Author Topic: Irresponsible breeding, what to do?  (Read 2332 times)

Offline Miranda

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Irresponsible breeding, what to do?
« on: September 26, 2006, 03:28:22 am »
The kids I work with at the center are from very low-income families. Most of the parents can't speak English and aren't citizens. Well, this week is National Dog Week, so I made up a display and we talked about our dogs. One of my students told me she had a german shepherd. I told her I loved german shepherds, and she said "Well, you can have one of her puppies, if you want." I kept asking little questions and basically this is what I found out. They have this german shepherd. She's about 2 years old. She's an outside dog. She does get to come on the back porch when she's in labor, though. This is her third pregnancy. They're really hoping these puppies live because so far they've all died but two or three. She's not registered or anything, and the stud is just one of her mom's friend's dogs that they thought was cool-looking so they just took her over there. Obviously, no vet care. The puppies get little to no human contact because the mother is very protective of them and no one can get near them, even after they die.

What do I do? How can I approach this? I've already decided to scrap all of our plans for the week and concentrate on dogs and dog care because of this and a few other comments the kids made, but what should I do about this particular situation?
If you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving Fido only two of them.  ~Phil Pastoret

Nicole

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Re: Irresponsible breeding, what to do?
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2006, 04:25:11 am »
*sigh*

Well, I've dealt with this a lot. This same sort of thing, anyway. Its hard, because there is really not much you can do. You can work on the kid. You can call AC if you feel as if there isn't adequate care, or if you need a permit in your area to breed.

But, it is very, very hard to change something that is culturally accepted. I try to just work situationally, one person at a time, and educate to the best of my ability. Maybe you can make headway through that little girl.

Its awesome that you're focusing on dogs, dog care, etc. There are a lot of humane education programs out there, too. The director of our HS goes into low-income schools here and does them.

Good luck...I know its a hard fight.