Ethical Cavoodle Breeding In Australia

What is Ethical Breeding Of Cavoodles

Breeding dogs is an area fraught with emotion and ferociously held opinions.  “Backyard Breeder” and “Puppy Farm” bring pictures to mind of neglectful greedy humans exploiting dogs – “for money”.

We don’t have nasty names for breeders who deliberately inbreed, follow extremes of fashion which destroy the health of their dogs and make up crazy histories (the “ancient breeds”)  for dogs which have only been defined in the last 50 -100 years – but I look forward to the day when “Hobby Breeder” becomes a pejorative term too.

Working dog breeders breed dogs for a purpose – whether it’s rounding up sheep, guiding a blind person, detecting drugs or finding rabbits on remote Antarctic islands – these dogs are specialists and often would make really terrible family pets

All the rest of us are breeding “Companion Animals’-  We breed pets.

Regardless of their size, shape, colour or temperament – if dogs aren’t being bred to work they aren’t “working dogs”.

(Working characteristics are rapidly lost in dogs which are selected on appearance rather than working ability.  A great recent DNA study has shown that working Kelpies (bred for farm work and trial competitions) differ from “Bench Kelpies” (bred for conformation shows) in an area of the DNA which is associated with pain perception. Confirming what graziers have long known – that Working Kelpies are amazingly tough animals)

Regardless of what we breed, whether we like to compete with our dogs, or our motives for breeding our dogs, we pet breeders  can be quite simply divided into two kinds of breeders –  ethical responsible breeders and unethical irresponsible breeders.

Ethical Responsible Breeders

Ethical responsible breeders come in all shapes and sizes, some have lots of dogs, some only one or two, some are professional breeders with  fabulous kennels and manicured lawns, some have one or two dogs in the backyard of their ordinary houses in ordinary suburbs – but they all have the following characteristics in common

• Ethical breeders look after their breeding dogs well and make sure they are well socialised and friendly and have a happy, stimulating and enriched  life.
• Ethical breeders love their dogs and would never do anything that would harm or jeopardise their well being  
• Ethical breeders ensure their puppies are raised in a happy, stimulating, clean and healthy environment, where they are loved and cherished from birth, so they are ready to be loved and cherished in their forever home. 
• Ethical breeders have a good relationship with a vet, their dogs are all vet checked regularly and vet care accessed whenever needed, and are well informed about dog breeding and health.
• Ethical breeders don’t overbreed their girls and they desex them when they are retired.
• Ethical breeders make sure that their dogs are not inbred and that parents don’t share genetic diseases so that their puppies have the best chance of healthy lives
• Ethical breeders don’t breed dogs with conformation problems which are likely to affect their health and longevity
• Ethical breeders don’t deliberately breed dogs that can’t mate or give birth naturally
• Ethical breeders put time, thought and effort into sourcing the best possible dogs
• Ethical breeders DNA test all dogs before breeding
• Ethical breeders assess each dogs temperament before breeding
• Responsible breeders accept that they have a lifetime obligation to ensure that their dogs are never homeless.
• Responsible breeders spend time finding the best homes for their puppies, even if this means upsetting some people, as their puppies are their babies
• Responsible breeders encourage desexing and will sell their puppies desexed or with a desexing contract.
• Responsible breeders make sure that their owners are well informed and can provide a suitable home for the puppies they breed.
• Responsible breeders do their best to breed healthy puppies and will have health guarantees and conditions in place to cover the times when something goes wrong
• Responsible breeders strive to stay in touch with their puppies families, and are always willing to take their puppy back if their family is unable to care for them
• Responsible breeders are available for the dogs 24/7, and their puppy owners, which means almost no holidays and breaks