Don’t fall for the marketing, part 2

Because I have…disparate interests, I got invited to a party by a friend involved in another hobby of mine, and a young woman asked how I knew the hostess, and what I did for a living.

I told her I was a dog groomer, and—I get this all the time—she s got all excited and shrieked, “I love dogs!  I had a dog when I was growing up.  I’m going to get a puppy!”

“Really?  What kind of puppy?  And why a puppy?”  I asked her.

“Why not?  Puppies are so cute!”

‘Yeah, they are, but are you away from home over 8 hours a day, like, for a job?”  I asked her.

“Of course,” she responded.

“Then, how are you going to housebreak a puppy?  A puppy can only barely hold urine for about 2 hours for every month of age it is.  So, say you get a 3 month old pup.    That means the pup can only hold urine for about 6 hours at most.  Are you going to get a crate to keep the pup in & hire a dog walker, or what?”

I could see the wheels turning.  “Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.  What do most people do?” she asked me.

“Well, some people hire a dog walker, or spend a lot of money sending a pup away for training for  months—which sort of counters the reason for getting a very young pup for bonding.  Smart people understand  and get an adult dog.  Others just don’t housebreak the pup, & then, when they are totally fed up, post it on Craigslist for ‘rehoming’  & say they don’t have time, or have to move, or have circumstances…& many of us have had the experience that if the dog is not totally housebroken by the age of 6 months, it may never be.”

“Really,” she responded, surprised.

“Really.  & what kind of dog?”

“Oh, I don’t know.  I think a cockapoo or a Pit Bull.  I mean, a dog’s a dog, just one that needs a home” she said.

“Ah, no, a dog is not just a dog. They are not all the same.  A Pit Bull is a terrier. Bred to be bold.  A cockapoo is a mix of 2 breeds.  Much different personality.  You don’t really know the  adult personality of a dog until it matures.  Just as an example, I’ve had either Afghan Hounds or Salukis for over 40 years. They are  pretty funny puppies, but  many times, when they get to be adults, they turn out to be much more aloof and dignified and much less playful than they were as puppies.  I don’t know if you know this, but there is a temperament test, the Voolhard Test that you can give to a litter of puppies to give you some idea of what the adult personality—at least in terms of  trainability, would be like.”

“Wow. I had no idea it’s that complicated,” she said, and laughed.  I know she was still thinking  she wanted just a dog.

“It’s not that it;s complicated. It’s that dog lovers know more about dogs than we did even 30 years ago. People who want to do stuff with a dog, like hunt, or do agility, use the information.  Unfortunately, people looking for a puppy  usually go to a pet shop and trust the sellers.  People who sell dogs to make money  don’t car about any of the information.  All they care about is if your credit card will be declined.  &  even veterinarians, if they are not dog fanciers, don’t know that much about the breeds or animal behavior.”

“So, how do I find the dog I want?”  she asked.

“I know this sounds strange, but call area dog grooming shops or kennels & ask if anyone  employed there either shows dogs or knows people who show dogs or do performance events. These days, many groomers have just gone to dog grooming school and really don’t know dogs, but the old timers do.  Talk to those groomers. Talk to dog trainers. They don’t all do performance, but they know other dog people.  It’s a network. You can google  ‘dog clubs’ or ‘obedience clubs’ in your area, or AKC professional dog handlers.   Many of them don’t breed dogs, but they know people who do, and they have experience with many breeds.  You can talk to hobby breeders who show dogs.

“Don’t fall for the marketing. Not every dog that looks cute & cuddly is cute. Very few of the small ones are cuddly.  The Maltese & Shih Tzu are cuddly, and an Italian Greyhound will get under the covers with you, but Schipperkes, Dachshunds, and most terriers are not cuddly dogs.   A  Mastiff—a huge breed, will  try to sit as close to you as possible.  & remember, you won’t be getting Lassie.   They all need training.  And I have to tell you, I have gotten several purebred dogs, several that turned out to be show quality, and  all were housebroken and obedience trained, from breed rescues.  & many of the shelters have great older dogs.  The shelters don’t necessarily get  bad dogs, sick dogs, or spoiled dogs.  They get dogs because owners die, people  lose jobs, and in many cases, they did not get a dog from a hobby breeder who would take a dog back,  but from a backyard breeder or a pet shop that really doesn’t love the dogs they sell.”

“You really know  a lot. Can I call you ? Like I said, I don’t think I am ready now, but I think you can help me find what I am looking for.”

Sure, but I  have to tell you, tha, especially in this economy, it may take months to find a puppy, but  virtually all the breed rescues will have dogs.”

