Backyard breeding - the consequences

[r.sifuentes]

my Sadie is from a BYB. We didn't do any research on any kind of breed. I had never seen a Boxer (I am not from another world ) We read many ads & mets many BYBs, but couldn't decide-until we saw Sadie. when we saw the litter I was in love, we saw the sire (AKC) but not the dame (not registered). of course we asked, and before the breeder could tell us his 10-y-old son told us that somebody stole Niki (the dame) the pups were 2 weeks old when someone took her out of the yard, while she was away from the pups.Sire was a flashy brindle & all the pups were flashy brindle except Sadie who is fawn. (although her coat has some brindle in it) we still don't know what to make of the dame story. to make a long story Sadie is a year old & thank goodness hasn't had any costly medical problems (we freak out when she had hives, we called a vet who does home visits & he laughed at us & told us she was going to live). She is a bit petite (42 lbs.) compare to our Ty 7 months (54 lbs.) but shes all the boxer traits I could possibly handle. Sadie is my BYBoxer & my life wouldn't be the same without her.

 

[lexintitus]

I got Titus from a BYB, through my vet's office. :( The asst. was a breeder and I didn't know very much about BYB when I got him. The problem that we've had with him is his chewing. I noticed after awhile that he was swallowing his food whole. I didn't think much about it at the time because Lexi doesn't chew her kibble either, but she does chew her dog biscuits. So, I tested Titus and gave him a biscuit but I just held it in his mouth, so that he would have to bite off a piece. He couldn't do it! If a piece of treat was too big, he would swallow it whole and then spit it back up. Sometimes I heard him break the biscuit though. So, I took him to the vets and sure enough, his teeth don't line up properly. His teeth only line up on one side of his mouth at a certain spot. As I was walking out the door, the secretary said, "She should have never bred those dogs." Only then did it hit me that the asst. was a BYB. She's no longer with the office and I wonder if that had something to do with it. Now, whenever Titus eats a treat, I have to stand over him. Several times he has choked on the food and thrown it back up.

 

[K8IE]

Our Killian...

I know that I am very fortunate compared to some others who have had some very heartbreaking things happen with their babies early on and were left devastated due to the irresposible ways of a BYB. I just wanted to share a little bit about Killian. My DH purchased him from a BYB about a year before we met (and before he knew better). When DH went to pick him up he was greeted by butt wiggling litter mates that looked healthy and happy and then saw one very sad, sick looking baby in the middle of it all that was barely able to move....Our Killian. Being the compassionate sweet soul that he is, my DH chose this sick little baby not knowing what was wrong with him, just knowing that he wanted to take care of him and spare him from any more mistreatment. He took him to the vet to find he was full of worms and other parasites and began treatments. After a few weeks he was a happy bouncing baby.. After several months though, his facial/jaw defect became more and more apparent. If you look in my gallery at the pic titled "buddies", you can see that his tongue hangs out one side and that his nose is totally crooked off to the other side. He has had more issues with it as he has aged. His teeth are really messed up and his jaw is completely offset so they do not line up at all, he is also missing lots of teeth, that never even came in at all, so he has some difficulties eating, and at times he bites his own tongue. As "cute" as it may look and it does give him character that's for sure, it is a serious defect that he has had to deal with all his life. He has had two tumors removed and we are always on the lookout for more. All in all, I know we have been very lucky to have had 8 (so far) pretty uneventul years with him. Only allergies and some other typical things, but he definitely was not bred well and has a defect because of it. I of course would not trade him for anything, he is the best dog ever! But if we knew then what we know now....... I have been doing my research and am on my way to getting a wonderful, health tested show pup, and I have BW to thank for the knowledge of what a BYB is and what a truly responsible breeder is.

 

[KristenElla]

My Sophie...

My Sophie was not a Boxer. She was a Boston Terrier and she was from a pet store. She was the love of my life and she died this past February. I know I will never be the same inside - ever. I have a difficult time writing about this so please bear with me.

