop at has a clipboard with a list of local shelter information for people wanting to adopt a shelter dog. Thanks ... elyse