Posted by Katrina Hartwell on August 15, 2009, 19:47:02

So as not to take away from Michelle’s puppy thread below I thought I would start a new topic. This is in no way aimed at Michelle’s litter or anybody else or their dogs, just what I do and some observations. I am not trying to change people’s minds or get them to kill their pups, it is none of my business how other people do things, this is just to share methods and ideas. When I was a kid, b###hes dug holes and had pups. We would wake up in the morning and just like magic there were the pups. Holes in the dirt kept the pups at just the right temperature and were just the right size. Some would die, some would be culled. They would be fed weetbix, cow’s milk and raw meat, they were fed sulphur or washed with kerosene and soap or thrown in the cattle dip to control fleas and ticks, they were barely wormed and never vaccinated. The best they could hope for (if they were a promising pup) when badly injured was to be stitched up, given a shot of penicillin and locked in a cage with an old sack to sleep on. Pups who were timid were shot, as were those who were sickly or didn’t work. There was no socialisation, positive training or desensitising. While I do not advocate treating dogs like this it does have its merits. Health problems didn’t exist. If it interfered with a dogs purpose he was culled. Temperament problems didn’t exist, again, if it interfered with a dogs purpose he was culled. Now I see breeders advising to take 8 weeks off work to help the little darlings into the world, the b###h needs to be scanned by ultrasound to see if she is in pup, NEVER allow a b###h alone with the pups, even for a minute, every pup needs to taken from the sack, towel dried and have the umbilicus cut and dabbed with iodine. Pups need to be wormed every week, vaccinated to within an inch of their life and treated with residual chemicals for fleas they don’t have. They must be born in a super sterile, climate controlled whelping box inside your house and can only be fed premium, specially formulated, hypoallergenic, organic dog food. Breeders battle to save every pup no matter how what the cost, genetic problems such as cleft palates are fixed with surgery, dogs that cant mate naturally are AI’ed, fed supplements or given drugs. Dogs with allergies are treated with drugs and bred from, dogs with epilepsy are the same. If his immune system is weak we bombard them with drugs and supplements to stave of infection and disease. If a dog has a poor temperament we must smother him to cover it up or get around him like a closed up pocket knife for the rest of his life. We must never give a pup a correction for the first 12 months lest it damage his fragile mind. We can’t let them walk up stairs, run, jump or chew on bones. I dont know if its right or wrong nut for me anyway the solution lies in moderation. I cull my litters to no more than 6 or 8, my b###hes whelp in a concrete floored kennel in 3ft of hay so they can dig a nest, a b###h that cant whelp naturally/breed naturally or raise her pups is culled, those who are sickly or of poor temperament are also culled. There is no bottle feeding to make sure all the pups get enough, no vet treatment except for injuries. Any sign of genetic illness or allergy sees the dog culled. By culled I don’t always mean dead, just removed from the gene pool. I use genetic testing to help me determine what genes are lurking unseen, I use drugs to treat injury, worm my dogs and vaccinate my pups (not my adults). I store semen from proven sires and in the future will hopefully use AI to access dogs across the world. We treat our dogs like we treat our children and we have now managed to produce the first generation of humans with a shorter life expectancy than their parents. Maybe there is a lesson in that for dog breeders too. Cheers Katrina

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