Dear Jubilee,

I have a female Airedale and several times in the past three months, I have been approached by people who wanted to breed their males to my girl. They say that they want to breed their male in order to keep his legacy. In talking with these people, it was very obvious that their dogs came from good breeders. It was also obvious that these owners did not have any concept of the basics of breeding (e.g., health screenings, genetic problems, pedigrees, etc.). They simply wanted to breed their dogs because they loved them so much and thought that they were perfect. My question: How do responsible breeders prevent their puppies from being bred indiscriminately or inappropriately?

Shocked in Chicago

Dear Chicago,

This is the nightmare of every responsible breeder, that a dog of theirs will end up being bred indiscriminately, with no knowledge or understanding of the consequences for the health of the puppies or for the safety of the puppies. Responsible breeders do different things or several things to reduce the likelihood of a bad breeding.

First, they screen prospective homes as carefully as they can. Many refuse to sell to people who mention it might be nice to eventually have a puppy of their own or to show their children the miracle of life.

Second, they do whatever they can to educate people about the dangers to their own dog of breeding (See We Love Our Airedale on this page). Many people simply do not realize how much risk there is in breeding their dog.

Third, responsible breeders sell their puppies on a contract: they may sell their puppies on a co-ownership (which means any offspring could only be registered with the breeder’s agreement and signature); they may sell every puppy on a limited registration (which means that the puppy cannot be shown in AKC conformation and any offspring of the puppy cannot be registered with the AKC); and they may sell every puppy on a spay-neuter contract. Most breeders do two of the above; some do all three.

Responsible breeders keep track of the puppies. They may call puppy people from time to time to find out how the puppies are doing. They ask about any training issues and try to help with such problems, including referring people to training support. They ask owners about health issues and offer to help or give advice. And they ask if the dog has been neutered or spayed. If it has not been done, they reiterate the terms of the sale. If it is about to be done, they will ask that they let the breeder know how everything goes (they care as much about the outcome from a health point of view as from fulfilling the contract). If it has been done, they ask how the dog did with anesthesia, etc.

And finally, responsible breeders will take one of their puppies back at any time in its life.

Breeders can only do so much to prevent indiscriminate breeding and, as long as people do not fully understand the ramifications of random breeding, there will always be a chance that a puppy will end up being bred.