Sophie was such a fighter. She was born in a puppy mill in Kansas. Her mill had 250+ dogs and puppies at any one time. It was under inspection every three months from the USDA (they license commercial breeding facilities) because they had so many past violations. She was born in a wire cage and was pulled from her mother and littermates when she was approx. 6 weeks old. She was loaded into a crate and stacked in a truck without air conditioning. She driven across country in the back of that hot truck with many other puppies in crates to a pet store in California. This is where she sat by herself in a small plastic box in a wire cage behind a glass window. This is where I found her. Not knowing anything about puppy mills, my heart broke for her and I brought her home with me believing I was doing a good thing. It wasn't until many months later when Sophie began having knee problems that I started researching exactly where she had come from and my eyes were opened to this horrible industry.

Sophie endured major surgery on each of her back legs (a year apart). She had her bones shaved, her ligaments stretched and her knee caps pinned in place. She had an open fontanel (soft spot) on her head that never closed. She had MAJOR separation anxiety and was dog aggressive. I didn't matter to me, I loved her so much.

Sophie died at age 3 from a what the vet believes was a massive seizure. She was fine and playing one moment and very sick the next. I never even got to say goodbye or I love you. Her heart stopped after a day and half at the vets under heavy sedation to stop the seizure. I still have a hard time believing she's gone. I miss her everyday of my life and always will. I also have thousands of dollars in vet bills to pay off and no recourse against the puppy mill or the pet store.

Please, please, please do not buy a puppy from a pet store. Do not make the mistake I did and give these horrible places your hard earned money and support. Every time someone like me buys a puppy, another one will replace it in that cage within a matter of days. Although I don't regret Sophie for a single minute, I will regret for the rest of my life the person that profited off her suffering and the suffering of all the dogs in cages still producing puppies just like her as I write this post.

 

[CondoPup]

I know four bad experiences with BYB - a friend's female boxer, her male golden retriever, and my sister's two boxers.

My friend's female boxer inherited major allergies. I mean major - I saw the report after she was tested - she is even allergic to poultry, which makes it extremely difficult to feed her so many things. (How many products have chicken as their primary protein source?!) We dog-sit for her often and have experienced how she can suffer if she accidentally gets into something here that is on her extensive list of trigger foods. She is on allergy medication daily that makes her sleepy for hours after each dose. She will probably need to switch medication eventually as this one is already becoming ineffective. They went through a horrific time when they first brought her home trying to balance out all her health problems, paid a ton in vet bills and almost lost her more than once when allergies had her throat swelling up. She is "stable" now but for how long? She is on such a limited diet and so prone to allergies, the fear is she will develop allergies to her regular diet, kicking off a new round of problems and suffering for her.

Her male golden retriever came home way too early - 5 1/2 weeks of age - and almost immediately showed signs of aggression to her children and husband! To shorten this story, the puppy bit both of the daughters by the time it was 10 weeks of age, breaking skin and drawing blood (one almost required stitches). It also attacked her husband and was unpredictable around her. In the words of a behaviorist I helped put her in touch with, she said this behavior in a 10-week old puppy was akin to a "6 year old human child holding up a liquor store, armed with a rifle" - it was that alarming. They tried to return the dog to the "breeder" who refused to take it back, and refused to refund their money. The puppy eventually went to a vet tech at their clinic, a person with no children that agreed to try and save the pup, although everyone pretty much said it would probably need to be destroyed.

My sister's female boxer, inherited allergies too - thankfully a brand and variety of food was found that cleared up most of the problems and got her off her medication, but for awhile she had itchiness and patchy hair loss among other issues. Briciola has also had several lumps removed already that so far have not been cancerous - but when the first major lump is removed before age two, you have to worry. She is now four years old and just had her first cruciate surgery on a back leg to correct a problem that the vet said is likely due to an inherited defect.

