ISO Basenji near Iowa!
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@JoBlanchard Obviously I don't know you or your dogs but being small scale does not automatically make you a BYB. I know many responsible breeders who have 2-5 dogs and only have a litter every 2 years or so. A very close friend of mine has 3 dogs and her last litter was 5 years ago. Her dogs all (well except her baby puppy!) have multiple titles, come from sound pedigrees, tested for her breeds common genetic diseases and she is a very knowledgeable responsible breeder!
To me a backyard breeder breeds any two dogs together just because they can. No regards for pedigree, genetic health or conformation. They don't care who buys their puppies and have zero plans to take them back if their owners no longer want them. These people don't always have bad intentions! I work for a vet and see people all the time who plan to breed their dog for one reason or another. They can, they are their dogs and they can do with them as they please, but I'll always educate where I can.
BUT..
This is all getting away from the topic of helping someone find a new healthy family member. @Bakerfamalee if you want any more breeder recommendations let me know! Always willing to recommend the good breeders I know personally! -
@JoBlanchard said in ISO Basenji near Iowa!:
@DebraDownSouth My babies are papered and pampered... and tested....and every puppy that went home went with their papers and a copy of their parents papers including test results . I have 5 Basenjis... and one is neutered... so I guess I am considered a rare backyard breeder.
Backyard breeders *byb) can breed once or 100 times.. it isn't about how often. Neither is rare. In fact, it's the one-time backyard breeder who does the most damage in this country (all breeds and mixes, not just basenjis). Nothing rare about it. Most byb that I have dealt with only bred a few litters. Doesn't change their byb status.
All registered dogs have "papers". Pet store dogs often have "papers" as do puppymills. In fact, there are a lot of puppymill/scam registries, so even dogs that aren't AKC have "papers."
What makes someone a responsible breeder is having the genetic testing done on their dogs. It is understanding bloodlines and breeding to improve the breed, not just make puppies to sell. It is placing pet quality puppies on spay/neuter only contracts, and/or requiring owners to prove their dogs' value by showing, health clearances, dna testing, etc before they can breed. A responsible breeder isn't made by just having papers or pampering their pets. Sometimes they may only breed once or a few times. Deciding not to continue breeding a line or at all doesn't mean they weren't responsible when they did it. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?
So are you a backyard breeder or a responsible one? Giving the names or akc numbers that you bred makes it easy to check AKC and OFA for health testing. It's pretty simple.
There are also people, btw, who started out as byb, who truly wanted to learn, to do better, and got involved, educated, found a mentor and got a dog worthy of breeding and worked to become a responsible breeder. But the person has to actually want to do it. Other people start getting educated about breeding and realize they have really done an injustice to the breed and decide that the won't do that any more, but that they also do not want to commit to really getting into becoming a responsible breeder. Some of the most dedicated rescue people I know were once byb. So I'm not trying to beat you up, but without you sharing your pedigree, you're the only one who can say if you are a byb or a responsible breeder. As others have pointed out, responsible breeders are proud of their dogs and pedigrees and testing.
