This comes up often in my world. Doodles, muddles, puddles, schnoodles, mutts... all of them. I on occasion bring one of my boys with me to work and usually at least every other time I have to tell people that no I will not breed my papillon to their poodle, mini schnauzer, chihuaha, lord only knows what, and once even a pug. I would find it amuzing if it weren't so sad.

Everyone breeds their dogs around here, people were shocked when I spayed my female "without even breeding her once!"

I took my new male in to meet my vet last week. One of the techs asked if he was neutered, I replied "not yet", and she said "Oh good, you can still breed him!" Like Alyssa, I just replied that I had signed a contract not to breed.

Yikes.

Wannabe thugs and gangsters are always wanting me to stud out my pit mix. There are a lot of things wrong with that, but the biggest problem is that he's neutered. So I always say that I'm sure he'll try very hard to breed, but he's not going to make any puppies anytime soon =P

But seriously? He's not purebred (way too big, I'm guessing he's got some Am. Bull in him) and his hips suck. And yet still, people STOP THEIR CARS in the middle of the road and ask if I'm going to breed him. *shakes head*

Indiscriminate breeding is why we have dog pounds, shelters, and rescues. Only 1 in 7 dogs remains in the same home throughout its lifetime. BYBs think they find good homes for their pups but statistically it is not a permanent home. What happens to the dogs when they grow out of being cute puppies?

I know. I'm in rescue. and it's not pretty. Of my two fosters, one is from a facility with a gas chamber and the other from a place that kills by heartstick. Both dogs were young (around 1 year) when I got them. Surely not what the so called breeder had intended for his or her pups!

People breed dogs regardless of breed or mix, history, genetic structure (epilepsy, luxating patellas, hip dysplasia, temperament) because they like their dog and if it's not fixed, think "why not". They do not think/care about the consequences for their dog (STDs, septicemia, cesarian, death) or the puppies (dam doesn't have enough milk, birth defects, death, fading puppies, etc).

Even so called "responsible" breeders will use PennHIP rather than OFA so they can breed their dogs under one year of age (yes, under ONE year of age).

Even people I have told repeatedly to buy only puppies from responsible breeders (or the shelter), will buy out of the newspaper (but he was cheap, since he didn't come with papers!)

I feel like the OP... talk till your blue in the face and it doesn't make any difference. I post my fosters online and try not to read the other pet classifieds, they are soooo depressing (8 month old poodle for stud! no papers! shep/lab/husky mix pup 8 months old free to good home! No time for dog! My dog is 6 months and humping his stuffies, he needs a girlfriend! Moving, dog must go!)

I just hope we get through to at least ONE person....

And my first-hand experience from the litter my dog came from; (she was from a co-worker's mixed bitch's litter; an intentional byb litter).

Chula: Cherry-eye in both eyes (prolapsed gland of the 3rd eyelid)

At least one other littermate also has cherry-eye.

Another littermate has died of bloat/torsion; this is the most concerning, since it raises Chula's risk factor by having a sibling who died of bloat.

The one good thing that has come out of it is that my co-worker is no longer in the puppy business; he realized after the fact the things that can go wrong when you have no clue what you are doing...

Even if I felt equipped with the breed knowlege to select and raise a good bitch and select a good stud, I know I don't have near the time and energy it takes to properly care for the litter. In my ideal world, the pups would be kept clean by living in a moderate traffic area of my home, so I notice and clean whenever they make a mess, I'd have multiple guests over with various ages of children to handle the pups, and I'd have the pups started on crate training and housebreaking before they went to the new homes at 8-10 weeks.

I have had friends who wanted to breed their dogs (one is a mutt) because of "designer puppies, all the wonderful traits without the size", another wanted to breed because it is a beautiful dog, but with lots of health issues, another...well I could go on and on. ARGH...whatever happened to breeding for breed improvement????

Some people will do anything for a buck.

I will not be neutering my next standard as he will be a performance dog. I'm not eager to buy into "you must get your dog neutered" shlep again. I've talked it over with other performance/hunting poodle people. I hate to think that I might be approached to create "doodles".

Well, you can always have a stock answer about how he hasn't had his health testing done yet, maybe make them think a bit more about what's involved in breeding a good litter.