Totally agreeOriginally Posted by XRunner
Totally agree
Yes me too. Long dogs is a broken record!
Agreed too, Longdog while I understand you are passionate about this subject you are letting this cloud your objectivity and in doing so alienating the very people how would support you.
Working ESS have very few health problems, to allude to other wise is alarmist to the new puppies owners. :thunbdown:
Tahr
Longdogs, you have made some really good points and are obviously passionate about this but there will always be a market for puppies and I would like to think that most of the people on this forum would have the sense to do a fair bit of research on the subject before entering in to a 15 year relationship!
As posted by XRunner
"Why not start a tirade against those people who abandon unwanted dogs, rather than a responsible person who buys a dog from a reputable breeder?"
Lyndon
Where in my post does it say i blame anyone? I am just pointing out the consequences of actions, which many people are unaware of, after that you make your own choice. You can be part of the problem or part of the solution. I intend on remaining a broken record for as long as i have to see the trauma my friends go through spending their working lives killing healthy dogs, or condemn them to the same myself. If you had to do the same, i think you'd probably not want to give up on trying to improve things either.. I'm not worried about alienating people, i'm not in this to win friends and influence people!
Irrelevant, and sadly, rarely true. I doubt fell runners are substantively different from the rest of the population in this regard.
There's nothing subjective about the facts- it's a numbers game.
ESS? What have they got to do with this?
Oh, and can someone remind me what a 'reputable' breeder is. A more meaningless phrase i can't think of.. reputatable for what?
We all have our opinions but I decided on a puppy for many reasons which is my choice at the end of the day. Whilst I agree a rescue dog would be a nice effort to please you I decided I didn't want to risk a dog with potential behavioural problems with my children. A puppy will help to teach my kids an important lesson in life with regards to looking after and respecting animals and allow me to train her from day one. One thing for certain she is guaranteed a very good life of exercise and fun which may not be the case if someone else had bought her. I'm not sure your personal attack helps at all in fact completely the opposite. For the record I did a lot of research and spent a lot of time with my local rescue centre which helped me to realise most of the rescue dogs were not compatible with our needs.....if my heart had ruled over my head I would have been just as guilty as the idiots who get a dog and give it up soon after.
Of course you're entitled to make your choice just as anyone is, and i have no reason to think you will not give your dog a good life. I profoundly disagree with your choice, but it isn't personal. I have strong feelings which have fuelled my research but my opinions are evidence-based. Anyone who has evidence that buying a puppy reduces the potential for behaviour problems i would be interested in seeing it, please post it on here. I've studied this extensively as a postgrad by the way.. and welcome sensible discussion (i'll try to keep my bad temper in check
Also, if anyone has any evidence that pathology of any of the body systems i mentioned is not overrepresented in the cocker spaniel, please post it here.
If anyone has evidence puppy sales are exempt from the law of supply and demand, please post it here.
It's laudable that you have put so much thought into getting a dog, most people don't. I respect you for that, although i profoundly disagree with your decision. Your decision will have cost another dog(s) a life. If anyone can suggest how that is not true, please post it on here. But all decisions have costs and benefits to someone. I see the pain, canine and human, on a daily basis, and despite my 'tirades' (as described by someone), i can understand how it is possible for others to overlook that even while knowing about it (as i do in other areas of life). I didn't fully grasp the situation, and connect the dots until a year after graduation when i was vaccinating puppies in one room during evening surgery, while, unbeknown to me, in the adjacent room, a nurse was killing dogs who had had their 7 days at the pound. I say killing, because this is not euthanasia- an end to suffering. They weren't suffering, they were surplus numbers. A pile of dead dogs is something that most people don't get to see, but it focuses the mind. So it has become rather a soap box for me. I cannot apologise for caring.. the day i stop trying to do something about this is the day i give up bothering to get up in the morning. So sorry for any unpleasantness, but i will never ever shut up about it!
Just as an aside, not everyone who has to give up a dog is an uncaring idiot. Circumstances change, people die, all sorts of things. If there weren't such pressure and a market for new puppies, there'd be a chance of helping their dogs and educating them. But there isn't because everyone is run ragged trying to stem a relentless flow of dogs.
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