I think some people may have been confused because many of us say, watch out for breeders who say, "Champions in the bloodline", as this is more of a marketing technique, or sales pitch then adding any educational information about a breeding program.

I don't particularly see a problem with reputable breeders sharing that they have championed a dog. After all, they put in a lot of work to achieve that recognition, no reason to be shy about sharing it. However, it does seem sketchy to me to say that you have champions somewhere in the line if you aren't the one who actually did it.

Back to the OP. It's a shame that scammers will try and steal someone's hard work through sneaky means. On a related note to those of you who have a breeding program , website,blog or even just post photos here on YT; take a simple precaution and and watermark your pictures to help keep them from being lifted and used by someone else. It's easy to do in Photoshop Elements (just create a semi-transparent layer over your photo with your identifying info on it) . You can also do it in Picassa photo editing software- it's free. If anyone needs some help with it, please PM me and I will be glad to help you.

Not speaking for all, but my opinion is that there is nothing at all wrong with mentioning or advertising your championships when they are specific -- for instance this breeder has pedigrees available, so you can see who in the lines are championed. If you say champion-sired -- again that is specific -- we can see the championship was awarded to the puppies' sire, same with "champion grand-sired." The problem is that some "not-as-ethical" of breeders use terms like "Champion bloodlines" to draw in customers when there may be only sporadic champions far back in the pedigree, not bred by the seller and not really indicative of the puppies' quality.

I don't think there is anything wrong with saying champion bloodlines -- just needs some justification/explanation. When they are vague, there is usually reason for it. So for me, the only time I see anything wrong at all with mentioning champions is when the breeder is using it to make a litter APPEAR more closely related to champions or even make the breeder appear to have something to do with champions when it is not the case. Seeing Champion Bloodlines should just make a buyer look more closely. If there is nothing substantial to back up the claim, then it is just being used as a marketing ploy. But if the breeder has pedigrees available, the championships are close to the litter (sire/grand-sire), or the breeder is responsible for breeding champions -- then it is really telling you something good about the puppies history.

[QUOTE=Rhetts_mama;3381828]I don't particularly see a problem with reputable breeders sharing that they have championed a dog. After all, they put in a lot of work to achieve that recognition, no reason to be shy about sharing it. However, it does seem sketchy to me to say that you have champions somewhere in the line if you aren't the one who actually did it.

Back to the OP. It's a shame that scammers will try and steal someone's hard work through sneaky means. On a related note to those of you who have a breeding program , website,blog or even just post photos here on YT; take a simple precaution and and watermark your pictures to help keep them from being lifted and used by someone else. It's easy to do in Photoshop Elements (just create a semi-transparent layer over your photo with your identifying info on it) . You can also do it in Picassa photo editing software- it's free. If anyone needs some help with it, please PM me and I will be glad to help you.[/QUOTE]

Wanna do my whole website? ROFL...I have to do that and haven't UGH! I've had a photo of Radar stolen and someone caught it and told me and I had a friend of mine contact this person and point out it was a copyright enfringement and they took it off immediately especially when lawyers were mentioned.


Donna

Does that watermark stay on permanently? Ie; if someone has photoediting software couldn't they just remove it?

If you have a transparent overlay on your photo, when someone tries to copy the picture by doing a "right click" then "copy" or "copy image," all they are able to copy is the transparent overlay and they can't get to the photo underneath.

I guess (but I don't know, someone correct me if I'm wrong) they could do a screen grab, then open it up in photo editing software, crop the image to include only the photo, and maybe then remove the watermark. Someone looking for shortcuts is probably going to move on to some other picture rather than go to so much trouble (hopefully). I guess for someone dishonest, there is always a way to get around most anything.

Update: I did hear back from Delores. She has sent the scammer / thief a cease and desist notice, and I gave her the email address for reporting copyright violations to dot tk.

Thanks for taking care of this.

I know with my program, you register the photo with the photo editing program, i.e. Paint Shop Pro, and I think that gives you more proof. Here's more information: https://www.digimarc.com/DigimarcForImages/welcome.asp. There is nothing written across the photo, it's digitally embedded, although when it's written across the photo, it might discourage more people.

My pleasure.

I bet she was very grateful to you for finding it and tracking her down to let her know! Nice to have good people watching out!

If you do a watermark in PSE, either through the watermark feature (through batch processing) or by creating your own overlay, they can grab the whole image. But since you flatten the layers and save the whole thing as a jpeg it's difficult to remove the copyright. They have to physically go in and clone pixels to try and remove it. It's a PIA and will discourage the average scammer or picture thief. Of the two methods in PSE, I prefer creating a new layer to make the watermark. It gives you more control over where it's placed and the opacity. I highly recommend watermarking across the pic of the dog with the kennel name. The automated version limits you to right bottom corner, left bottom corner or dead center of the pic. By having it limited, it's easy to just crop around the watermark.

The digital watermark is good if you want to track down where your pics end up. But, it's expensive and there is no visible watermark to deter thieves.

If you put the watermark right in the middle of the photo (e.g. right ON TOP of the pup) they cannot crop it out without ruining the image. Sure it affects the photo a bit, but if done right it isn't TOO invasive and it keeps things from getting stolen.

Glad you got to the bottom of this then! I'm happy that she was able to do something about it. Thanks for being a super sleuth! :thumbup:

I have PSE, but I've only used it to do simple stuff. I really need to take the time to play with it and teach myself what it can do. I just spend too much time here!

It's really easy. Just create a new layer for your text. Put in what ever you want and play with the size and placement until you like it. Then go over to the layers palette and adjust the transparency until you like it. Then merge your layers together and save.

See you can be here and learn PSE at the same time!!! Problem solved thanks to Rhetts_mama. :D;)

Yes Eden Valley is a legit breeder/shower. She has had many champions and used to breed/show/sell. Not sure either if she is still currently showing, but as of ..hmm 2 years ago, she was selling pups. They were very very expensive but I imagine her lines were worth it as she had a lot of money tied up. She is elderly and may not be doing any of these things anymore. Never met her personally but we've spoken on the phone a couple times. I live in the area.. ( Roseville/Lincoln) but she lives in the area where I used to live and raised my kids. Etc. I hope someone does get ahold of her to alert her of the scammer!

It's already been taken care of.

Great!

Eden Valley
 

I met Dolores when I bought my dog from her a little over 9 years ago. She was actively showing dogs at the time. I've written to her a few times to give her progress reports, but she never responded. The dog is a beautiful, healthy boy. At nearly ten years old, he still has all his teeth and they're strong and healthy. Other than a couple of minor health issues as a pup, he's been fantastic.

Hi all, I'm new to YT but just wanted to let people know that Dolores still occasionally sells Yorkie pups. I purchased my little boy Bosco from her two weeks ago and he's wonderful! He got his complete check-up at the vet and passed with flying colors. I don't think she breeds too often but she's worth checking in with if you're in Northern CA. :)