Thank you Bruce for writing this it is wonderful. Cathy Gish
Bruce Duggan wrote: > Everyone is I think touching on what I think the real issue is.... Education > of both the public who are out looking to buy dogs, and of the byb who think > they are providing a good service and who feel they ARE doing it ethically. > I am not a breeder in any sense. I have 1 male Cavalier who is 9 years old > and was neutered at around 1-1/2 years. I had the opportunity to be > instructed in what breeding really entailed and decided that I was not in a > position to do it, but previous to that probably shared much of the same > thoughts and feelings that some of these byb's do. I grew up with dogs > around me all the time. They were all mixed breed dogs that my parents > either picked up at the local shelter or found in the paper. We had some > good ones, and some that suffered the ills of improper breeding. I grew up > though hearing that 'purebred' dogs were high strung, that breeding to try > to set a type only brought out the worst in personality. As an adult though, > I had decided I wanted a dog too. I was a bit concerned that I might end up > with a dog that matched some of the more problem dogs I remembered as a > child and wondered how I could be sure I would get a good dog. I headed off > to the local library to get as many dog books as I could find to see if I > could figure out if there was a trick to finding or raising a 'good dog'. > That was a real eye opener! It really changed my view on purebreds and > breeding/showing. I attended my first dog show soon after and for the first > time was introduced to what purebred dogs were all about. So now I was > feeling pretty enthused about this, it looked like fun and I thought 'maybe > I should get into this breeding thing'. I went back to the library to do > some research now on what type of dog I would like to breed. After going > thru numerous books I found Sheila Smith's book CKCS Today. That was it, I > wanted to breed Cavaliers. I started my search for a breeder to get my first > female to get started. The response I got from these breeders though was not > at all what I expected. I thought I could just phone one up, place an order > for a top quality female and then go pick it up and away I would go. You can > imagine what the response was, but what surprised me was how upset these > people got and how rude they were telling me there was no way they would > sell me such a dog. I finally contacted one breeder who listened patiently > and thru a lot of questions found out where I was coming from, being very > nice and helpful the whole way. She invited me over to have a look at what > breeding entailed and to talk some more. Thru the course of a few months she > introduced me to breeding, never selling me that female I wanted though > since she said none of these were the quality I wanted ( I know now that > those dogs have done very well but she convinced me she was trying to help > me find the best, very sneaky). All the time though my eyes were being > opened to what was involved in this, how important the health checks were, > the lines behind each dog and the value of showing your dogs to see if what > you thought you were seeing was true. She then offered to do a breeding with > me - I would help pick the dogs, go thru the whole process of mating etc, > raise the puppies in my home for a few weeks (from about 4 weeks old to 7 > weeks) and help find homes for them. And if we produced the 'top quality' > female I was looking for I could have that one to get started. > What a big learning experience again. This was just not as simple as I > thought it would be. Thankfully she had arranged homes for all of these > puppies long before they were all bred, because that really shocked me - how > do I find a good home for these puppies I had put all this work into? I > couldn't trust an ad in the paper, what if those people didn't really > appreciate what they were getting! I was lost! > So without my knowing it, she had changed my mind on breeding. I took one of > the males and decided to move on to just showing dogs. We had fun and while > Duke only showed as a pup (he just never came back into his own after his > teenage years) I learnt a lot from that. > Now if this breeder hadn't taken the time to be truly helpful, I might have > found a Cavalier in a pet shop or from some other source and continued down > the path my mind was set on - breeding. > So I think education plays a big role in really helping some of these > people. And kindness will go a long way. I hinted back at the beginning of > this thread that I was a bit put off since I hadn't been welcomed to this > list. That wasn't entirely true. In my intro I summarized my whole > experience with cavaliers into a couple of sentences thinking that I would > be welcomed more if people realized that I have had some experience with > Cavaliers other then just being owned by Duke. I assumed that people would > think the best, not assume the worst. I was wrong. Some thought that the way > I had worded my intro that both I and the breeder who took this time to > educate me were bordering on being millers. I got a call from this breeder > shortly after as she was upset since while she isn't part of this list, she > had been called and questioned about what she was doing. She asked that I > never mention her name on this list and that this part of why she refuses to > participate in these discussions. So I did get welcomed in a round about > way, but negatively. I understand why some feel that way and commend their > love of the breed and everything that is good for it. But it is possible > that the way we react to those who haven't been given a chance to learn > properly may be the very thing that stops them from learning, and we have > actually done a big dis-service to our lovely dogs. > It is at least something to consider. > > Bruce > > _________________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com > > ========================================================= > "Magic Commands": > to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL > to start it up gain click here: > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL > > E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. > Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html > > All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 2002 by its original author. -- http://www.FlyingColorsCavaliers.com ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. 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