| What a beautiful dog! Cangratulations for the great accomplishments. My 3 yo Merle & white dane never made it through advanced beginers in obedience--He would sit down in the middle of everything and refuse to budge. Can you say stubborn? He would only move again when he knew it was time to go home! Anyway, thanks Ginnie for the great story--I'm jealous! |
| When I opened this page I thought I was looking at my female dane Alaray. I want to thank Linda & Jerry for opening their hearts to such a wonderful dog |
| Jerry -- you already know how highly I think of Sheva. She really is a great dog. |
| Has anyone done anything about the irresponsible, unethical backyard breeder who bred this litter(and who knows how many others)? Meeting a prospective buyer on the road? Giving said buyer no information on the breed, on these pups specifically? If the breeder has not been reported to GDCA, AKC, etc., could you please give me the breeder information so I can follow up? |
| I was wondering how long it would take for somebody to jump on this. :-)
I agree that the breeder's actions were outrageous. Sheva's "life story" is educational in more ways than one. That's why I included the information about how she came to the Dunhams, even though it made the article longer. (And it's also why I characterized Sheva's story as "interesting.") In Sheva's case, everybody lucked out, including the disreputable breeder. Sheva found a wonderful home, the Dunham's found a wonderful companion, and the breeder got away without being held accountable for her actions. Unfortunately things don't always work out as well for most Dane puppies that are passed off to unscreened buyers on the side of the road. Ginnie |
| I, too, was expecting a response regarding Sheva's breeder.
I hold the young couple who first took her blameless - they just didn't know. The breeder should have known better. In fact, we've kept in contact with the couple, who have Sheva's littermate, and I now consider them an excellent home. They've since gotten a house and added a rescue Dane. Right after we got Sheva I contacted the breeder by phone. It turns out that she's quite nice, loves her dogs, and is basically clueless as a breeder. Unfortunately, she wasn't particularly interested in getting said missing clue, and, in all likelyhood, has continued to breed occasionally. We may have seen other of her pups in our shelter without knowing. As Sheva has done so well, now even at the national level, I have NOT let the breeder know. The last thing I want is to encourage her by leading her to believe she's a brilliant breeder cranking out nationally ranked dogs. In this case, that's probably the best I can do. --Jerry |
| I to lucked out with a "backyard bred" dog.. Libby turned out to be one of the sweetest companions.. I had a friend who went with a reputable breeder and did'nt have very good luck.. would i do it again,, probably not especially after reading ginnie's da-dane of the week on a weekly bases and learning something about great danes.. which does make me an expert by any means... but I have learned that I don't ever want to breed these dogs because I don't know enough to do justice... keep up the good work.... |
| I also bought a Dane from a backyard breeder without knowing any better. Jewel was the most beautiful puppy in the litter but that was because she chewed the hair off her littermates heads!! Anyway, they were going to keep Jewel to breed later but decided to sell her to us for $25 extra ($275 total) so they could buy a blue to breed to their fawn. Now that I know better, I cringe at that. We were definitely blessed with an absolutely beautiful, well-behaved black girl, but we will never go the backyard breeder route again. |
| Jerry, in response to your comment above, I just hope that her breeder is not a regular reader of DaDane.
Ingrid |
| Well, if she is, Ingrid, then perhaps she'll learn something here! <gr>
I think this is a good discussion. I agree with Jerry's view that the original buyers were blameless. (And naive, I might add.) They sound like good people who know a lot more now than they knew when they first adopted two Great Dane puppies at the side of the road. As for the breeder, I wouldn't go after her at this point -- and I am not sure anything could have been done about her actions at the time, anyway. There are lots of irresponsible breeders of Great Danes out there, and I think she falls into that category. She may be "nice" but she is not doing anything to further the breed, in my opinion. Far from it. That said, Linda and Jerry got a very nice companion/pet from one of her breedings, and through their efforts, they've enabled Sheva to develop her own special abilities. They were lucky and Sheva was lucky. The topic of "backyard breeders" is a sensitive one. Perhaps it's a subject we ought to explore in a future DaDane, although I am almost afraid to get into it. Emotions run high when you start talking about breeding practices, especially for this breed. Ginnie |
| The stories are familar. Moses is from a backyard breeder and I it brings tears to my eyes when I think about that day 5 years ago when I picked him up, at 11 weeks old, undernurished and just looking for someone to love him.
Great story about Sheva she is adorable. Marie |
| I agree that the breeder needs education but that will never work if we take the attitude that we should "bawl" them out since that doesn't educate, ever. The other thing is the question of whether it was reported to GDCA or AKC. Neither is an enforcement agency & GDCA can only do something if the breeder is a GDCA member, which I doubt from the sound of the discussion. As horrid as this situation may be, I doubt that it could be found as illegal in any state so we are back to trying to educate the breeder(s) which has to be done carefully if you expect any positive effect. Just my personal opinion. Scot |
| Sheva is a very good worker in obedience! I wish my guy would do that well! We have seen her and think the Dunham's have done a great job with her training. |