My sister's male boxer, Zucchero, inherited problems with both rear legs and needed major reconstructive surgery on both - the first surgery taking place at just 18 months. He was walking "stiff legged" most of his early life as he was barely able to bend his back knees. This also messed up his back conformation, he walked for so long with his hips very high (no knee bending) which created a "bowed" look to his back. I think the surgeries he had were for cruciates, one of the procedures was called "TPLO" surgery. Sorry I can't explain it better, but I do know they used a different technique on each leg, one more drastic than the other, where they had to actually saw the bone in half then "set" it to heal together again as part of the process. He also has pins and something like "fishing line" in one or both of his legs to help facilitate movement more similar to natural. The successive surgeries required not only lots of money, but a lot of restriction as far as playing and other social activities for a loooong recovery time. We are not sure if this is the cause of his eventual development of fearful behavior or if it is because he is almost certainly in some pain at all times, but eventually he became somewhat defensive and unable to enjoy playing with other dogs as he used to. He's working on this with a trainer now and showing great progress but it is hard to know that he almost certainly will be in some sort of pain every day for the rest of his life.

No more BYB for any of us.

 

[Shanz]

I got Cinnamon from a backyard breeder. Like a lot of people I thought " Im not going to show, what do I need papers for" I was ignorant and didnt really do my research.

I was supposed to get a Boston Terrier, but the "breeder" in the news paper who registers her dog with the NAPDR turned out to be listed as a puppy mill by my humane society.

One day I was flippin through the paper and came across an ad for boxer puppies. Went out to see them a few days later and came home with Cinnamon. Her parents were beautiful, Jack and Bailey. The couple was young, had 2 children and a new baby. They told me they were planning on getting Bailey fixed, but came home one day and her and Jack were tied, so the litter was a mistake...I believed it then, but not sure I believe it now.

CIn's nose is a bit longer than it should be and she's kind of small, but so far, at 1 1/2 yrs she has no medical problems aside from allergic reactions to her vaccines which caused seizures. She has developed a lump on her shoulder blade that was about the size of a grape, but its since disappeared. So far her heart beat is normal, but she does have some fear aggression issues.

The other day I was flipping through the paper, and noticed an ad for boxer puppies. The number looked oddly familiar, and I was tempted to call and find out where they are to see if its the same people I got Cinnamon from.

I regret my decision where I got her from, but I do not regret getting her. Ive been researching Breeders for when I do decide to get another one.

My parents got our GSD Brandy from a backyard breeder. The GSD we had before her, Sheba, was from a registered breeder, so why they went from registered to BYB I'll never know.

She was fairly uneventful until recently. Last year she had pyometra (which was totally our fault), also had benign tumours in her uterus. She has recenty developed severe food allergies. SO far she hasnt gotten any signs of dysplasia.

 

[Huggirl84]

Well my puppy, Cooper is now 6 months old. We had no idea about BYB and so when we decided to get a puppy we opened up the newspaper and called. We went out there and the man was not yet home and told us to go around to the backyard that they were in a dog pen. We went out there and the dog pen was dirt with a small dog house and otherwise just a dirt floor. No food, no water and a horrible smell. He let the puppies out and they were all beautiful so I didn't think too hard about ithe conditions, besides they were AKC registered which I thought meant they met a standard. He asked which one we wanted, I picked Cooper out, asked if we wanted his papers, we said he was just a family pet so papers were not needed, so he gave us a $50 dollar discount, and then he sent us on our way, no questions no nothing. Come to find out, the mom of the litter had only been a member of his family for a few months or so before he bred her. He only fed the puppies 4 cups of puppy chow one time a day for 5 puppies (that's less than one cup per puppy!!). The puppies had never been socialized with anyone but this man and his children. Anyways, the vet came today and my little pup has to have knee surgery and eye surgery because his eyelid is rolling it's self inward and drooping so his eye has very little protection. My vet said to contact this man to let him know the problems we're having with Cooper are genetic but I didn't save his phone number and it's unlisted. I just wish I knew then what I know now. I love my dog more than anything in the world and never in a sec. regret getting him, I just regret supporting a BYB.

