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Do your homework before choosing a dog

RECYCLED LOVE TRACY JESSIMAN

If you are looking to buy a dog – and who wouldn't want a dog – please ensure you are well informed regarding the breeding business. Ensure the company is ethical, meaning they care about the welfare of the breeding dogs and they produce healthy pups.

Animal rescue organizations strive to save homeless pets every day and inspire individuals to become responsible pet owners. These organizations will also work with credible, ethical breeders who breed healthy dogs. These breeders can be a vital fountain of advice about a specific breed for things such as grooming, feeding and training information.

However, animal rescue volunteers become very troubled when they hear a dog owner refer to their mixed-breed dog, whom they bought from a breeder as a purebred dog. Owners of these mixed breed dogs have fallen for misleading breeding claims and marketing.

The Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) interprets a purebred dog as a dog who has been selectively bred over many generations to "breed true”. When a dog breeds true, each puppy produced will look similar and share the unique dog breed qualities. A few breed-specific criteria include Labrador Retrievers with one colour coats, Dalmatians with black spots or

Cocker Spaniels with wavy fur on their ears.

If a dog owner has purchased a dog from a breeder who breeds two entirely different purebred dogs, the dog owner owns a mixed-breed dog, not a purebred. Examples of mixed breed or what some people refer to as designer dogs include but are not limited to Goldendoodle (Golden Retriever and Poodle), Bernedoodles (Bernese Mountain and Poodle), Pomsky (Pomeranian and Husky), Schnoodle (Poodle and Schnauzer), Puggle (Pug and Beagle), Cockapoo (Cocker Spaniel and Poodle), Yorkipoo (Yorkshire Terrier and Poodle), Maltipoo (Maltese and Miniature Poodle), and Chorkie (Chihuahua and Yorkshire Terrier).

Recognized kennel associations such as the Canadian

Kennel Club (est. 1888) or the American Kennel Club (est. 1884) do not acknowledge mixed-breed dogs as purebreds. Over the last four decades, different club registries have emerged, and they do approve, recognize and endorse the mixed-breed dog business. They include the Designer Dogs Kennel Club (est. 2007), the International Designer Canine Registry (est. 1995) and the Designer Breed Registry (est.1979).

The price of a designer dog frequently exceeds a thousand dollars. The demand for genetically modified dogs was born from attempts to make dogs that breeders insist be hypoallergenic, are smaller than the commonly accepted breed, and require less grooming. Price does not seem to dissuade people from buying these dogs.

If you buy a dog from a mixed-breed business, you may be purchasing a dog with nominal or substantial genetic damages. Breeding a large dog with a smaller breed dog can result in lifelong unbearable pain for that dog. Designer dogs may develop incontinence, skin issues or cultivate many distinct costly health-related hereditary difficulties. Buyers should be conscious of the threats comprised of designer dogs.

Please consider adopting from a shelter or rescue organization as many mixed-breed and purebred dogs are waiting for loving forever homes.

Please be kind to animals.

Tracy Jessiman is a pet portrait artist who lives in Halifax with her husband and their three pets. She has been rescuing animals most of her life, but more intimately, animals rescued her.

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2021-06-09T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-09T07:00:00.0000000Z

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