Please, please, please do not breed or buy while shelter pets die.

[TorchTheWitch]

26. Of course, that goes without saying

I did a ton of research on which Akita breeders were good enough for me. In the entire world I discovered that there's really only about five of them. Luckily for me, two of them were in my state though neither at a reasonable distance and they co-own a lot of their dogs. It's no easy thing to get a pup from the most respected breeders since they generally don't sell to companion only homes, their waiting lists are LOOOOOOOONG, and the breedings are few and far between. With the last two dogs (the one I have now I just got in September) I just got extremely lucky, and with both a lot of that luck had to do with being somewhat known personally to the breeders as well as the timing during the year.

Still, I almost didn't get so lucky with the current pup. He wasn't from the litter of pups I was hoping on. He was supposed to be the breeder's own dog, but unforseen circumstances made him decide that he just couldn't devote the necessary time and attention to him and had to make the very hard decision to give him up as a companion dog to someone (me!). Had it not been for the unforseen circumstances he would have kept the dog, and it isn't likely that I was high enough of the list to get one of the pups from the new litter. So, again with this dog, I just happened to get very lucky in not having to have to wait a long time even though I started my search months before the current dog had even passed away. But because he was already four months old when I got him, I did miss out on a bit of his puppyhood. I'm ok with that though. There were some plusses in getting an older pup, like he was already potty trained and had been socialized well with people and a lot of other dogs, and knew how to ride in a car.

Even going through the best and most respected breeder there is is no guarantee. But it does very much better the odds of getting a pup that is likely to be healthy and live a decent lifespan, and some problems actually can be guaranteed against (like hip displasia). I don't expect perfection since it can't be guaranteed, but I do really like being able to greatly better the odds by going through a well respected and responsible breeder.

Of course, by going through a well respected and responsible breeder it also means that you may have to wait a very long time, and may not be able to choose the pup that you want. Again, I just got lucky that I was able to get the gender that I wanted though I did tell the breeder that I'd be ok with either gender (I just think I always stick to males since every dog in my life has been male and just what I'm most accustomed to).

Another thing I really like about a responsible and well respected breeder is that in the event that you can't keep the dog they will take it back to re-home. Since I'm one of those people that doesn't have anyone else that I know would take my dog and give him the love and attention I expect I worry what would happen to them should I drop dead unexpectedly. I feel a lot better that should I get hit by a bus tomorrow or some other unforseen thing causes my death or inability to keep the dog that the breeder will take him back and either keep him themselves or find another good home for him.

I also really like it that they contract that their pups MUST be spayed/neutered and reserve the right to take the pup back if you don't. Since show dogs must be intact, they contract for those show people that the dogs can't be bred and can take them back if they are. Responsible breeders don't want any of the pups they produce to be used for any indiscriminant breeding or breeding at all. Since they work so hard at improving the breed through their line they don't want all that work and attention screwed up by breedings they don't approve of or can't have control over. Since I recently had my pup neutered I shot off an email with a copy of the paperwork proving he had it done to the breeder, and was happy to do it.

By the way, my first Akita WAS breeder produced, but as I learned much later by a backyard breeder that bred dogs they shouldn't have because of health issues in their history, and gave them up at far too young an age to a puppy mill. I didn't know about stuff like that then, but I sure learned the hard way throughout his life. Technically he was a purebred with a pedigree, but after finally acquiring his full four generation pedigree that the breeder had tried to hide it was discovered that there were several instances of inbreeding too close to his generation and too close in relationship. Now I know that no respectable breeder would ever breed their dogs indiscriminantly, hide the four generation pedigree nor sell pups to a puppy mill nor at too young an age. To this day I'm still angry at that terrible breeder and would love to give them a piece of my mind. Since then, I've done years of hard research, so now I know what breeders are worth it and which ones are iffy and which ones are horrible. It took a lot of hard work, but it was definitely worth it. I'll not be fooled again.