Lakota Australian Cattle Dogs, Central Oregon Cattle Dog Breeders

Jeff and Carrie Griffith
PO Box 485
Redmond, OR 97756

E-mail

Tips On Finding An Ethical Breeder

Where do I start?

Start with the National Cattle Dog parent club (ACDCA)
They list breeders on their site that have signed an agreement to abide by the Breeders Code of Ethics and are members of the national parent club. The national club site also lists regional ACD clubs as well. Not all people are members of both. You can ask the contact person at ACDCA for a Breeder Referal and they will send you several contacts that fit what you are looking for. The national club is a wealth of information and knowledge.

What is an ethical breeder?

Ethical breeders breed for dogs that come as close to the breed standard as possible. They do not purposely breed fad dogs in sizes and colors that are in contradiction to the breed standard. Mini's, toys, chocolates, whites and purples are classic examples of purposely breeding outside of the breed standard for the purpose of making fad based money. Ethical breeders will carefully screen all breeding stock for health problems, and have proof of health testing from recognized dog health registries prior to breedings taking place and willingly show proof of such testing.

They are usually involved heavily in the sport of purebred dogs, whether in conformation, herding, obedience, agility, etc. They are usually members of their national breed club and have agreed to abide by the breeders code of ethics.

The Ethical breeder screens prospective buyers very carefully. They ask a lot of questions to be sure that their puppies only end up in the best of homes. They guarentee each puppy sold in a written contract. The guarentee should cover such things as health and temperment and the contract should clearly lay out the agreement of both breeder and buyer responsibilities. The ethical breeder is knowledgeable about their breed and will anwser questions and concerns regarding the dogs willingly and openly.

An ethical breeder will always take their pup back if it ever needs to be rehomed for any reason at any point in their lives. More often than not this is part of a purchase agreement from an ethical breeder.

The ethical breeder does not support him/herself by breeding dogs. Breeding should not be a business--done correctly, there is very little money to be made in breeding dogs. Steer clear of breeders who make their living off of producing puppies. The ethical breeder's premises are neat and clean. Dogs are well exercised, happy and healthy. Kennel runs are roomy and comfortable. Dogs are up to date on innoculations, well-fed and well-groomed. There is no excuse for dirty, matted, skinny dogs in filthy conditions. If these things are obvious, look elsewhere for a puppy. A breeder should never have more dogs than they can care for.

Ethical breeders generally only have one litter at a time. Be cautious of the breeder that has a lot of litters on the ground at one time or a number of pregnant bitches at one time. Although this isn't necessarily a bad thing (a lot depends on the circumstances of the individual breeder and the situation at hand), generally speaking the breeder with an abundance of litters/bred bitches should be avoided.

The time taken to research your breed and then carefully select a breeder is time well spent. You very well may be saving yourself from a lot of misery in the future.

How Do I Verify What the Breeder Says For Myself?

Please remember it is advisable to verify health testing information, COE Breeder status and Breeder of Merit standing on your own in today's age of photoshop and "creative documentation".

Verify health testing at OFA's database.

Verify COE Breeder status at the ACDCA COE page

Verify AKC Breeder of Merit through AKC's Breeder of Merit page
Please keep in mind that AKC is a business as well as a registry. They are in the business to make money through the registry of dogs. AKC may list someone as a breeder of merit but it is still your job to do your homework on that person. This also means, that just because a person is not an AKC Breeder of Merit does NOT mean they are not ethical. Do your homework - I'm just giving you resources to verify information given.

Red Flag Warnings

Does the breeder do all suggested health screening on their dogs before breeding? No? WHY? How many dogs does the breeder have?
Frankly that's a lot of money to put out on each dog, and an unethical breeder breeding numbers for money is just not going to do it. They may do health testing on a couple dogs and campaign their stud dogs to have that CH sire on there, but they won't health test all of their dogs if they're only breeding for the money. Now this is NOT to say that titled dogs only come from ethical breeders or that an untitled dog means that the breeder is not ethical. That is absolutely not the case, as not everyone decides to show their dogs and that is perfectly fine. Campaigning a dog is much more expensive than health testing. However, if you are looking for an ethical breeder who cares about the dogs they are producing they should damn well be doing their health testing. Why would they risk the health of future generations of their own line by not testing? It's a very good question and you have every right to ask it.

How many litters a year is this breeder putting out? Puppies are a lot of time and hard work and litters cost a lot of money to do right! Breeders just cranking out litter after litter to satisy demand at any time cannot possibly be putting the kind of time and attention into each little brain that you want coming home with you. Are they doing the BAER testing on each pup, worming, vaccinations? Raising puppies correctly is expensive. It is NOT a money making venture when you factor in health testing, feed, vaccinations, vet care, etc.

The following is based on a a case that just recently was brought to light.........
Let's say a breeder has 19 dogs listed on their site - they SAY they do all testing on their dogs, but nothing is listed on each dog's page, and when searching the OFA database you cannot confirm any of this supposed health testing. This breeder lists on their page that they are an AKC Breeder of Merit - this also is not able to be verified on AKC's list of Breeders of Merit by state or name. Then said breeder is raided by state and county authorities and approximately 100 dogs were found living in sheds in deplorable conditions. Responding officers said the stench of urine and feces was more than evident from the street and was overpowering. This my friends is what we call a puppy mill. This person had a very convincing website, covered a lot of topics and to someone who didn't know this breeder, it looked pretty legit. A little bit of homework starting with a referral from the national club and checking OFA and AKC to verify given information would have revealed in short order that this person was not ethical at all.

If you have a not so good feeling about a breeder, listen to your gut. Ask around, check out the list of breeders on the national site - If warning bells are starting to sound for God's sake listen to them. All puppies are cute, but if a breeder has puppies at any time of year to fill your "order" something is flat out wrong with that!