Where NOT to get a dog

    Check out this website:   North Country Kennels

    I'm hoping you will never buy a dog from a kennel like this. Why?  Well, for starters, puppy mills are not always places where dogs sit in dingy, dark cages, with matted coats and goopy eyes.  This kennel is a puppy mill. They are, in fact, the definition of a puppy mill!  They factory produce 21 (TWENTY ONE!) different breeds of mutts.  At least they admit that they're in it for the money. Rest assured, these people are not breeding for any legitimate reason - a love of dogs, the desire to breed the perfect example of a certain breed - no.  If the bottom suddenly dropped out of the puppy market, these dogs would be dropped quicker than a hot potato.

    Buying a puppy from North Country Kennels is just about like buying a car.  Fill in your personal information, select the mix you want, enter preferred size and color, put in your pick of personalities, and enter shipping details.  There are also fields to enter whether or not it's a surprise (a surprise puppy is always such a good idea!) and whether or not anyone in the house is allergic to dogs.  This particular field, I think, is so that they have proof down the line; just in case you complain that Sally is allergic to her hypoallergenic little designer - factory produced puppy.

    Oh, and make sure, before you submit your puppy reservation, that you send that deposit!

    Then there's the misinformation and discrepancies:

• In their FAQ section, first they say you can't visit puppies because they had one incident where a visitor brought a "virus" (never named) and gave it to a puppy, later on they say that after the puppies are 6 weeks old, they are brought to the shop where visitors can visit them to provide socialization.  Makes absolutely no sense.
• When asked why there are no pictures of their adult dogs, they have cute little responses: "Some of the dogs are just not that happy standing on a grooming table, with a strange, noisy, object shoved in front of their face (the camera, click, buzz, whir ;-) ) How many of you like your photo taken?", and "Taking dog photos is very hard. The person holding the camera can't just reach out and adjust the dog. The person holding the pup can't see what the camera sees. AARRGGHH! Maybe it wouldn't be so hard if we weren't so picky :-)".   Um.  It's just not that hard to take a good picture of a dog.  So what's the real reason there are no pictures?
• I'm still searching for verification of this, in regard to the question "How often do you breed?":  "With the females, a year or two ago, we would have answered that with once a year. Iams has done a study over the past several years, with over 7000 females, and 17,500 litters, that shows that breeding every heat cycle (on average, females cycle every 6-10 months) is far healthier for the female dog and the puppies too."  Can't you just hear them?  "Wooohooo, Lucy!!  We're gonna be twice as rich!!".  I've searched, and e-mailed Iams.  No luck so far.  We'll see.  Standard practice is to give females a rest between cycles.  And really, if you feel your dog owes you something for her upkeep, does she really owe you more than 3 or 4 litters?  Wouldn't it be nice to then spay her and place her in a good home, instead of breeding and breeding until she just doesn't make puppies any more, and than euthanizing or, hopefully, placing her?
• To the question:  "Why do some puppies eyes stray from center?" They respond: "Remember, the pups have had their eyes open for only a few weeks. (my comment:  Generally a puppy's eyes open when they are about 2 weeks old, give or take a day or two.  At 8 weeks, a puppy's eyes have been open for 1 1/2 months) The muscles around the eyes are still weak, so it's common for one or both eyes to stray to the side for a few more weeks yet. Shih Tzu and Pekingese (and their mixes) have the weakest eyes as puppies because they have a rounder skull."  I don't know, maybe this is a common problem.  But I can say that I've seen a lot of puppies, and this is generally not a problem.  Of course, if one or both of the parents has this trait, the puppies are more likely to have it.  That's why reputable breeders would spay or neuter any dog exhibiting this trait.

    There's enough fodder on just this one site to give me ammunition for days.  Are the puppies cute?  Heck yeah!! They're adorable.   Poor things.  Because these people don't care.  If you've got the cash, you've got yourself a puppy.  In fact, that seems to be their only screening method. These are not people who sleep next to the whelping box to make sure everybody is OK, they don't worry about the homes they're going to, if they'll be loved and cared for, what will happen if they have to be re-homed.  A health problem doesn't leave them sleepless for days, wondering where it came from and if they could done anything to prevent it.  These people are a nightmare.  Pumping out as many puppies as possible and not giving a damn what happens to them.  Next time you're at a shelter, take a look.  Maybe you'll see a North Country Kennels dog, just waiting for a new home!

   

Comments

[jessica freeman]

Hello

Thank you for writing a great blog. I truly enjoyed reading it. Recently I spend a lot of my free time searching online, in fact I have become a health freak of some sort.. I use herbal products from http://www.youherbal.com ,they offer a collection of herbal health products. In combination with my modern medicine I have used herbal products for the last ten years. The combination has given me a better health. Anyways I look forward to all the updates, thanks again.

Jessica

[Amy]

Thanks! I really enjoy writing them, although with this particular post it was hard to remain professional. Indiscriminate breeding is a hot button for me!