The son of a friend, bought a Beagle puppy a couple of weeks ago. Supposed to be a good breeder, and the parents of the pup, Crufts Champions.

Cost - £850.

They were told that the pup was the runt of the litter.
Two days after they got him home, he was on a drip in the vets with gastro entritis.

Personally, I think anyone paying prices like that for a dog, want their heads looking in. Animal shelters are full with unwanted dogs - and puppies.

I agree, it is the inter breeding that is so wrong, and a bitch just for breeding does nothing else, it is all wrong, but apart from not buying from breeders what can we do, there are always folks how will not have rescue dogs.

I have had three rescue dogs and I much prefer them. They are usually loving and good natured, or maybe I have just been lucky!! I have to say though, that ALL my dogs have been a wee tiny bit eccentric!!

Well, they do take on the personalities of their owners, Rowan.


I am going to restrain myself here - and only say that I heartily agree with you, Widge,

Then eccentricity is an understatement!

I browse a site which rehomes mostly dogs which have been used for puppy-farming. It is heart-breaking to say the least.

The callous buggers want bagging.

I agree that interbreeding has made wrecks of many animals with serious repercussions healthwise.
Its about time it was stopped because in my eyes its cruel.

I have just bathed my dog because she came in wet through and smelling oily and doggy.YUKKY
Hubby reckons I am mad to do it on a Saturday evening but at least she will smell a bit sweeter until she goes to the groomer in April.
I feel knackered now but satisfied.

Can someone tell me WHY I cant put any emoticons on my posts.?

I have a friend who breeds German Shepherds, she also has a boarding kennels all my animals holiday with their Auntie Olga.
She shows her dogs and also does obedience training with them,she has just become a judge at dog shows.
She doesnt breed for the sake of it, she helped us find our last dog Jenny Olga had no puppies at the time.
she eat sleeps dogs and we think prefers them to humans,not all breeders are the same.

I knew a lady who got a German shepherd pup. The breeder had taken videos of each pup from the day they were born, till they went to their new homes. Then she presented the videos to the new owners.
I thought that was a great idea.

Some years ago, I went with a friend - who bred poodles - to visit someone she knew. This woman was also a breeder, and a judge.
In her dining room, she had cages stacked against a wall. In each cage was a bitch in pup.
In town puppy farming in my opinion.

Maywalk wrote:
Can someone tell me WHY I cant put any emoticons on my posts.?

Dunno, Maisie. Check that this site is on your trusted ones and you have javascript enabled and pop-up stoppers disabled for here. And you could always clear your cache and reload Rowans, because the cache uses old pages for speed, and I have changed the bbcode that does the post box stuff and the smilies.

I've now tried all the templates on IE and Firefox, and haven't any problems....so it must be a browser or browser setting thing.