Did I  stop  1 person from going to a pet store?  I sure hope…

Our Civilization in Decline….

Ever since I sold a 500 gallon aquarium in less than 15 minutes by posting on Craigslist, I’ve been a user.  It’s a wonderful website—something someone should have thought of this before Craig  thought of it.

What’s particularly unique about the site is that there  is a huge  agreement—and warnings—about what is not legal to post.  However, since nobody monitors the site, the skanks  will always post the illegal stuff…ammo, drugs,  and live animals.  And—if they think you think you have maligned them—or—rather—cut into their income,  will post all sorts of  untrue posts, after their posts have been ‘flagged’ off. thinking they will hassle you.  & they are so sure it’s YOU who has flagged them off.

I have to admit….about a month ago—& I was not staying at home at the time….so it sort of backfired on them (except to annoy my roommate who finally shut off the phone) some skank posted my contact info  in the CASUAL ENCOUNTERS section.

You would think that the  average guy of average intelligence might  realize that most of the posts are from ex husbands & disgruntled ex boyfriends,  wanting to offend the woman who rejected them, but unfortunately, the average intelligence of the average guy in America is—-well—look how many are willing to join the military & die for the very rich?  Makes no sense.

My roommate, a really intelligent guy ( Ph.D. & bilingual Japanese & English), wanted to know why any guy would want a CASUAL ENCOUNTER.  Is he not sweet?  I told him  that many guys don’t want a girl friend—-too high maintenance, & they don’t want to masturbate. They’d rather risk getting robbed & shot, & AIDS.  Tough guys—& they vote Republican, join the military…& apparently breed herpetiles (snakes,monitor lizards, Bearded Dragons, etc) & Pit Bulls.

Huh? What?  That’s right. The guy who posted my contact info was someone who I asked  not to sell the animals that he bred on Craigslist.  They don’t  have to pay to advertise, & it’s a buy/sell/trade website that everyone uses. It’s just that the sale of live animals is not allowed.  Even  though the TERMS OF USE state that no animal sales are allowed and  you can’t post anything illegal, you can not only buy  baby animals, but endangered species, drugs of all sorts, ammo & guns, stolen goods…& law enforcement is clueless or too lazy to follow through, respond to the posts, & arrest thee people.  & to me, this is a no-brainer.   Craigslist even posts—in the terms of use—that you can be fined $10.000 per illegal or fraudulent or libelous post—but try finding a lawyer to take your case. You need at least $10,000 minimum to mount a lawsuit.

I  responded to one woman  who posted that she wanted to BUY A PIT BULL WITH A LOW FEE.  I asked her to check out  local shelters that always have Pit Pups—but she didn’t want a shelter dog, she wanted to see at least 1 parent dog—SOMETHING I SUPPORT SO MUCH!!! Just  not on Craigslist.  But something else…. even though there were puppies posted, apparently all the skank breeders were asking too much money for her taste.  How ironic!  So, she decided I was harasing her by responding to her email.  Ok, whatever… what she doesn’t understand is…..local police will not do anything unless they know for sure I am in their  policing area…& she can prove she was harmed.  I know this because I have contacted my local police about harassment.  I’ve talked to detectives.  The government is broke.  Harassment is legal. I don’t mean to harass.  Many people thank me for the info… telling them where to look for a healthy dog… but not the dog brokers.

The there is a family that frequently looks for  a dog on Craigslist.  They post ‘dog wanted’.  Since they post anonymously, I suggest they just respond to the posts. They told me to MYOB.  See. as I said–the people genuinely looking for a dog  email me & thank me—not the brokers.

Well….after weeks of searching, the family finally got the dog they wanted….but no—not really….he’s not working out, the seller won’t take it back, & I am harassing them by telling them to demand the seller take it back. & you know what? They will ultimately dump this dog via a Craigslist post—& post for another dog.  It’s easy enough to do, and totally legal.  &—I know this happens, because the idiot animal sellers—to harass me—often post that I am giving purebred puppies away.  I can’t imagine what these dimwits  are thinking.   I tell every caller that someone put up a scam post, that only bona fide shelters & rescues can post puppies because it is clearly posted in several places that NO ANIMAL SALES OR BREEDING ARE ALLOWED ON CRAIGSLIST—& they will not find a free puppy unless it is sick or stolen—and I can refer them to shelters, rescue, & hobby breeders who will be honest with them….& they thank me….

