Backyard breeding - the consequences

[K8IE]

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 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.

[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]

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]

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.

[thebronx]

I just lost my baby Bronx a couple days ago and I am still so torn apart. When we "adopted" him we were told he was being malnurished and mistreated and so we took him into our home. We were promised papers and that he had gotten all his shots and deworming...well we didn't get any of it. After a month we found out he never got shots or dewormed..and as far as I know he probably never had papers-they even tried to say the dam and sires were champion dogs. We later were told the reason they mistreated him was because his tail was docked too long and he couldn't be used for show. All lies....all lies. My baby got so sick in a week and couldn't recover-he was born with a congenital kidney disease. He went to the rainbow bridge Friday, March 17 and although people say I did the right thing, I can't believe it. I cry everyday wondering if there was something I could have done. I am so angry some people can be so ignorant to give someone a dog knowing they are sick and knowing they wouldn't live to be a year old. I don't know if I am angry and trying to blame someone-but I am angry and if I ever find the people who gave him to us(who mysteriously disappeared) I will make sure they feel my pain. Back yard breeders are ignorant and should be stopped. Period. RIP my sweet angel Bronx-Mommy loves you.

[AmyR440]

I have two stories to tell...yes two...I had two children, so we decided to buy them each a puppy. We wanted two close to the same age, so that the puppies could play together. We bought Layla first. Once we decided on getting boxers, we started looking everywhere for them. Let me tell you , it wasn't easy...they are not exactly easy to find in Illinois. We looked and looked and finally found a listing in the classifieds of a Chicago newspaper. They only wanted $450 for the pups, and I thought "wow, what a cheap price for a boxer". So off we went...little did we know, we would be ending up at a BYB. We didn't know any better at the time, and when we got there, he seemed nice enough. He had the puppies in a cage on his front porch, and instead of knowing that they should have a sire and dam on site, I thought that it was normal to have them in a pen by themselves, that meant that they had been weaned. He kept bragging on this one female boxer that he had, so we asked to see her. He went into a barn to get her, and brought her out to us. He wouldn't let us into the barn where he kept her. That should have told us something, as now looking back, I believe he had several litters of pups in there that he did not want us to see. Anyway, Layla looked so sad in her cage, and she was really small, I couldn't bear to leave her there, so we took her home. Before we left, he let us know that he fed the litter plenty of pork to fatten them up, so she should be full for the ride home. PORK, to a six week old puppy (yes, I know, much too young). We brought her home,and for five months everything was hunky dory. At five months old, she started looking skinny and her coat was dull, so I took her to the vet. The first vet I saw told me that boxers often go through a growth spurt at that age, and that was probably her problem. Well, after a week of her starting to look skinnier, and her coat looking extremely dull, I took her to see a different vet, who ran a urinalysis and blood sample on her. What came back horrified us and our vet. The puppy was in kidney failure, and there was nothing we could do. Her kidneys weren't formed right from the time she was born, so once she got so big, they just couldn't keep up and quit working. We were given three weeks at the most for her, and were told to make her as comfortable as possible. Two weeks later, we had her put down, as she had deteriorated to the point where she wouldn't eat or play, and she started to smell from the toxins in her blood, as her kidney's weren't functioning. I took a look at her papers later that night, and to my horror....the dam's first litter was registered in the AKC Stud book in 11/03. She would have had to have had a litter a couple of months before that for that litter to be registered in the stud book in 11/03. Layla was born in 04/04. This meant that the dam had a litter, and when she went back in to heat the next time, they bred her again, and she had Layla's litter. Which is probably the reason her kidneys did not form correctly, as they bred her in back to back heats. Which even I know you should never do, and I don't even breed. A definate lack of common sense on that BYB's part.

Story number 2: I was looking online and found an ad advertising "rare black boxers". (Yes, I know...no such thing...but I didn't know any better). I thought I found a steal for $750. I put the deposit down on him when he was three weeks old. Through the next four weeks, we proceeded to get pictures of him at least once or twice a week. He was a gift for my six year old son, so my son was taking these pictures to school to show his friends, he was so excited. We went and got him at seven weeks old (again, too young), he looked nothing like the bouncy puppy in the pictures, he was all skin and bones. I mean you could literally count his ribs. He was still nursing off of his mom. I again, felt sorry for him, and brought him home anyway, as we had Layla at this time, and we had fattened her up just fine, so I would do it for this puppy too. When we got him home, we couldn't get him to eat, or even drink water, and I resorted to giving him water through a baby syringe straight into his mouth. The next morning, my BF woke me up and told me I needed to come and look at the puppy. He was laying on his side, and his breathing was very labored. I called the vet, and took him right in (on a Sunday, mind you this is not inexpensive). The vet told me that the pup was too far gone, and that I needed to call her and get my money back, that by law she had to give me my money back as long as it was within 72 hrs. of the purchase. I went home and called the BYB. She was a vet tech for a local zoo, so she asks me if I had a needle and syringe, and suggests that I try to inject fluid straight into his veins to try and hydrate him. She was very snotty at first, but changed once I told her he had already been to the vet, and was told that she had to give my money back (which she did, that same week). I told her if she wanted, I could bring him back to her, which she said no, and that she was going to take the other puppy that was still there to the vet, as he was acting the same way Rocky did (which led me to believe that she knew he was sick, she just hoped to unload him onto us so that she didn't have to pay that vet bill. ) Come to find out, the pups had coccidia. The other pup got on antibiotics, while my six year old son got to bury his dog. The puppy survived until late in the afternoon, and when he passed, my BF dug the hole, and my son insisted on burying him himself, since "he was my dog, Daddy, I'll do it". I will never forget that sight as long as I live. That night, we went online and found Champ, and our wonderful breeder who has also given us Haylee and Twix. The moral to the story is...do your research. If something doesn't seem right, it's probably not.

