Photos

Here is an album of photos! We plan to add some videos soon when we get the time.

http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k478/fairytaledogs/

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Should You have a litter?

1. Are you willing to take back a puppy or dog that you have produced anytime, even in 6 years? Even if it's not convienient for you?

2. Are you willing to provide a health guarantee on the puppies you sell? If not, is it because one or both of the parents are in ill health?

3. Are you willing to require that pets be sold on limited registration and or pet spay neuter requirement? So many breeders don't require this because they can "get more" out of a puppy sold on full as a "breeding" prospect.

4. Do you have any conformation knowledge in your breed? A dog can fit the breed standard profile but not be the right "type" to win in the show ring, so a Ch. title isn't really a testament to anything other than it was the right "type" to win. Do you know what a short back looks like? Cow hocks? Poor rear angulation? Poor reach? If you're not sure what these terms mean, then maybe you should spend more time researching.

5. Do you have the time to prepare wholesome meals for your dogs? So many people take the easy route and feed dead kibble because it is more "convienent" even though it destroys the health of your dogs. If you don't have enough time for that then how will you have enough time for...

6. Raising a litter? A litter requires an enormous portion of your time and energy. If you cannot at least get one day off of work to stay with your dam for the whelping day then I'd reconsider having a litter. The puppies you produce will be underdeveloped to people and handling and will have life issues that impacts their training, socializing and day to day human interaction.

7. Do you have time to socialize puppies if they don't sell as fast as you had hoped? It is not uncommon to have 1 or 2 littermates left that are having a hard time finding a home for any given reason. These puppies still need to be socialized at the crucial times in their life and introduced to common commands.

8. Honesty is the best policy when selling puppies, and this is a hard quality to find in dog breeders. Most never say a negative thing about their dogs, even while being asked about faults. AVOID THIS BREEDER!!!! If they can't say anything negative about their dogs then the rest of what their saying is questionable quality. Can you tell the buyer of the dogs faults, even if it happens that the buyer does not want the puppy for that reason? Sooner or later if you lie about your dogs, you WILL be found out and the quality of you and all of your dogs will be compromised.

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Solving the Problem of Irresponsible Owners

Alot of people attribute the current number of dogs/cats in shelters as pet overpopulation, and though I do think this is somewhat true..it makes we wonder why most of those pets already had a home before arriving there? Common sense would say that if it were soley pet overpopulation, why aren't all these dogs roaming the streets and neighborhoods without a place to sleep at night?

The message touted by the mainstream media to cure pet overpopulation is to rescue. I feel this is only helping to solve the problem by a small fraction. Clean up after an oil spill solves the current mess, but what about when there is another oil spill? Fixing the source of the oil spill would be more reasonable.

Some have attempted to cure the source by introducing breed legislation and breeding limitations. This isn't a good idea either because it would DEEPLY affect the quality of breeds and destroy hundred of years of progress. Breeders might start cutting corners to get around the increased fees and limitations. AKC is against breeding legistation and is active in preventing any laws pertaining to breeding restrictions. I urge all breeders to also be active in this, as any laws passed in this matter would not only be a violation of our rights, but it would not solve the problem and it would only cause economic distress and lesser quality animals in greater numbers.

The real cause of "over population" is a demand by irresponsible owners being filled by irresponsible breeders. This scenerio happens so often, I myself have seen it over and over: Suzie can't get her labrador to calm down. Princess barks all day while she is at work, when Suzie lets her out of her kennel she bounces off the walls with excitement and jumps all over her ruining all of her nice work suits. Suzie loves dogs, but Princess is too much work so Suzie takes Princess to the pound and goes out to buy a 100$ Yorkie.

There are several mistakes Suzie made, but the main one is: 

 A labrador is a very time consuming breed, most are puppies all their lives in 60lb bodies. They are a sporting breed with alot of stamina and need lots of exercise. Suzie didn't research what breed would be right for her, instead she bought on impulse.

Irresponsible breeders are only filling the demands of irresponsible owners. Since we don't live in a perfect world where people take responsiblity for their pets, the breeder (who helped create the little lives) needs to pick up the slack and require buyers to return the puppy if the owner no longer wants it.  If just this little thing was done, it would virtually halt pet overpopulation. Breeders would be getting puppies back in their posession that they had helped create, and too busy trying to find homes for them-- would not be breeding litters as often.

But there is a second part of the solution, breeders need to screen their buyers and not look for that quick buck- not caring where that puppy goes. Puppy mill brood dams and sires came from someone- someone who didn't care enough to know where that dog was going. There are times ofcourse where the buyer knows how to swindle the breeder into thinking they are providing a good home- but the breeder should make every effort to know the true quality of the buyer.

And there is one last part to the solution, SPAY OR NEUTER if you don't want the responsiblity of being a breeder.

Rescues

These were 2 littermate strays that we rescued. Another rescuer had contacted me and said they had what looked to be a sibling of these two also in their rescue. These dogs are a reminder to everyone that raising a litter can be hard and if you aren't willing to keep them until you find homes no matter how long, then maybe you aren't prepared to raise a litter.

(These pups are no longer available)