My mothers grand plan:

[orinskye]

My mother has this grand plan: Nowadays it is IMPOSSIBLE to get a dog for free... because of these "desighner dogs" even 'mutts' are now fetching a high price tag... When Lani, our pound puppy, dies...She wants a golden retriever, and she wants a female, and she isnt going to fix it. She is then going to breed this golden to whatever male, because she thinks that mutts have less health issues that pure bred dogs (given our history with dogs this almost makes sense because every dog we have ever had that has been pure bred has had health issues up the yin yang, and has died at a relatively young age... all the mutts we have had seem to last forever, with no health problems whatsoever ....... i'm confused because i thought that the "mutts are healthier" was just a myth, but when you think about it in our family dog ownership history it seems to be true)
Anyways, she wants to breed this golden to get 'mutts' and then give them away for free. She just wants to make people happy. I tried to talk her into charging like 50 or 100 so that a "puppy mill person' wouldnt come and take them and sell them in a petstore. I thought it was a sweet idea, but not logical. What if teh puppy has a problem and the person tries to sue us for the cost of the vet visit? for a FREE DOG?... the cost of having the puppies, the mess to clean up after, ect...

[SnowWa]

Not a good idea. The reason is that there are already too many little puppies without homes. It doesn't make sense to have more puppies ---just to give away free......although it is a nice thought.

All puppies don't cost a lot of money. I see very inexpensive puppies in the newspaper all the time. Dogs from dog shelters are reasonably priced also.

I also often see, what are probably wonderful pets in the newspaper (and sometimes older dogs) that are being offered free to a good home. I see signs at the grocery offering free puppies. I have even seen families in the store parking lots trying to give away little puppies - for free.

I think most of us are working hard to get people to have their pets neutered and spayed so that more little puppies (unable to find homes) won't be born.
Thousands of dogs are euthanized daily around the country because there aren't people who want them.

Your mother had a thoughtful idea - but to be truthful - there are already a lot of dogs that being offered for free or very little -- and far too many dogs (and other pets) being euthanized because we can't find homes for them. It's sad.


Carol Jean

[orinskye]

Originally Posted by SnowWa

Not a good idea. The reason is that there are already too many little puppies without homes. It doesn't make sense to have more puppies ---just to give away free......although it is a nice thought.

All puppies don't cost a lot of money. I see very inexpensive puppies in the newspaper all the time. Dogs from dog shelters are reasonably priced also.

I also often see, what are probably wonderful pets in the newspaper (and sometimes older dogs) that are being offered free to a good home. I see signs at the grocery offering free puppies. I have even seen families in the store parking lots trying to give away little puppies - for free.

I think most of us are working hard to get people to have their pets neutered and spayed so that more little puppies (unable to find homes) won't be born.
Thousands of dogs are euthanized daily around the country because there aren't people who want them.

Your mother had a thoughtful idea - but to be truthful - there are already a lot of dogs that being offered for free or very little -- and far too many dogs (and other pets) being euthanized because we can't find homes for them. It's sad.


Carol Jean

i agree ........ lol.... but every time my father and i point out anything to the contrary of her GRAND PLAN, she looks at us like we have two heads.....
I hope this is only a passing fancy, because if she actually did it....bad idea...
There is one loophole to her plan though, where is she going to get the male from????? stud fee to get a mixed breed dog??? not likely, getting an unneutered male dog herself??? HA, she hates males. . .
I think this problem may foil her plan (sarcastic: oh darn, and it was such a good idea)

[chachi]

You might want to talk to your mom about stud dogs and how they mark all over the house. That might help discourage her from doing this. This is why I dont see why beeders aks more for there pups sometimes they have to do alot of cleaning in addition to cost incurred and I would think they would make the cost of the pup reflect that.

[Julz]

Not a good idea for numerous reason...here are a few....1) there are free dogs out there. 2) Shelter animals are that price due to getting their shots and being neutered or spayed and to help out with food a little (which would be your Mom's expense with her own pups). 3) She must be very wealthy to take on just the expense alone (which can be very costly) to afford to be able to spend a lot of money on the mother dog, the expense of keeping her healthy, the vet bills for the probably 12 pups she will have and so on. 4) Have TONS of extra time and space to keep 12 pooping and peeing big pups for 8 weeks...she will be cleaning up CONSTANTLY (as we all do ). 5) The mess of the mother being in heat because she is not spayed (and all the big dogs coming into her yard from miles away while her new female is in heat ). Well, I could go on but it does give you some ideas you may want to discuss with her. Bless her heart though, I'm sure she thinks it would be for the right reason

[bchgirl]

Tell mom to go to the pound or ASPCA, there are plenty of mutts still out there. And it floors me to open the paper classifieds and see someone asking $300 and UP for what I consider used to be called a "mutt". In my book, mixed is mixed....just some are more mixed than others

[Laura]

I have an idea for you! Tell her to start a free adoption service. Find all the free puppies from the vet and out of the papers - go get them and advertise and give THEM away! There are truly a lot and if she likes puppies, she can have the fun of playing with them while they wait for their new homes. Especially big breeds have a LOT of puppies. Less work, too!

