Fantastic article! Thanks for sharing!

I only have purebreds but I love mutts too! I volunteer for shelters and rescues and even adopted one of my purebreds. Remember that you can find purebreds in shelters too!

However, I'm also all for responsible breeders too! With Keeva, I went through A LOT of breeders until I found an ACTUAL honest-to-god responsible breeder that I fully approved of. There's a Belgian breeder in Calgary who seems reputable. He shows his dogs, is fairly well known in the Belgian world and has beautiful dogs. He answered everything correctly. He told me he'd take the dog back if I ever decided on rehoming the dog. He told me the parents were free of hip, eye and elbow problems. He told me that his line was free of epilepsy. He fed good food, and didn't have litters very often. He *seemed* like a fantastic breeder, the perfect breeder really. I like to talk to others involved with Belgians and as a result, I found out that one of his pups had epilepsy. He actually took the pup back from the owners and ended up sending the dog to the US to have it become a show dog (who would later be bred and increase the breed's problem with epilepsy).

I intend on breeding Malinois because the breed is far from perfect. People choose to get purebreds because they want a dog with certain traits. I wanted a high-drive, real deal working dog. A dog with high intelligence, herding instinct, a stable temperment and free of any genetic health problems. That should easily apply to all dogs of this breed.. but it didn't. Keeva was a rare find, which is sad cause I was only asking for a healthy Malinois.

Responsible breeders are not the ones who are ruining the breeds, creating health problems and filling shelters with dogs. However, responsible breeders are few and far between.