~ Rescue ~
~ A Breeder's
Responsibility to Rescue ~
~One Breeder's Opinion ~
Every time there is a flurry of discussion about rescue, every time I plan, breed, whelp a litter of puppies, every time I think about placing a puppy or dog, I have an internal argument. A serious argument. It is ages old, and there is never one side that wins, really. But it makes me cry, down deep inside where it really *counts*, each and every time, without fail.
Some of you might be thinking, isn't breeding difficult enough, without having to deal with the internal workings of an insane person? And the answer to that question is, well, yeah - duh - breeding is certainly difficult enough. But this is one of those internal workings that demands to stand up and be counted. Again and again and again. Even when I acknowledge its existence, it demands to be counted again.
Rescue
Breeding
Rescue
Breeding
What so-called "dedicated" or "ethical" or "responsible" breeder does not argue with themselves about breeding and the issue of rescue? Since I have this argument with myself all the time, I am truly blown away when I hear someone never even gives it a thought, or someone actually dismisses a breeder's responsibility to rescue with disdain. I am honestly shocked to learn that so many others do not share in the weight of my guilt, even on the most peripheral of levels.
Oh yes, I know what it is and I claim it all my own. And I even know I have created this particular piece of rubbish all for my own lonesome self. Yep, I do not have problems enough already, but I have to force-feed myself guilt for creating a problem that is not mine alone.
But I DO feel guilty for breeding when so many need rescued. And absolutely, my thinking brain knows full well the puppies I am breeding and placing are not even remotely similar to those needing rescue, cannot even remotely be considered in the same breath, even, no matter what, whether sheltie or mutt, but as I am sure burns deep in the heart of every *rescuer*, my heart tells me quite clearly that it IS the same, because it is a DOG needing a GOOD HOME and that's all that matters in the end, isn't it? It is certainly all that matters in the end to the dog needing a home, doncha think? And I can hardly be an advocate for the beautiful souls that are our beloved shelties, and dismiss this as the workings of an entirely insane person. I may feel insane most of the time but I suppose if someone were to actually ask me, ARE YOU INSANE? I would have to answer honestly <sigh>. ;-)
Wonder how many breeders have said, "Huh. MY dogs aren't in rescue, why should I worry about it? I'M not responsible to rescue the lost and forgotten, the unwanted and abused. It's not MY problem! They aren't MY dogs! That's what RESCUE is for!"
Can you guess what I have to say about that?
SHAME ON YOU BREEDER!
And no wonder rescue doesn't call to let you know about your sheltie they have taken in. No wonder rescuers tend, generally, to ride the fence between animal rescue and animal activist. No wonder rescuers tend to feel so vehemently against any breeder breeding anything for any reason. Talk about bringing your worst, your poor, your dirtiest, your lost! Rescue sees them all, every day, all the poor, the dirty, the lost sheltie souls, while so many breeders loftily look down their noses and leave them wrinkling in distaste, because "it isn't MY sheltie."
But it IS your sheltie. IT IS.
How can anyone who has bred a sheltie litter and call themselves "breeder" believe that none of the shelties they have produced have wound up in or gone through rescue somewhere, at some point? Just because they've never heard of it happening to their sheltie? Can any breeder reading this right now actually PROVE that none of the puppies they have ever produced over the years wound up in rescue? None of us is perfect or infallible. Our very humanity suggests we have failed. Somewhere. Even those who try, in all goodness and honesty, fail. One time. Sometimes.
So rescue gets your dog and they don't call you because their experience tells them you don't care if they have your dog or not, and you're not going to do anything about it anyway. Exactly how sad is that, do you think?
Hey there.
Wait a minute.
You're different. You DO care. You WOULD have gone running to get your sheltie and would have gladly PAID rescue for their trouble!
What IS a breeder's responsibility to rescue, if the breeder can never know whether one of the puppies they have produced have gone through Rescue's doors?
Obviously, I've given this some thought or I would not have been sitting here writing all this stuff down in a letter. A GREAT answer to the question occurred to me just a while ago, earlier today, no, yesterday, actually, because I have been trying to write this letter for two days now, trying to get my thoughts ordered in some semblance of coherence...
I may never know if one of my puppies winds up in Rescue, but I can sure as heck pay for that event in advance. A sort of insurance policy you could say, or I can imagine, someone else who may call it white liberal guilt <g>. Who cares what it's called, if rescue, with many, MANY needs, benefits?
Who cares, if rescue, with its many needs, accepts your donation, and after you've made a donation, and a donation, and a donation, and others follow your example, rescue might even come to view the different colors of the world, with all its variations, rather than the black and white they are faced with today - either you rescue or you breed, because you cannot be part of the solution if you are part of the problem, right? Isn't that where rescuers tend to stand?
So how much do you donate? How often? How guilty ARE you? How much is it worth to you to know, if anything ever happened to a sheltie you placed, that rescue is there whether you can be there or not, to take your sheltie in and treat his injuries and diseases, treat him with the dignity and respect he so deserves, and then find him a decent, loving home? How much is that worth to you, who claim to care so much?
Like I said, I've given this some thought. I'm not sure that an every litter suggestion isn't overkill, but an annual suggestion... now, that is not such an overkill. By no means.
