BP I was wondering when someone would bring this up...they always do. I have found it's not a lot of good discussing this with people who are already decided that it's a horrible thing to do....but...here goes...
Again...the breeder is dam*ned if they do...dam*ned if they dont. You breed one litter a year and breed each girl only 2-3 times in her life the way JQP dictates you should...you keep a puppy the show it...you have more than one bitch because well, one is not really a breeding programme. You end up with so many dogs keeping them all retirees, failed breeders, retired CH....you have enough dogs the same JQP considers you a hoarder and would never buy a dog from someone who has "so many dogs...you can't possibly care for them all". Or you build kennels and catch flack from JQP because "kennel dogs don't get any socialization"...
That's not even factoring in the reality that in found almost EVERYWHERE in the usa...pet limit laws.
You breed a bitch at 2....and 3...and perhaps 4. The bitch should live til age 13 or so...that is what, ten more years with you...and you kept a daughter and you might breed her once or twice and then you keep her too...she's only 2 years younger than her mother...if you do this with each of your foundations 3 litters you now have 4 bitches...then you realize everyone is related and you need to bring in an outcross dog or bitch...but where pray tell...will you put them? Let alone the resultant get? Or that puppy returned because the new baby had allergies? Or the older dog returned because the family is moving?
Oh then JQP will tell you "don't breed so much then...don't have more puppies or dogs than you can take back" which means at most keeping 2-3 dogs in your home for your own programme. Oh yes but JQP wants a well bred puppy from a reputable breeder...but they're so hard to find...and they have to wait so long to get one!...and they're so expensive!....they just go BYB instead. That's our fault too BTW...we should make it easier for JQP to get well bred dogs...but not the one's we've used for breeding...those we have to keep...because JQP says we should. Even tho JQP would rehome a dog if they thought it was in the dogs best interest (or their own), we are not allowed to.
So again..I am used to the judgemental attitudes that surround rehoming. I don't expect everyone to understand rehoming. There's a lot about people with pet dogs that I don't understand
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Bottom line is....limits are reality...the places a breeder can keep LARGE numbers...and I mean over 5 dogs are shrinking to almost nothing (mt cats put me in violation right now, actually)...month to month. Breeders are being restricted to x litters per year and paying out the nose for those litters in places req permits. But...in spite of all that...we are held to what I believe is an unattainable standard of perfection.
Now we are also not supposed to rehome...which not only removes a viable option from the buyers for well bred, reasonably priced purebred dogs, with known histories and temperaments...which some people will ALWAYS want...but causes the breeder to breed even less...and afford less....yes we do it by choice. But ask yourself what might happen if enough reputable breeders who "gasp* rehome...decide to throw in in the towel. People wanting purebred dogs will have one less option...and I think we all know who'd benefit from that...and it wouldn't be shelters.