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Monday, October 24, 2011

when experience is not a good thing

I met a gal the other day with a Dutch Shepherd.  I asked her how she made her selection of breeders, since she recognized my kennel name but had not contacted me.  She mentioned a large-scale breeder and said she didn't want to get a dog from a big operation, and also didn't want a serious type protection dog.  Another was ruled out because she found the contract too strict.  Several people she talked to worked with each other, so of course, made positive references to each other. duh.  Apparently we didn't make the cut because we bred more than one type of dog!!  I'm going to assume that she didn't bother to read our website or she would have found that in the past 20 years we have bred 3 Dutch Shepherd litters and 5 Small Munsterlander litters.  Not what you would call high volume, as if we couldn't devote time to each litter. She would have learned that those litters produced multiple SAR/USAR dogs. She mentioned that the breeder she selected uses KNPV lines.  Our Dutch Shepherds are also from KNPV lines and the sire of the "B" and "C" litters was Nico van Neerland, the 2002  KNPV PH1 Champion.  So, without making any other comparisons, we were excluded simply because we train and title more than one breed of dog.  Instead of seeing that experience as positive, that understanding dog behavior and genetics of several breeds would be a good thing, this person felt that made us less knowledgeable than a person who only has one breed.  There was absolutely no mention of health guarantees or genetics in the decision-making. I don't know why I should be surprised, because I often meet people who have purchased dogs with the same type of logic. Part of me is disappointed that I haven't done enough to properly convey the quality product that we have; another part is grateful for protecting our dogs from people who don't deserve them.  Who knew experience was not a good thing!