Hello all! Hope everyone's holidays were nice and tips were good!
To make a long story short(er), a nice, but clueless client with a very sweet toy poodle comes to me and basically says "I know you show dogs...blah blah... want to breed GiGi... blah blah... can you point me towards a stud dog."
Since I've grown up around dog shows and breeders, I'm (like most of you probably are) VERY opinionated when it comes to ethics re: breeding.
I kind of falter because I don't want to lose a good client over my opinion, and end up saying that I don't know any poodle breeders, but that there is a big show coming up in January, and that if she asks (closer to the show) I can point her in the right direction.
Problem is, I don't want to just send her to a dog show, looking for a stud dog, because I know she will probably get treated ******. I've seen it happen. It would be, literally, throwing her to the dogs. As someone mentioned in a previous post, me (and the dog show people) would turn into "those people" and she would be offended and breed the dog anyways.
My opinions about breeding dogs were gained over time and through education. Before my experience with dogs, I didn't see a problem with someone breeding a litter or two. I know that this is an opportunity for education, and I need to know how to kindly, respectfully, SHOW her that this is a bad idea.
I would love to go to the dog show with her and educate her about showing and breeding dogs. I don't want her get all defensive because I'm "judgemental" and I really think she could probably be educated. A friend once tried to get me to "put in a good word" for him with a local breeder, but it all hit the fan when he found out that the breeder sold dogs with limited registrations. He wanted a papered dog so he could "breed it and recoup the money he spent on the dog!"
This was a super long post, but what I really want to know is how you approach this with your own clients? What has worked (and not worked)?
To make a long story short(er), a nice, but clueless client with a very sweet toy poodle comes to me and basically says "I know you show dogs...blah blah... want to breed GiGi... blah blah... can you point me towards a stud dog."
Since I've grown up around dog shows and breeders, I'm (like most of you probably are) VERY opinionated when it comes to ethics re: breeding.
I kind of falter because I don't want to lose a good client over my opinion, and end up saying that I don't know any poodle breeders, but that there is a big show coming up in January, and that if she asks (closer to the show) I can point her in the right direction.
Problem is, I don't want to just send her to a dog show, looking for a stud dog, because I know she will probably get treated ******. I've seen it happen. It would be, literally, throwing her to the dogs. As someone mentioned in a previous post, me (and the dog show people) would turn into "those people" and she would be offended and breed the dog anyways.
My opinions about breeding dogs were gained over time and through education. Before my experience with dogs, I didn't see a problem with someone breeding a litter or two. I know that this is an opportunity for education, and I need to know how to kindly, respectfully, SHOW her that this is a bad idea.
I would love to go to the dog show with her and educate her about showing and breeding dogs. I don't want her get all defensive because I'm "judgemental" and I really think she could probably be educated. A friend once tried to get me to "put in a good word" for him with a local breeder, but it all hit the fan when he found out that the breeder sold dogs with limited registrations. He wanted a papered dog so he could "breed it and recoup the money he spent on the dog!"
This was a super long post, but what I really want to know is how you approach this with your own clients? What has worked (and not worked)?
Comment