In the first part of this article, I talked about the pros and cons of buying purebred dogs or adopting "mutts" from your local animal shelter.
But there's another way to get a good dog at a thriftmaster price...check with rescue organizations.
Many breed clubs establish these to help place pure or partbred dogs of their breed with new families when their current owners can't keep them any longer. Illness, divorce, moving or just plain disinterest can cause people to want a new home for their dogs. Rescue organizations will typically place such dogs temporarily with one of their members, then offer the dog for adoption.
The best place to find such organizations is on the internet. By going to Google and typing in "welsh corgi"+rescue+dallas, for example, I got ten pages worth of Texas Welsh Corgi rescue organizations, including links to rescue groups in other states. You will need to have some patience while doing such a search, though, since it can take time to find the exactly the age, sex and type of dog you want. And any reputable rescue organization is going to ask a lot of questions to make sure you'll be a good adoptive "parent," plus charge enough to cover vaccinations and neutering. Read the policies of any such group carefully before you contact them about a dog.
What About Breeding Your Dog?
A lot of people breed their dogs. Their reasons range from "We want the kids to see the miracle of birth" to "Puppies are so cute!" to "I paid good money for this dog and I want to get that back!"
Sounds reasonable, if you don't know what's involved. But take it from me (I've done it twice) raising a litter of puppies is labor-intensive, messy and expensive.
First, I'm going to assume you have a purebred female. If you plan to sell the pups, you'd better be sure she's a good example of her breed. It can be hard to sell pups from less-than-stellar parents for enough to break even. (If you have a mutt, be aware that you'll probably have trouble giving the puppies away, much less selling them. Animals shelters are full of mixed-breed puppies.)
Second, unless you have a male dog, you'll probably have to pay a stud fee, and a stud fee for a well-bred male can be surprisingly expensive. And if the male is not in your area, you'll also have to pay to ship your bitch to and from his location.
Then, provided there are no problems with your dog's pregnancy, you'll need to be around when she whelps. It's a bad idea to assume that a bitch can have her pups all by herself. Large puppies, too many puppies, puppies who are in the wrong position....these can all cause problems, sometimes serious enough to require an immediate trip to the vet for a Caesarian section. Also, whelping is not necessarily a fast process. I had one Corgi bitch who popped puppies out so fast I could hardly dry one off before another arrived. Her daughter, though, took 13 hours to have all her pups...and I had to help with the last two. (I won't go into the embarassing details.) You'll also have to clean up afterward. Ever dealt with multiple placentas?
Even if all the pups are born alive and healthy, you'll need to keep a careful eye on them. Puppies can sicken and die from chills, infections and lack of sufficient milk, plus an inexperienced bitch can kill a puppy by simply lying on it. Puppies also need a series of vaccinations. With a large litter, this cost can run into the hundreds of dollars.
There's also what one can call the "poop" factor. When the puppies start eating solid food, you'd better have a lot of newspaper ready. A six-pup, small-breed litter can easily go through the equivilent of a Sunday paper each day. With large-breed pups, you'd better have multiple stacks of newspaper handy before they ever arrive.
You'll also need some kind of enclosure for the pups, since letting them run free will fill your house with "accidents." (Forget cardboard boxes. They're too small, and puppies will chew through them or climb out of them. I've had a five week old pup clamber out of boxes that had two-foot-high sides.) Puppies also love to chew everything in sight, including magazines, book, shoes, clothes, furniture, rugs and upholstery, and such "meals" can also mean a trip to the vet.
If you manage to raise the puppies to ten weeks old without losing your sanity, you now must sell them. Top breeders often have waiting lists for their pups, but it takes years of breeding, showing and advertising to build the kind of reputation that makes your dogs that much in demand. You'll probably have to do some newspaper advertising, at the very least, to sell your pups and that ain't cheap.
So....in terms of labor, cost and aggravation, is it worth it to raise a littler of cute, cuddly puppies? In my humble opinion, the answer is...No. That's why, much as I adore Corgi pups, I don't do it anymore.
This is a decision you should make with your head as much as your heart. Talk to breeders first. Ask them about the negatives as well as the positives. And find some other way to show your kids the miracle of birth. The world is overrun with unwanted animals, many of them purebreds that started out as cuddly puppies and kittens that became less adorable and more of a chore as they grew. If you want a pet, check with your local humane society, city-run shelter or area rescue organization. It's not only the smart thing to do, it's also the right thing to do.
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