Just something interesting

[steph90]

When I was in high school, I was in the vet tech program. We had a kennel in the outside area of our classroom, and would sometimes end up with a stray dog to find a home for. One of the dogs that ended up in our care was an absolutely gorgeous dutch shepherd. One of the most gorgeous coloration, eyes, structure I've seen. Of course, I had no idea at the time. Apparently he was dumped and my teachers friend brought him to us. I remember taking care of him and being completely confused by his behavior. He did not seem to be a happy dog, and was just not amused by anything. He could also be hard to control, and I ended up having to get a prong collar for him. I had never met a dog with a demeanor like his. I can't imagine he was a pet. He made my teacher nervous and she gave him to the pound, I think. How do you suppose a dog like this ended up in the care of a high school vet class? I have pictures but I think they must be on my old computer. I'll see if I can get them posted on here.

[Dutchringgirl]

As we know, a misunderstood DS can be very difficult and sad. He was problably so unhappy and no one took the time to get to know him.

[LyonsFamily]

How do you suppose a dog like this ended up in the care of a high school vet class?

It's rather simple. Someone paid a thousand or two for a DS puppy, they think breeding them will bring them a thousand or two per puppy and breed without any intent on proving their own dogs' working ability and are shocked when there aren't puppy buyers lined up at the door. I'm not a breeder hater and there are plenty of breeders on here that do amazing things with their dogs and only breed their proven stock and I'd gladly buy from them time and time again.

On other Dutch Shepherd forums and speaking with some breeders I've heard things like "I paid $2000 for the dad from Cher Car, but I don't train or compete with my dogs, so I'm only selling them for $1500." Or my favorite, usually from the rough coat or LH breeders "We imported a dog to add more purebreds to the gene pool here in the US." After I was told that I needed to be careful with the working dog breeders or those with UKC registration because most had malinois blood to make them extra aggressive, yet those dogs are bred with a purpose and there are rough coats and LH from American breeders being kept until they're 4-8+ months old because there isn't enough interest and the parents aren't proven. When I inquired about a pup that was 5 months old and still with his breeder, I was told how much I could make off breeding him because there were so few rough coats in the US and if I imported a female, to again, add more to the gene pool, I could make a lot more. Because that's what's important when breeding a dog.

They won't even consider breeding to a non registered dog that may have lines of titles after their name and might be the best worker the breed has even seen. There are longhair pups advertised right now on another forum and they're 5 months old. There's not a need for those dogs, especially when your only selling point is purebred or AKC FSS papers.

A lot of these breeders dump the dogs or give them away cheap on craigslist when they've been there too long. Nobody is thinking before breeding. I helped with a malinois transport out of Ohio a few years ago. The woman had two malinois, one from great show lines, another from a reputable working kennel and she bred them for money because she thought police officers would want them since she paid a lot for each of the parents. She didn't compete, didn't work her dogs, or even do any health testing. She gave away 3 on craigslist, I ended up pulling one of those girls out of a home where they were terrified of her and transporting her to a home in Chicago were she now does PSA training and is a really great family dog. The rest of the pups were still living with the breeder until they were 7 months old and ABMCR came in and got her to release all of them. They were unsocialized, frequently chased and killed cats in the home, and the one male I'm still following is in a home with an amazing trainer and has to wear a muzzle in public because he might might strangers that scare him. I'd be easy for one of her pups or others like her to end up in your high school vet program.

[steph90]

I just figured someone would recognize the breed I guess. Hopefully someone did once he got to the pound. Im sure he had a lot of potential in the right hands.