TV Court Showdown Between Breeders

By Amy Fernandez

Courtroom reality shows regularly feature dog-related disputes. Like most aspects of life, these stories replay the same predictable problems. Even so, they offer the public a glimpse of America’s dog world in action. Last week, I watched one that summed up the whole sad story. The lawsuit stemmed from escalating disagreements surrounding a Boxer stud service. According to the stud owners, their dog was imported from Russia. That was the extent of his credentials, no mention of wins, health clearances, or noteworthy offspring. The dam was a registered pet owned by a casual acquaintance, and the breeding was an impromptu deal arranged during a social event. The bitch happened to be in season, the stud owners not only agreed to the service, they offered to whelp the litter since the bitch owners had absolutely no experience doing so. No one called time-out for any preliminary health checks, pedigree research, or common sense intervention. It was a done deal.

I will interject some editorial comment here. Plainly, this was a case of the blind leading the blind. The stud owners boasted of having ten years of experience in the breed, but none of this suggested any level of genuine knowledge. If this was the case, they would have shut this deal down during the initial discussion. But you really can’t blame the bitch owners for failing to see this train wreck coming. They admitted their inexperience and trust for the other party in this deal. Their willingness to proceed with the harebrained plan confirmed that beyond a doubt.

Let’s cut to the chase. Two months later, the bitch begins showing signs of imminent labor. Her panicked owners call their supposed mentors. Based on the testimony presented in this show, they were equally clueless and panicked. Despite human ineptitude, the bitch eventually whelps a healthy litter, losing only one puppy. No one is worse off, but obviously no wiser either. The owners proceed to bicker, threaten, and eventually wind up in court. Both feel cheated and betrayed even though neither party ever thought to finalize their agreement in writing beforehand. If you have spent more than five minutes in the dog biz, you know this drill.

No one walked away happy. But their courtroom showdown provided another primetime opportunity to bash dog breeders. Sadly, that was the takeaway message. No one mentioned the fact that these people had no business calling themselves breeders. There’s plenty to condemn in this story, but from my perspective most of the blame lies with our dysfunctional mentoring system. I was truly amazed that someone could devote a decade to a breed, yet have no clue about writing a contract or whelping a litter. Far more frightening is the realization that simply doing time for ten years now qualifies as expert experience in purebred dogs.

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Posted by admin on Oct 28 2013. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.