So since I'm feeling so full of the stuff your grandma wouldn't hold in her hand <g> (most call it crap, for decency's sake lol), I would loftily suggest an annual donation by anyone who calls themselves a breeder, that would be equal to the median amount rescue invests in each sheltie they take in, treat, and place, *in your region*. Some places might be lucky and only spend about $50 for each sheltie processed and placed. Others may go more, $100 or $150 on the average. But by making this donation every year, you are paying in advance for Rescue's efforts in bringing in one of YOUR shelties and caring for it and providing the necessary veterinary care and placing it in a good, loving home. Isn't that something worth thinking about, when you consider you're getting $600 or $700 or $900 for ONE pet sheltie puppy sold? Is that such a large, unreasonable thing, especially when you KNOW you will never know if one of your shelties goes through rescue? Hell, we don't make money anyway, you gotta HAVE money to do what we do with our shelties. A hundred bucks a year isn't going to make or break ANYone, not even the poorest of the poor, not if you're doing this the right way, for the right reasons.
Since we're making puppies it is beyond unreasonable, I think, for rescue to have to rely on their own resources, intelligence, cleverness, whatever, to collect the money they need to support the dogs they so willingly take into their own homes. It's not the SPCA. It's not the shelter. It's not the pound. These are loving families with loving homes taking in lost and forgotten and abandoned shelties and caring for them and helping restore these dogs' faith in the human race, and then finding them the good, loving homes into which they can go and live the rest of their days. Do you honestly think a breeder does not have SOME obligation here?
Yeah. It's a VERY high horse I sit astride with the writing of this essay. It is one I will sit upon high, my back straight, but my eyes pleading for a reasoning, understanding. Because honestly, you cannot breed, you cannot create puppies, more dog lives, and not bear some measure of responsibility for those "out there" that don't have loving homes, that are so easily surrendered and forgotten. You took it upon yourself to rise above the masses to study and learn, spending hours and hours visiting others, going over dogs, looking at pedigrees, all the research and work that is involved in this business of breeding, didn't you? Why do you then find the leap into owing rescue so difficult?
So you say your local rescue is tainted blood? Questionable motives? You can always give nationally. All you need do is contact Dorothy Christiansen and she will gladly let you know how to donate on the national level, and then at the national level a determination is made as to which rescue most needs the precious funds you have chosen to so freely and charitously give. Tax-deductible funds, I should add...
I suppose you could say I am one of "THEM" - and a so-called "breeder" to boot - who believes the breeder should "pay it forward." It is not a unique idea you know. And it's the dogs that benefit. We are all fighting the most sickening of battles on the political portico, engaged in a war that should never have been permitted to exist but which seems to be thriving because the world does choose black or white, and the rainbow of possibilities, the entire spectrum of hope and good fortune, is lost in the reality of what is.
You know, for each and every puppy I ever placed, I wrote a different contract because from every placement I made, a new item that I felt needed to be addressed in my contract was brought to my attention. It is growth. Evolution. And so has rescue grown, evolved, from mission to means to methods, rescue has evolved. Irrevocably. Necessarily, for its own self-preservation.
I am sure, when rescue was in its earliest infancy, the idea of breeders taking responsibility for their own was a pretty picture. Hello, Mrs. Breeder? This is local Rescue and we just got one of your shelties turned in. Will you come get your sheltie? Why sure, I'll be right down to do that!
It sounds good. It would sound even better if Mrs. Breeder added - "And I will also bring a $100 donation in thanks for telling me about my sheltie, and for all the other good work you do."
I cannot IMAGINE not picking up and taking immediate responsibility for any of my shelties that might happen to wind up in rescue. Nor can I imagine not including a donation to rescue for their trouble - what, $50? $100? WHY NOT?
But the phone doesn't ring. Rescue doesn't call. Even a clearly identifiable sheltie today rests in total anonymity with rescue. Why is that? Could it be too many breeders couldn't care two hoots if rescue has one of their dogs? Could it be that too many breeders cannot be bothered or have other things to do? Could it be too many breeders just don't care?
Surely not! These are SHELTIES! How could any sheltie breeder not care enough to do so simple a thing as take back a sheltie they have bred and placed in a home that for whatever reason, failed the dog?
I believe it is abhorrent there is a need for rescuing shelties at all. They are wonderful little dogs who will learn anything a body has a mind to teach. Anything. It is unthinkable someone would want to throw one of these precious lives away.
Perhaps, but it happens, and the cold hard truth is, it happens far too often, likely far more often than most people could imagine or many believe, and as long as there are breeders breeding shelties, there will be a need for sheltie rescue.
"...as long as there are breeders breeding shelties, there will be a need for sheltie rescue."
How sad a statement, that the need will remain for as long as we breed!
Sadder, still, far too many breeders do not see that the need for rescue is directly related to the fact they are breeding in the first place!
Rescue may not have my shelties. They may not have your shelties. And they may not have yours, or yours, or yours, but they have *someone's* shelties now, don't they? And maybe, just maybe, there is a difference between these shelties and those shelties over there, but there isn't a damned shred of difference between those shelties and these over here. Not a SHRED of difference.
What IS a breeder's responsibility to sheltie rescue?
In admitted rare form, I am humbly,
Amy Butcher, Ailea's Place
Pittsboro, North Carolina
June 16, 2006
For more information, please follow any of the links provided below:
The Breeder and the Puppymill
Leave the war behind!
Please feel free to e-mail Amy with any questions or comments
