What are backyard breeders?

What are backyard breeders? Well, that depends on who you ask..There are two groups of thought on this. Both groups see backyard breeders as doing the wrong thing – The first group sees them doing the wrong thing because it is wrong. And the second group see ‘Backyard breeders’ as doing the wrong thing just because they feel they are self-entitled and better than everyone else. Now this blog might cause me to have a few more enemies unfortunately. Which is just silly, when you think about it. So the first group of people is most of the population. Most of us when we hear the term ‘Backyard breeder’ which has been made to sound like such a horrible term – Think of people who are breeding lots of dogs, having too many dogs crammed into a small area, keeping them in inhumane conditions, being cruel to them, and not looking after them at all.Anyone doing that is a disgusting person, and should not be allowed to keep any dogs. We need to do whatever we can to stop this. The other group who have a view on the term ‘Backyard breeders’, as bad people, are a small percentage of the dog breeders who are members of their state recreational breeding organisations (or as they’d say, professional breeding organisations – though technically these bodies are known as recreational breeding organisations). Of course I’m not saying all members of recreational breeding organisations are like this… But some of them are.These people that we are talking about are self-entitled, self-absorbed, ‘elite’, dog breeders. They are of the view that a ‘Backyard breeder’ is anyone who breeds their dogs responsibly (though they try to find every reason to say they are being unresponsible), but are not members of these organisations, with their dogs in the ‘lucky sperm club.’  Anyone who is a microbreeder is considered by them to be a ‘Backyard breeder.’ This is anyone who has one or two female dogs, and register for a SOURCE number, so that they are allowed to have their dog have puppies, to be rehomed and contribute positively and responsibly to the breed, and giving love to the dogs, and to families, in untold and unmeasurable amounts. So it really makes the term very confusing, doesn’t it? YOU can become a microbreeder. Microbreeders are registered breeders. They are registered as microbreeders. So when you hear someone say “Well you’re either a registered breeder (with an organisation) or you’re a backyard breeder – Sorry haters, you ARE a registered breeder. We support microbreeders. Here at Male Pug Stud Melbourne, and the Pug Palace, we are not a business – We are a collection of microbreeders.   We support people who want to breed their pugs responsibly – And who have one or two females who live in their house – with access to (oh no, God forbid) their backyard. Rather than live in an approved registered dog breeding facility, in caged areas, and for the dogs to never be allowed to breed unless they are in the lucky sperm club. We support pugs being born into loving families, and then the puppies being rehomed to loving families. We support genetic diversity, rather than line breeding (in-breeding) that causes many dog breeds to have genetic hereditary conditions – Especially pugs.  The first male pug that I bought as a puppy from a ‘reputable breeder’, Sir Alpha, has had genetic health problem after genetic health problem. He’s the only one I’ve ever had who has a ‘Pedigree’ certificate. I love him, and have had him desexed of course to not spread the in-bred genes that created his problems – And I will always love him. But I feel sorry for him. He inspires me to make sure that people who want to have puppies from their beloved female pugs, can have access to Pug Stud dogs that have great health, good genes, and are helping to diversify the pug gene pool. Rather than only having ‘Pedigree’ dogs (Pedigree means purebred according to the recreational dog breeding organisations – which simply means they have a family tree written down, and their parents are in the club) we like to support people being able to have purebred dogs, and support the beautiful breed that are Pugs! And, it turns out after investigation that Sir Alpha’s Pedigree history on his certificate wasn’t necessarily true. As the breeder name on the certificate wasn’t the breeder who bred him. Hmm. We have had so many abusive Facebook messages, text messages, and emails, from some of the self-entitled ‘elitist’ breeders, who hate anyone breeding dogs that aren’t in the lucky sperm club (Or more accurately, the Unlucky sperm club – As its being ‘Pedigree’ that causes many pugs to have health problems… such as needing throat surgery to be able to breathe) and just like to try and make life hell for them. It is very silly really. We have had people from the RSPCA visit several times, each time saying that yes, all of our dogs are being super well looked after.. But that they’d had to follow up on a complaint they’d had. Which of course was someone who doesn’t think anyone but themselves and their friends should be allowed to breed dogs, and so tries to make other breeders’ lives hell. This is a huge drain on the resources and time of the RSPCA, who are trying to do good for animals, and should be inspecting people who are not looking after animals, rather than getting always sent out to fake reports. We definitely do not support anyone taking advantage of any dogs, breeding them just for profit, or keeping them in inhumane conditions, or being cruel in any way. But we do support microbreeders. We Love our pugs so much. And we support the right of the Pug breed to live on into the future, without being controlled and having their genetics manipulated and ruined, just so they can look like people at dog shows want them to look. We support people who want to breed their own pugs in their own home. This is the way of the future for dog breeding, and this is what creates opportunity, diversity, happiness, and love. Having thousands of small family breeders breeding dogs, so that families can welcome their new puggies to their home, from a loving home, is a good thing for everyone – Except for the few breeders, who would rather see the breed all look exactly the same, and cost $25,000 per pug. Which by the way, it’s this attitude that creates the demand, and causes underground people who have too many dogs and don’t care for them, to do it to make a profit – because the price has been over-inflated by the ‘reputable breeders,’ keeping the prices at $4000 and higher. So by thinking they are doing good, they are actually inspiring disgusting people to do the wrong thing. We want what is best for dogs. We are animal lovers, dog lovers, and pug lovers!! We support you, and our Stud pugs are here to support you.