Question for breeders

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Dawnflight1984
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Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2012 5:44 pm
Location: Singapore

Question for breeders

Post by Dawnflight1984 »

As you may (or may not) know, I'm in Singapore. A friend has been looking for a puppy since the beginning of the year. She was searching and asking around both locally and in other countries but so far, short of marching into a pet shop and getting a puppy or going down to the puppy farm for one, no breeder is willing to let her have one of eir pups. She has been emailing and even calling breeders all over the world (wherever puppies can be imported to Singapore without having to be quarantined) but the answer she most frequently receives is that their puppies won't be exported into Asia. Is it a misconception about the quality of pet care in Asia or because she is doing something wrongly that she is finding it so hard to get a pup?
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Nettle
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Re: Question for breeders

Post by Nettle »

Sorry, missed this.

Asia as a sweeping generalisation has a poor reputation for animal care, and with expats again there is a reputation for leaving pets behind when returning to the home country. It's probably a wrong assumption but that is the received wisdom.

On this basis alone, most breeders here would not export to Asia and the ones who would probably don't breed the kind of quality your friend would like.

But Asia is a big place, lol, and there are dog shows and dog enthusiasts - so where do they source their dogs?
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JudyN
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Re: Question for breeders

Post by JudyN »

This is slightly off topic, but is it actually reasonable to transport a puppy that sort of distance and be sure that it won't traumatise it to the extent it could have a lasting effect? I know at least one puppy who cried for pretty much an entire 5-hour car journey despite the choice of cuddles or a soft bed... Would a reliable breeder allow their pups to travel unaccompanied on an airline?
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Dawnflight1984
Posts: 352
Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2012 5:44 pm
Location: Singapore

Re: Question for breeders

Post by Dawnflight1984 »

Nettle wrote:Asia as a sweeping generalisation has a poor reputation for animal care, and with expats again there is a reputation for leaving pets behind when returning to the home country. It's probably a wrong assumption but that is the received wisdom.
That's so sad. It's so hard to convince people otherwise, even though we have state-of-the-art animal hospitals here with brilliant vets who do the usual "western" medicine stuff, advanced other stuff like MRI, reconstructive and microsurgery, even stem cell transplants, on top of homeopathic treatments, nutrition consultation, acupuncture and TCM. And that's just for healthcare.

Pet shops are within minutes' walk/drive in every neighbourhood so whether you are in need of good quality kibbles, toys, treats or anything else, you have them. And we are so covered with trees and nice walking places everywhere. Worse of all, when we try to rehome pets here, it's folks from these countries we try to import animals from who leave them behind all the time here. Sigh.
Nettle wrote:But Asia is a big place, lol, and there are dog shows and dog enthusiasts - so where do they source their dogs?
To be honest, no idea! LOL! But there is a difficult problem here. Majority of the dogs are either bred locally (BIG BIG health problem as a result, too much inbreeding, because there are only that few 'original' animals imported from good breeders in Australia) or from puppy farms. I don't really know because to be honest, Oreo and her litter mates were an accident litter. She originated from a home breeder here, who just wanted to give the pups away to good homes cheap and I heard of it via word of mouth.

Most other dogs in the many people's households come from pet shops (puppy farms in other words locally or from places like Australia and Taiwan - before it lost its rabies-free status a few weeks back). It's hard to convince people here that puppy mills are bad and they should stop buying from pet shops, because even if they were to put in the effort to get a puppy, no one is willing to let them have one. Truth is, having said that, the place is great for rearing dogs because it is a safe place and there's plenty of support in terms of animal care.
JudyN wrote:This is slightly off topic, but is it actually reasonable to transport a puppy that sort of distance and be sure that it won't traumatise it to the extent it could have a lasting effect? I know at least one puppy who cried for pretty much an entire 5-hour car journey despite the choice of cuddles or a soft bed... Would a reliable breeder allow their pups to travel unaccompanied on an airline?
Hmm... the flight from Australia or New Zealand is 3-5 hours, and it's cheap to get a ticket to go there and get back. Honestly, my friend's not too concerned about flying there to bring a pup home, neither do I think many here will think it a major hassle to do so, considering they'll probably have jumped through a million hoops (on fire) just to convince a good breeder. Haha!

Oh man... So hard to get good pups. Just wondering, what will it take to convince a good breeder otherwise, that Singapore, at least, is different from any poor perception of other parts of Asia they may have?
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Nettle
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Re: Question for breeders

Post by Nettle »

It's really good to have your perspective and I appreciate the education. :)
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Seraphym
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Re: Question for breeders

Post by Seraphym »

What kind of dog is she looking for?
Also, would she be against adopting?
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