oh my goodness....
I can't believe the nastiness that has gone on here between when I checked the forum the other day to see people's replies and my decision to respond today. Also, the hype about how long it's taken to respond... it's been what, not even 3 days? Honestly, we have lives. It was mother's day weekend and I have a 16-month old who's been sick with croup for the last week.
I had to think for a while to decide if it was even worth responding to the immediate criticisms we have received here. I did not feel it necessary to attempt to prove myself and perhaps only get caught up in a drawn-out battle of personal opinion differences. However, I do not want to leave anyone with a bad taste in their mouth, so I would like to go ahead and attempt to address everyone's questions and concerns at once, if that's ok. I'm sorry if this post seems too long, but I have a lot of thoughts I'd like to put out there.
The first is that this particular forum topic's is basically advertising, is it not? Whether for money or not, the point of this thread IS to advertise.
As to the post itself, it was actually done by my webmaster who has been trying to increase traffic to the site because we are in the process of launching a bigger site that will strictly be an informational/forum site for shiba owners/lovers. It is an idea I have been working on for a while, and we feel about ready to launch publicly. The hope is that increased traffic to suwannee will result in decent traffic to the new site. Shibas are not the most popular of dog breeds, so we're speaking to a niche here, but the people within that niche are rather hard to find. Enter Chazhound forums...
Trust me, we are not making any money by 'advertising' here, or anywhere else for that matter. The *very* little money we make off ads doesn't even cover domain registration costs, let alone hosting or the many work hours put into the site.
In addition, the post shares a link to our 'screencleaner' which we feel most people would enjoy, though it is silly and somewhat pointless. The page that contains our screencleaner contains no links back to our site, or any ads either. It is simply a fun thing to share. Therefore, all who are saying the post was to make money... well... it simply wasn't. There's no money involved. There aren't even any puppies available. This post was purely for promoting awareness.
As for the breeding...
The text of the post and our website states that we are FIRST an informational source, and secondly that we breed. The purpose of suwanneesunsetshibas.com is not strictly to advertise or sell puppies. Our main goal is to provide information. IF someone should be interested in a puppy, they can contact us and we may or may not be able to accommodate them. If someone is interested, we then provide them with the information you find lacking about our breeding goals, championship lines, and health testing, as well as choosing a respectable breeder, showing, agility, etc. They can then make their own decisions. The majority of people who view our website simply aren't interested in that much in-depth information. The majority of people, honestly, are looking for information on heartgard, frontline, or eukanuba, of all things. For people who do contact us, we also investigate their reasoning for wanting a puppy, what their goals are, and how they have familiarized themselves with the breed.
We actually have *not* bred the pair repeatedly, ad nauseam. You are correct in noting that our wording needs to be modified. It should state that we OWN one active breeding pair... NOT that we only produce puppies constantly from that one pairing. Our female is only bred once/year, if that, and any other puppies sired by our male are not 'ours' to be listed, therein resulting in the poor wording. The fact that we have chosen to only *own* one active breeding pair does not make us bad breeders. It makes us better owners.
We chose our cream female very specifically based on her lines, as well as our male's. No, she is not up to AKC color standards. However, her lineage is excellent. She IS AKC registered. Her lineage, combined with that of our male's, we were hoping to achieve a Champion Red Sesame. We did not get the desired sesame result, but we have gotten two show-quality reds, one male and one female, who are doing well in the rings.
In addition, the JKC DOES accept cream shibas. I even discuss why the AKC does not permit the cream coloring on suwannee. Personally, I hope that some day the AKC will change their standards to include the cream. That being said, we are NOT producing cream pups, and all pups that have gone to new homes have gone with the understanding that they carry the recessive cream coloring and breeding partners (if applicable) would need to be very carefully considered.
Our health guarantee extends to one year because congenital defects can be diagnosed within the first year after purchase. We assume that after the first year, problems that have not already been diagnosed as congenital may have occurred due to environmental factors. We do not have our entire contract online. It goes on to say:
Buyer(s) must notify the Breeder immediately. Breeder reserves the right to have the dog re-examined by their veterinarian at their cost. If the dog is then found not to be in good health, Breeder will resume possession if this is agreeable to both parties with full refund.........
If you have more information on the length of time you believe congenital defects should be covered, I would be interested in hearing it.
We actually do NOT claim anywhere on the website to be "experts" on the breed, nor do we claim to be breeding to AKC standards. However, our pups do meet AKC standards, and are all registered accordingly.
Finally, I would just like to say that no, we're not the best breeders in the world. We never claimed to be. But we're also not some puppy mill or group out to just make money. We haven't done anything but *lose* money yet. We make the most educated decisions we can make with the help of our mentors. Our dogs, and our puppies, are well taken care of. All puppies are microchipped with us as secondary contacts. We have a 100% acceptance return policy where if, for any reason, someone is unable to keep the dog they have gotten from us, we will take it back. We also have spay/neuter clauses for non-show/non-breeding quality dogs. So I must say that no, we are not contributing to the overcrowding of shelters problem. We are not a "BYB". We are, and always will be, completely accountable for every dog we produce.
Not that I support the idea that *anyone* can breed, but at the same time, when did it become such an elitist group? New breeds are developed by making "mutts".... old breeds have been injured by inbreeding. The Shibas wouldn't even exist today without interbreeding with the Kishu... they would have been lost forever. Anyway. I guess what I'm saying is that we all do the best we can do. Not every dog is show quality, but that is how people get pets... which, when you get down to it, the main purpose of any dog is companionship. Yes, they work, they hunt, they achieve... but they are our companions. So I guess you can all call me what you want, I'm sure there will still be disagreements over whether my program is up to standards or not.
Anyway.. I appreciate everyone's 'concerns' and hope that the answers provided will be adequate.
PS
Dekka--I am immensely curious about what you mean by this statement on your own website: "We strongly believe in the preservation of this working breed and don't support any form of inclusion in the CKC or other Kennel club." I can't honestly say by looking at your website that you look to be any more "reputable" a breeder than I do by looking at mine. I however, would refrain from judging you based upon yours... and I hate JRT's.