[QUOTE=wendy;7830951]
Yeah, that does bring up the question of what is the motivation of the large kennel owner, and what about the welfare of the breeding stock? Most people don’t make money off dogs, so why do the large kennels exist? Most people want to keep dogs because they enjoy the relationship with individual dogs, which means you can’t own huge numbers of dogs.
In puppy mills, people complain about possible problems with the health and quality of the puppies, but in reality the REAL problem with puppy mills is the way the adults live. And the biggest problem is that they live in kennels with no individual attention or relationships with people.
Other than some pack-type breeds of hounds, most dogs do not like it much being made to live in kennels even if all of their physical needs are met.
It’s also impossible to test the temperament of a dog living in an kennel. It’s such a limited sort of life that temperament tests that reveal the true qualities of a dog just don’t arise. If some breeder claimed her breeding stock had stellar temperaments but then admitted the dogs live in kennels I would not believe her about her temperament claims. There are many dogs that show or perform well in various venues that have truly horrible temperaments and they would fail miserably if taken out of their confined, predictable kennel lives. A single day spent in a house with a visiting child would reveal the huge gaping holes in their temperaments.
I’m aware of some large kennels that “rotate” dogs through the house and then back out to the kennel and I have to say that sounds horrifically cruel to the poor dogs. They never know why they are suddenly banished out to the kennels. Sounds even worse than permanently living out there.
Personally I would never buy from a large-scale kennel. It’s just too difficult to do it right. It’s much easier to breed, socialize and keep dogs if you keep only a small number of them- six or fewer. Of course you can also mess it up with just one dog, but it’s harder to do and easier to spot.[/QUOTE]
Just think about this this way, many dogs in their home spend most of the day sleeping, no stimulation at all, until the people come home in the evening, are around for a few hours and then everyone is asleep for so many hours again.
The kennel I got my dobie from decades ago, the dogs were in kennels, some by themselves but with other dogs around and people around all the time, that took them out for grooming, exercise and training, some were more than one in a kennel, kennels had exercise runs.
Those dogs went on the road to shows regularly and they took turns in the house with the family.
When they were out in the kennels they were also just as home there, not pinning to go back to the house or on the road, because they were managed so they were happy either place.
If you compare them to the single dog in a home, as most pet dogs live today, I would say that, each way to manage dogs has good and less desirable points.
Is a yard ornament or couch potato dog, as most dogs are today, happier and better off than a dog with so much going on around it all day as those in well managed kennels are?
Yes, you can tell about a dog’s personality in a kennel.
A dog like our aussie, that spent from a little puppy a whole year isolated in a kennel without any one, dog or human around, until the owner finally died and we got her totally unsocialized, skinny, scared of the world self, she had such a good temperament she completely came out of that bad start to be the dog she was bred to be, a wonderful, smart and sweet companion.
Why do some dog owners like to have many dogs and make that a business?
I don’t know, just like some like to be horse professionals, not just have one horse they dote over.
Without breeders, we would not have the animals the rest of us get to enjoy, one at the time.
Our performance dog club here had many members but only a handful were breeders.
One lady raised chis and had 8 in the house, not kennels and no one was a barker.
All were trained and shown in conformation and obedience and taken to venues to show their tricks, like schools and nursing homes.
In later years, when agility started, some of those were the first chi MACH around.
If the dogs are taken care of properly, the size of the kennel, many with small dogs keep theirs in the house anyway, the number of dogs, within reason of course, should not be a considered an automatic demerit.
I think someone that wants a dog needs to think hard first what they want to do with the dog in their lives, then find the right kind of match and that may be found, for some, in rescue, for others, from a breeder and some of those may have dogs in kennels.
