[PyrNet-L] a word of caution from London, Ontario, Canada

[Joe Fonseca <joes@julian.uwo.ca>]

Hello out there.
I just joined this list so I thought I'd add something. Sorry about the
length.

Most newspaper ads in my town (London, Ontario, Canada) for purebred
dogs are from responsible breeders. I know of 2 quality Pyr breeders
that place ads occasionaly. That's how I found mine. But, some are not
so responsible.

A couple of weeks ago I called a 'breeder' to follow up on a newspaper
ad that offered Pyr puppies. I was just curious, I already have Thom a
15 month old Pyr that's still growing. This 'breeder' offered
"registered or un-registered puppies for sale". $300 for unregistered
$750 for registered. Funny thing she had sold 6 of the 8 puppies for the
lower amount. It is illegal to offer this choice. A purebred must be
sold as registered in Canada. That's what sparked my interest. I asked
about the background of the parents, since these dogs aren't that
plentiful in my neck of the woods. Here's what I found out from the
breeder: 1) she believed the parents could not be too closely related
because the male was from "up north",  2) she did not even hold the
registration papers for the female, 3) the mating was an accident (or
was it) as the female was in her first heat and was only about 13 months
old when the puppies were 8 weeks old, if I was interested in a Pyr with
a traceable pedigree, I should get one from a "real breeder". What's
scary is she plans on keeping 1 of the puppies (a male of course). She
asked me why it wasn't ok genetically to have a mating from the same
litter, ugh. I hope I scared her with my response. 

Although unlikely  - if you recently bought one of these dogs (you never
know, it seems everyone in London has e-mail) consider having them
spayed or neutered.

-- 
Joe Fonseca
joes@julian.uwo.ca
.....I'll let everyone know when Thom's pictures are on the WWW, in the
meantime you can see his full-page ad in the March Issue of Dogs in
Canada (page 10). Sorry had to gloat.