Why do I bother? I do know honest hobby breeders….& the economy will never recover to what prosperity we had during the Clinton years…& some  breeds of dogs are going to die out.  Not Pit Bulls, though. Pit Bulls are now the #1 breed owned in America. Why?  They are easy to take care of, good with kids, smart—and you can find them all over the place.  Too many are bred for the number of homes there are—& with the  ‘no-kill’ shelter adoption movement  encouraging people to adopt rather than buy—-& people wanting any dog that needs a home—that is what they get—because that is what is available.  A few Beagles, many Huskies (they are bred to run—so why would you get one if you live in an apartment & don’t have a huge fenced yard?).  In the small  toy breed, we are over run with Chihuahuas & Shih Tzus.

What annoys me more than anything is that our law enforcement professionals are not perusing Craigslist for all the illegal activity that really does affect most of us.  Illinois is in the hole for  several billion dollars. Granted, the fines most of the  illegal posters would face are only about $1000 per, but gosh, there are enough of them that it would be more than a break even proposition to  go after these  ‘libertarians’ & it would improve our quality of life:  fewer animals needing homes, fewer  animals in shelters for us to feed before we have to kill them.

I an not a professional profiler, but I have an undergraduate degree in anthropology…& it seems to me that the people who think it’s a good idea to raise pet animals as livestock in an urban environment haven’t thought the implications through. That’s obvious…but more—the rest of us, who let them get away with this, have a false consciousness. ‘We’ seem to think that somebody will deal with all these surplus animals (& the weapons sellers, & people trafficking women) and protect us from these thugs.  Well, guess what— in a bad economy, it is proven that there is more crime.    We already know the solution—tax the rich &  give grants to job creators.  It won’t happen. Why?  The wealthy—& that would be households worth over $500,000—have far more influence over politicians than you or I do. We are not vocal enough. We don’t tell them that  this is a crisis—and we don’t inform ourselves  about how to  fix this.

I’ve cited John Kenneth Galbraith,  Keynes,and Robert Reich in the recent past.  The wealthy have a vested interest in not only keeping  regular folks ignorant, but keeping us busy  taking care of pet animals—particularly the unwanted ones.

The No-Kill groups adopting out dogs……

I recently read a statistic that was not particularly shocking to me:  there are 16 dogs looking for homes for every  single person in the USA.

That’s a lot of dogs.  Having worked with dogs since I was a kid, my reality regarding dogs, and how I think about them, is different from how most  non-dog people relate to them.

Still, it is discouraging how many people  go out looking for  a dog, with an idea, a fantasy, in their heads of what that dogs is going to be like: how it is going to behave, what it looks like, how they are going to relate to the dog.

Hey, I’ve been there,  In the late 1960s through the 1970s, everyone wanted an Afghan Hound based on how they  appeared.  The breed was severely over-bred. As a result, lots of people bought them, and then realized they were in over their heads  in terms of grooming or training, or they just did not like the personality of the breed.

Many of these dogs were killed:  died of exposure when they ran off, hit by cars, or euthanized in shelters.  Capitalism took care of the irresponsible breeders. Too bad so many dogs were neglected before they died.

If you had told me 30 years ago that Soft-coated Wheaten Terriers, or Pit Bulls would be come so popular, I would have told you  it would not happen:  people didn’t really want big terriers, coated or not.  & the Wheaten Terrier fad faded, but, due to so many idiots breeding Pits—& I mean  the uneducated ‘working class’, with no knowledge of economics—coupled with the many ‘no-kill’- groups that have sprung up, the Pit is now the most popular breed of dog in America.

I admire the ‘no-kill’ groups for their efforts, but, due to their  either over-zealousness or naivete, they are NOT solving the problem of too many pets being bred. They tend to be very unsophisticated in not only screening prospects and following thorough , they are horribly bad at genuinely affecting public policy.

Most of the rescuers can save 1 or 2 dogs—at most…but if they want to save more—they have to place the ones they have, & that means they either have to trust people who want dogs to be truthful, or  they just assume  that these  adoptors have thought things out (well, even the backyard breeders ASSUME that because  people pay for a puppy, they  will take care of it).

The problem is—because the irresponsible breeders know these do-gooders are out there—they have no incentive to be responsible for the dogs they breed. And—because the do-gooders are so politically unsophisticated, they don’t address law makers about making the bad breeders responsible  for the  pets they commercially produce.

This is not a problem in Europe.  The ‘culture’ is that if you breed dogs, they are your responsibility, and the government makes sure you are.

Our governments are so broke, this will not happen for a long time.

The othe fact that  everyone glosses over is that…you can’t save them all. The ‘no-kill’ groups pick & choose what they save, and  lead everyine to believe they can all be saved.