[BamaFan121s]

First off, I can't get past this: your mom favors mutts because they are healthier and cheaper according to her and she thinks eeeeeeverybody should have one, but yet in order to produce them, she is going to buy a purebred Golden? Yeah, that makes alot of sense
Secondly, look in any shelter at the mutt to purebred ratio and I think it will be obvious who the unwanted, uncared for dogs are, sad as it is. Yes, I know there are purebred rescues and blah blah blah. I realize I am asking for it and leaving this wiiiiide open for attack, but can anyone here honestly argue that there are more abandoned/given up/stray purebreds that there are mutts. (Eliminating the possibility that mutts are put to sleep before purebreds, which would even the numbers out.) There is no shortage of cheap/free mutts.
IMO, someone who forks out $$$ to get a breed they truly like vs. free/cheap who knows what, is going to be less likely to abandon/give up the dog.

Anyway, you sound like you agree with your mom's reasons, but not her intentions, which is understandable and you don't seem to be the one that needs convincing that this idea is INSANE, so I won't go into anymore details on why this is a bad idea!

[livingdustmops]

Of the estimated 5 million pets (dogs/cats) euthanized EVERY year a quarter of them are purebred. It seems to me that leaves a large amount of mutts that are available for adoption every year.

I don't mean this to be rude or mean, but if your mom wants to see the reality of this have her volunteer at the local pound or humane society. Have her be in the room after they have cleaned out the dogs no one wanted to adopt or just ran out of time. I could send you to website with pictures of dead dogs in piles because they ran out of time. Go to the landfills and see all the dead dogs no one wanted.

Animals are not free if you care about them. It costs $$$ for food, shots and license's. There is nothing in life that is free but LOVE and even that comes with a price tag for an animal.

[BamaFan121s]

Since your mom wants people to have puppies without paying anything/alot, why don't you mention this to her. I don't know about where you live, but here it cost about $50 to adopt an animal from the shelter. When you consider all of the cost for breeding be it mutt or full bred, to do it properly costs ALOT...way more than $50. Why doesn't she adopt a pup for these people she's wanting to give one away to instead? She will come out in the end financiallly and save a life all at the same time.

[orinskye]

Originally Posted by BamaFan121s

Anyway, you sound like you agree with your mom's reasons, but not her intentions, which is understandable and you don't seem to be the one that needs convincing that this idea is INSANE, so I won't go into anymore details on why this is a bad idea!

I agree with her trying to make people happy, but the rest of it? yes... i think it is insane

[orinskye]

Originally Posted by BamaFan121s

First off, I can't get past this: your mom favors mutts because they are healthier and cheaper according to her and she thinks eeeeeeverybody should have one, but yet in order to produce them, she is going to buy a purebred Golden? Yeah, that makes alot of sense

i THINK what she wants to do is get a mutt dog that is "healthier" and have it with the temperment of a golden retriever... my mom loves golden retreivers because they are so sweet and she wishes that a mixed dog would have these same qualities again, i think this is her reasoning.. but her idea has been wacko so far..

[SnowWa]

Orinskye

Your post ---

I think what she wants to do is get a mutt dog that is "healthier" and have it with the temperment of a golden retriever... my mom loves golden retreivers because they are so sweet and she wishes that a mixed dog would have these same qualities again, i think this is her reasoning.. but her idea has been wacko so far..
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This is one of the funniest posts I've read in a long time.

Also - ask you mom, "What if our dog has to have a Caeserean - or some of the babies are sick - or the mom gets sick. How are we going to pay all those vet bills???????
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Anyway - I'm think your mother's idea may be just a passing fancy. Don't you and your father make too much of a point being against it - Or she may want to do it even more. Just let the entire subject fade away...

Carol Jean

[Laura]

The reason I was careful purchasing my puppies was for the same reason, I wanted to make sure they were healthy and had a good temperament. I previously had acquired a Llaso Apso puppy from a home who no longer wanted a puppy. He became blind and had a very bad disposition. He would growl and snap without notice at times. My children were younger at the time and had a lot of friends over. I was terrified that the dog would harm someone. It became my belief that small 'cute' dogs were badly misbred for a buck and I did not want to go through that again. I so adore my puppies, I wish I could give everyone one, unfortunately after my first litter - I decided I was the only one who could give them the proper home - so I kept them (greedy me : )

Your mother is a kind and generous person, let her have her make believe dream. I think of many silly things that I think would make the world a better place, it doesn't mean I will do it. It is much better than being depressed and saddened by how mean and nasty this world is becomming.