[Brynn1508]

Well I am a very new member to BW. And all of this information is quite scary, because there are too many similarities to my current baby girl.
We went to get Bradlee the end of July last year. She was a surprise birthday gift for my husband. I located the breeder on a puppy finder website online. So I was thinking great the breeder is close, she was 800 (not too bad), and she was 9 wks (old enough to leave mom). Well we went on a Tuesday to make sure she was the one. The breeder told us the parents where in Louisiana. The litter had been shipped a couple days earlier. (BIG RED FLAG- but I did not know any better) She was in a pen with another brindle girl. Both were adorable but she was glued to me and my husband. She sold herself. I talked to the breeder left 200 and we would pay the rest on Friday when we came to pick her up. Requested all the right info. Everything seemed ok. I scheduled a vet appt for first thing sat and my husband picked her up on Friday.
When my husband got home he was beaming but said it broke his heart to leave the sister. Then he went on to tell me the sister wasn't feeling well when he picked up Bradlee, but the breeder had taken them both to the vet and it was just a little cold and Bradlee was in good health. Neither of us have ever had a puppy so all my knowledge came from multiple puppy/boxer books i had been reading in prep. I was prepared for her to be scared in the new place, go on the floor, and cry all night long the first night. Well Bradlee did not cry. She slept in her bed quiet. When we got to the vet the next day, the vet immediately said something is not right. She is a puppy and should be more energetic. Bradlee was very lethargic. The vet found an upper respiratory infection. Fast forward to today we have spent over $2000 grand in vet trips. She is 11 months old. Nothing major but Bradlee has a heart murmur, ear infections from allegories (we think- but cannot identify what is causing them) and well need an EKG every year.

But we adore her and we did invest in pet insurance early. Thank goodness... I just hope this was a couple flukes...

[EricaG]

I got Sascha from a friend of a friend who wanted to see her dog have a litter of puppies...I actually did some research before I bought her, and knew about the health testing that should have been done on the parents. I asked the lady if she had done any of them, and she said no, both parents have always been healthy! Well, i figured I didn't really know anything about dogs, and she was breeding them, so she must know what she's talking about right?! We picked out our puppy and brought her home when she was 8 weeks old. I had read that you should schedule a vet appointment for the day you get your new puppy, and I did that. The vet told us that she had a heart murmur, and if he were us, he would give her back. How could we give her back? She'd been ours since she was 3 weeks old. we were already in love. So three regular vet appointments, and 1 veterinary cardiologist appointment($500 just for that one visit) all we knew was she hada murmur, and there was nothing we could do. A few weeks later she got a hystiocytoma on her forehead - and then several more. Next came the demodex mange. Then vaginitis(which she still has at 15 months - even antibiotics wont clear it up), infections on her lips, allergies(we can't find a bed that she isn't allergic to -she has to sleep on a pile of fleece blankets), and weight problems. We recently had to remove a growth from her elbow, and spent $1000+ on an emergency vet stay when she had pancreatitis. We took her to the vet for her annual exam and the vet told us she was concerned because she could feel Saschas lymph nodes through her skin. She didn't know if it was because they were enlarged or just because Sascha is so skinny...either way - not good. She also gave us another round of antibiotics to try and clear up the vaginitis, and some infected pustules that have popped up on her lips, neck and chest.
I know that all of these problems are not genetic, and that if we had bought a dog from a reputable breeder, there is a chance that we would be in the same boat, but I can't help but believe that Saschas health problems have to do with where we got her. I believe this to be true particularly with her heart murmur, d-mange, and all of her many infections(a result of her compromised immune system, which no amount of dietary improvements have been able to help)
We love Sascha, and we couldn't ask for a sweeter, smarter, more loveable pet. But her health problems have cost us so much - both monetarily and mentally. I am always worried about her health, and I am so afraid of what we are going to run into as she gets older.

[cooper'smom]

After losing his ("our" as far as I am concerned!) 9 year old boxer Brandi to cancer, my dad decided he was ready for another dog. My dad is in his 70s and these boxers are his BEST FRIENDS! He was crushed when we had to put Brandi down. So, we were watching in the paper and finally found an ad for boxer pups a couple of hours away for $600. Against the advice of my cousin- whose in-laws are boxer breeders, we went to see them. We just didn't want the hassle of waiting, interviewing, etc... with a proper breeder. That was a bad decision.

We picked Baxter out of the litter because of his white flashes (my dad's favorites). The mom was on site and we actually asked to drive to the daughter's house to see the dad. They were both great looking dogs! Baxter was only 5 weeks old at the time so, even though we didn't want to, we offered to come back in 5 weeks to pick him up. The woman told us that it wasn't necessary and that we could take him that day. We were so excited that we accepted. I wish we had been more patient!

Baxter was so small... we got him home and the problems started... he would projectile vomit all throughout the day. The vet said that he had intestinal worms and put him on medication to clear it. This problem went on and on forever! He was losing weight and just not healthy in general. Baxter did turn out to be on the small side... his back is kind of arched and his tongue hangs out of his mouth a mile. We could all care less about the way he looks- we love him no matter what- but this probably has to do with the way he was bred. He is in better health now but still throws up more often than my boxer. I tried to get my dad to switch him from the vet recommended food to California Natural or Wellness... but he is stubborn.

So, my dad now says that he will never get another boxer from a byb OR take a puppy away at 5 weeks old- way too young!