 

[BOXR_LUVR_05]

BYB in Poland

Well at the risk of sounding repetitive Ill share our story as well. My husband and I had dreamt of getting a dog even before we got married. Once we were married and settled into our house our first order of business was to find our Zero (we knew we wanted a male brindle boxer and we wantd to name him Zero) However we live in Germany on a Army post. So, not being fluent in German we resorted to word of mouth and advertisements on post. There was a breeder in the paper and we contacted him about boxer puppies. (our first clue should have been that he bred so many different breeds of dog but I think we were just blinded by excitement.) He was located in Poland so he sent us email pictures of the puppies and said he charged 400 EUR for the dog and 50 EUR for him to deliver the puppy to us on post. We asked about papers, he told us nobody wants to pay the xtra $ for papers so he usually does not draw them up, like many others we believed that since we were not into showing the dog there was no real need for the papers. He was very hard to get in touch with...always on his cellphone in the car delivering new pups to new families.....we thought it was great that he offered to bring the dogs to us though. He brought us 2 puppies to look at and play with (under no agreement to buy) and of course we fell in love with our Zero and paid him there on the spot. We recieved the puppy passport and he told us that if there were any health concerns to call him and he would come pick up the dog and take him to his vet and bring him back to us in good health for no charge. Because the "German vets are too expensive" he said. Well we thought that was great and he was helpful and seemed to care about the dogs.
We thought the diarhea was normal due to the change but we soonlearned it was due to the fact that he got his rabies shot way to early (which he would have to do to all his dogs to bring them into germany from poland). But so far all is good, I am scared though because now we know so much more about this guy and are fearfully anticipating the health problems that come with this "breeding".
We now know that this "breeder" is banned from selling dogs on at least 2-3 Army posts in Germany. 2 dogs that were sold to people on one post actually died only a few months ater they got them! Other people I have talked to that have bought through this man said that the only reason they bought the dog was because they felt so bad for it and it looked so sickly they just couldnt bear to see it go back with him! Well I could go on but I think its long enough.
MY question is this.......We all have posted these terrible BYB stories........What do we do to stop these people?
here on post we can report someone who is doing bad business but that just bans them from selling to soldiers on post....it doesnt stop them.

 

[gmacleod]

BOXR_LUVR_05: This won't be of any help to you now, but perhaps it is information that you might like to share with other Americans stationed in Germany (might save them a bit of heartbreak down the road). Your particular story is one we've heard several times before on BW...

Responsible German breeders won't sell their puppies to American military personnel. The reason is simple - they care about their dogs, and too many of their pups have been abandoned when people return to the US. Sooo - we keep getting threads here on BW about people who had to get their puppies from Poland, or Hungary instead. Those are the European capitals of puppy milling. Sad to say, but the problem is actually so large that not only does puppy milling make up a substantial portion of those countries' GDP, but there is legislation in place in several western European countries (Germany included) to keep prevent those pups being brought into the country/sold. That is why you had to buy your pup out the back of a car. A good German vet isn't "too expensive" - they would have told you what you were buying.

What can you do? You can make sure that it's well known - spread the word - and perhaps prevent the next military family making the same mistake and putting money into the pockets of the puppy mills. It just fuels demand, and condemns the next unfortunate generation. If you wonder at all what those are like, take a look at this site: www.prisonersofgreed.org

 

[BOXR_LUVR_05]

thanks gmacleod

Thank you again, that was helpful...mostly because hearing that BW is already very familar with the problem lets me knwo just how many people this breeder has gotten to.
I knew that Germans were weary to sell animals to american soldiers because they think we dont take care of our animals (I cant blame them for thinking that, I have seen it)
Well Im not sure how far I will get but I knwo I can start with the vet on post, I know people advertise there and I have a few other ideas of where I post some warnings. Thank you for your informative post.