Where do dogs come from?

For every sad doggy face seeking a home on the internet there are 100’s more you’ll never see. Dogs are lovely indeed but folks please help to stop the cycle of homeless animals by not purchasing puppies from pet shops or back yard breeders. Go straight to your local shelter/rehome a dog or buy from a registered breeder. And pleeeease don’t get a dog and say ‘lets let them have one litter’. An average litter size is 6 depending on breed etc. Hey presto, you just created 70 or 80 years worth of care requirements… A commitment you are now relying on others to deliver. At least half the pups will go to a home where the owner won’t even bother to learn about his canine language yet will expect him to understand the human world into which he’s been thrust. At least half the owners will experience significant changes in their circumstance (usually when moving house), which may result in their dog being rehomed. Two of the six will consider or act on surrendering the dog when it’s approx one year old because they are fed up with its behaviour. At least one of the six new owners (should you be lucky enough to find 6) will experience serious financial difficulty with the cost of pet maintenance. Nearly half of surrendered dogs have not yet been desexed. We cannot rely on local bodies to crack down on unfair treatment and illegal breeding as they simply do not have the resources. Best thing to do is to vote with your feet and not support the types of suppliers that have no one to police them. If breeding is done responsibly, with all the care in place that a dog truly deserves there is actually little profit it in. His Mum needs proper care before he is even born. A dedicated breeder pays attention to making his introduction to the world a happy one carefully setting up experiences for him and probably won’t send him to a new home until he is 12 weeks old. This doesn’t mean you can’t meet him in under 12 weeks. You can and in fact it is preferable. It’s just that he still has important business with Mum and littermates while the breeder takes time and effort helping him to navigate his early critical learning periods and adjusting to life in the human world.

Leah & Angela OMeara Hound Dog Day Care (Specialists in Dog Minding & Dog Boarding, Pet Sitting Brisbane & Doggy Day Care Brisbane)