Breeding is not for everyone

Breeding.  Having cute little puppies in your home, and when they're a bit older, they go to loving homes.  Sounds fun and easy right?  And at $400-$1,000+ an easy way to make money, right?  Not even close.  Proper breeders do not make money off of their animals.  There are many ways to figure out if you have a proper breeder.  First, they only breed one, MAYBE two breeds of dog.  Any more, and you are probably dealing with a puppy mill.  Good breeders focus on their dogs, making sure that not only are they conforming to the AKC standards, but improving the breed.  Temperament, attitude, and drive (according to breed) are also very important qualities but not always seen by the judges.  However, you will know since this dog will be a member of your family.  If you're looking for a cash cow to use as breeding stock and not wanting to put time into your animals, breed cows.  Fish.  Anything other than dogs.  Good breeding dogs are happy, well mannered, and loved dogs.  Getting good, pedigreed dogs is just step one.  Next, you have to raise them until they are old enough to be bred safely, usually 2 years old.  Before you breed, the dogs have to have health checks, including blood work and certifications to prove their eyes/hips/everything else is the best, and puppies are likely to be healthy.  All of this work has to happen before you even breed your first bitch.  See what I mean about work?  Now think about what breed you want to do.  Now go to Petfinder and see all of the dogs of that breed that are in shelters.  Think about this, a very high amount of those animals will never make it out of there.  In the USA alone, there are around 10,000 dogs put down every day.  EVERY DAY.  Did you see all of the purebred dogs?  Go back and check, I'll wait.  Scary right?  No one wants the cute bundle of love they spent so much time making sure was the perfect pet to be cast aside into a shelter, or much worse thrown into a cage and murdered.  Guess what?  Every one of those dogs represents at least one litter of puppies that were not well thought out, bought by people that were not ready to be a good dog parent.  Yes, sometimes there are unavoidable situations that can land a dog in a shelter, like the owner dying.  Most of the time, dogs are turned into a shelter for the owner's convenience.  A new baby, moving, and not having as much time are the most common reasons for surrender.  Am I the only one, or do these seem like the lamest excuses in the world?  Anyway, I digress.  Unless you are willing to work for it, lose money at it, and face perhaps having to keep puppies or take them back if the buyers can't keep them, don't be a breeder.  Please, don't make more babies to fill the shelters.  Every dog in there was someone's puppy, probably from very nice parents.  Yet they're dying from the inside out by living in a cage, abandoned by the ones they loved.  Instead, why not adopt a puppy from a shelter?  They have them all of the time.  Look here, over 20,000 puppies available.  If you want a particular breed, there are many breed specific rescues that can help you find your ideal friend.  Good luck!  If after this long rant you are still interested in breeding, find a good breeder in your area to help you get started.  Also, the AKC is always a good place to start.  Look at their breeder of merit program.  *end rant*

And so... it continues.

Portal to the Demon Underworld, complete with rubber duckie.

  
   So we moved the washer and dryer, to find this.  I am 99% sure that this is a direct portal to the demon underworld, as I could hear the sounds of thousands of souls screaming.  Scary, no?  I was able to kilz the walls, and Pop with Marcus are working on making a new floor, or demon gate.  Either.  Perhaps both.  Like that "I prefer and" commercial.  Have you seen it?

Now you have.
Weird right?

That is not a thing! Stop making stuff up and pretending its a thing!

Big huge peeve.  Not a pet peeve darling, something that garners an instant rage reaction in myself.  Mutt dog, everyone likes them right?  Did you know that people are selling "designer dogs", aka glorified mutts, for hundreds of dollars?  Backyard breeders are people that breed dogs with no care to anything but making money off of it.  Since designer dogs by definition are not regulated or papered by AKC, it is easier for these BB to get away with selling non-health checked, inferiorly bred animals.  The bitches are mated over and over again, putting severe stress on them and making it so the pups are not developed as well.  The parents of the puppies are rarely health checked, passing on severe genetic conditions such as epilepsy, hip dysplasia, even eye problems and terminal heart conditions.  With the creation of the "goldendoodle" (which the guy that bred these dogs for the first time now deeply regrets ever doing, by the way) people started mixing and matching several breeds.  I've seen a lot of strange mixes going for several hundreds of dollars and it makes me want to scream.  The people breeding the dogs are advertising the animals with some ridiculous claims.  No dog in the history of ever has been hypoallergenic.  Dogs are not ever meant to be left alone with children.  If a dog is under 10 lbs, it is not meant as a playmate for small children.  Make sure you research all of the breeds involved so you can make an informed decision.  Keep in mind that any trait/combination of traits from any of the breeds involved could come out.  I recently saw Pug/Yorkshire terriers for sale as "Pugshires".  Now the puppies are cute.

Awww.

The adult dogs, however, not so much.

Augh!

Or we can look at another mix I've seen, the Pomeranian/Husky.  Now, looking at these puppies, my heart melted.

But you have to think, what will I most likely get out of this pairing?  A slightly smaller husky looking dog?  Cool!  Then you remember that huskies are very loud yodelers, and poms yap constantly.  Both are high energy breeds and huskies are strong.  Both breeds are independent and strong willed.  Both require a lot of grooming.  Now we see the downfall of these designer breeds.  You don't get the best of both breeds when they are mixes, you get a diceroll of genetics.  I am a huge advocate of rescues, and these types of dogs are what fills them.If you are thinking about adopting, please visit the shelter, and let the money hungry backyard breeders get a real job.