They don’t have to deal with the unadoptable:  the old, the chronically ill, the dogs that were spoiled or are just untrustworthy.  Often, the do-gooders make excuses for these dogs & lie about them. That just makes people distrust rescues.

In Chicago, there are  2 groups (besides Animal Care  & Control–which is a dog pound, not a  shelter) that are open admissions:  The Animal Welfare League and the Anti-Cruelty Society. They make the tough decisions.  They never turn an animal away. They admit they euthanize.

Look opast the marketing of the ‘no-kill’ groups &  understand & respect that the open admissions shelters  do a wonderful  job. Support them.

The American Kennel Club & Integrity…omg

I have been grooming dogs since the  late 1960s.  Our industry is the pet industry. There are several trade publications that  anyone can receive for free.  You just have to sign up to get them.

One of these magazines is Pet Age.  Clearly, they aren’t about making policy. All they do is report the facts.  The facts are, as reported in Pet Age, December 2009, on page 8 in the ‘Briefs’ section :  The Hunte Corp. (Goodman, Mo.) in conjunction with the American Kennel Club (New York…actually—Raleigh, NC, but I’m quibbling) hosted a free health clinic for professional dog breeders Sept.3—4.  Nearly 100 adult breeding dogs received heart and joint exams as well as grooming services during the clinic.

This is the same American Kennel Club that  publishes the Gazette for the hobbyists/fanciers, and  which regulates dog shows & trials, maintains our studbooks, and has a huge marketing campaign  trying to get people to insist on AKC papers.

Since they are really the ‘only game in town’ (nobody really trusts the United Kennel Club for their studbooks, & the Continental Kennel Club—which has a post office box for an address—that the puppy mill breeders use when their  records are so bad even the AKC won’t take their money?  Puh-lease…), the hobby breeders have to hold their noses & continue to register with AKC…but  the way it works is that hobby breeders are members of kennel clubs.   Kennel Clubs MAY become members of the AKC, and they then elect delegates to the AKC to represent their interests at monthly meetings…& no delegate has brought this up at a meeting!  At least not yet.

The excuse (I mean the explanation) the AKC gives for allowing the professional breeder  to mass produce puppies & not keep them in  stress free surroundings?  Hobby breeders can’t keep up with demand for puppies.

If there is anything that would make you  address your own sanity, it’s the idea that both the ASPCA & HSUS (NOT a humane society, but a lobbying organization) do more to try to warn the public about puppy mills than the AKC.   The AKC is not going to bite the hand that feeds it—& currently, the hands are puppy mills, providing way more food than the hobby breeders.

Notice, the demand is not for adult dogs—but puppies.  We know for certain that in some breeds: Basenjis, Shiba Inus, Jack or Parson Russell Terriers, that  for every puppy sold, one ends up in rescue.   The rescues tend to keep statistics.   There are several reasons for this.  One reason is that the types of people who are attracted to certain dogs are not honest with themselves. They are not introspective, and are attracted to the dogs ‘ conformation—its looks— & don’t really understand the temperament or personality of the breeds.  But another reason is that hobby breeders are not only not screening their potential buyers carefully enough, they are selling intact puppies that can be easily bred when mature.  Go back & read my blog on Integrity & being a purebred dog fancier & humane activist.  Naive  hobby breeders who think that everyone has the same level of integrity as they do have just assumed that puppy buyers really love the breed so much that they would never jeopardise it.  They might not even know they are  jeopardizing it  if  the hobby breeders don’t address  what they are doing to ensure the future of the breed, genetic testing, etc.

Unfortunately—what is happening is that—to stop mandatory spay/neuter legislation, hobby breeders will have to join up with lobbyists for puppy mills (who have so much more money), in many states—-to be able to continue  maintaining the integrity of their breeds.  Most are libertarian in their political dealings:  that is, they don’t want to become involved. What will happen is that they will be restricted and stop breeding.  The fact is, in many places—the legislation is really fair:  they limit breeders to keeping no more than 20 breedable dogs. What kind of hobby breeder would need more dogs than that?

In the meantime, if we fanciers don’t address what the AKC is allowing, none of us will be able to afford  genetically sound purebred dogs.  We either have to ask the AKC to come up with a registry class for the poorly bred  puppy mill purebreds, or accept the idea that  many breeds will not have viable gene pools due to so many dogs being carriers or genetic defects.  It may be happening to Bedlington Terriers, due to copper retention in their livers—but the puppy mills won’t bother with Bedlingtons.  All  you Shih Tzu, Yorkshire Terrier, & Chihuahua fanciers—are you going to ignore this?