It's a natural thing, isn't it?

'Oh, aren't they cute?  I want some.  I want my children to have the experience of seeing puppies born and then helping raise them.  It's such a natural thing. I think it would be good for them.'   Apparently many people are thinking those or similar thoughts.  When multiplied over and over again there are thousands upon thousands of new pups born into the world with little thought of where they will end up.   It is a great experience to watch puppies be born.  It is wonderful to watch a momma dog carefully take care of her young, nursing and nurturing them through weaning.  Many momma dogs continue to seem to enjoy their playful pups for months as they grow and frolic.  If you have children, the puppy experience can be a great tool for teaching them lessons about life and responsibility.

BUT . . .  if you haven't thought about and made plans for what happens to the pups as they grow up into dogs, all the good intentions you may have had for the 'puppy experience' may be negated if those young dogs find themselves homeless, relegated to a shelter and quite possibly euthanized.  Before you consider breeding your dog, please make careful consideration about the fine responsible homes that will be required for each one of the pups resulting from your breeding.  Breeding without a good market of responsible homes for the pups is grossly irresponsible and the breeder becomes morally responsible for the ultimate death of that young dog should it end up euthanized.

'Accidental' breedings are no less the responsibility of the dog's owner.  Breeding and bringing forth puppies is, after all, a very natural thing for the dog!  The dogs, however, have no ability to assure that the resulting pups are properly adopted into loving, caring, responsible homes.  Again, it is the responsibility of the dog's owner to provide for the resulting pups.  If you are not prepared to take that responsibility you must have your dogs spayed or neutered at the appropriate age and carefully guard them against breeding until they are old enough to be 'fixed.'

If you don't have the time (LOTS of it), energy, or resources to feed, vaccinate, care for, love and play with many dogs or if you don't have a list of appropriate homes who can make all those provisions, DON'T HAVE PUPPIES!  . . .  and make sure that your dogs can't!  We try to be very careful to ask those kinds of probing questions of anyone desiring to have one of our pups.  We attempt to assess if the buyer is inclined to be the responsible caring person that will provide a good 'forever' home for their dog.  Our hope and goal is that a Rosehall dog will never end up homeless and unloved and in a shelter awaiting it's execution day . . . for no crime of it's own, but because someone wouldn't provide for it.

Please spay or neuter your dogs at the appropriate age!

Until next time . . .   Eliot     https://www.facebook.com/RosehallLargeGermanShepherds