I think with so many new laws being passed locally, it’s time I address why we have so many dogs.
When we ask our puppy parents to be responsible forever pet parents we are not asking anything more of them than we are asking of ourselves. So simply put our dogs are forever. In fact we have some fun stories on how our dogs came to us or how they decided they were never leaving. haha For instance, Rayder and Millie were never suppose to stay. Rayder had 3 homes fall though before I decided no more, he’s just staying. Millie had a home lined up but after months it also fell though. We had bonded by then and I could not let her go. Ghost and Cersei came to us severely emaciated and it took months to nurse them back to health. Rehoming was not an option as we could not see them have to leave yet another home. I guess me and my big heart are the problem. haha
Before I go on I want to stress that I am not taking about other breeders or how they run their program. I acknowledge that we all do this for different reasons, with different goals and in many cases responsible breeders find homes for adults once they retire from showing, and/or breeding. For families that do not want to go though the puppy stage this might be a good option for them. But there are also breeders who breed from first heat until the dogs are seniors and litters are no longer of good size and health. They will often change the names of senior dogs so you do not know they have been breeding the same female for 8+ years and rehome when a profit can no longer be made. So like most things there are 2 or more sides to every situation. I can only speak on ours.
Our dogs are forever and it would have to be in the best interest of the dog for us to ever consider rehoming our pets. While the exact age that dog become seniors can vary by breed size, I can say that half my pack are over 7 and what I consider seniors (or approaching senior status) and 3 of our seniors (Nikita, Zuko and Tyrion) have arthritis and take expensive supplements daily as well as food add ins to support joint health. Senior care can be expensive and it can take a lot of time and care. Not to mention having to decide when it’s time to let them go…. this is not for everyone. We feel it is our obligation to see them though their lives the best we can.
So our pack is big, our dogs are family, over half are altered (no breeding) and when we retire them from breeding and they stay here, with us. We are softies with big hearts, and maybe we haven’t always made the smartest decisions but we love and care for our family.
