Am I being too judgemental?

    • Gold Top Dog

     I realize I left a bit out...my problem with the advertisements is that it looked like many of the puppies are already available and there's many different breeds being bred by one breeder. There are breed specific clubs/associates that I think are better avenues to advertise in.  I realize breeders do need to do some advertisement, but I do judge by how they advertise - for instance we found our flat coated retriever breeder through the Flat Coated Retriever Society and had to pay a very small (I think it was $5) processing fee to get a list of flat coat breeders. 

    So it's mostly that I feel that the avenue of advertisement is wrong.  Breeders do advertise, but I have issues with it being in a vets office - especially when there are multiple breeds being bred by one person/kennel. 

    I feel if you have a bulletin board in your office for people to have signs up then you have a responsibility to decide what goes there.  I perhaps am being overly judgemental, but I cannot give my business there. 

    There WERE other issues I had with the vet office.  For starters, they did not want to give me the time of day when I told them we just wanted to quickly pop in ask a few questions, get some basic information but did not have the pup yet.  One place I had called - asked me why I wanted to do that!  We also made a point to stop in only if it looked like there was no big customer line and it was less hectic in there - and still our reception was less than what I was comfortable with. 

    As for where we live in NH, we are in the Ashland/Plymouth area, and decided to take our pup to a vets office in Laconia.  It's not a bad commute, and it's nearby to where I currently work.  I would LOVE however any vet recommendations that are closer by in case of emergencies, I'd love to have a closer backup option. 

    I dd apologize for leaving out that bit of how I feel!  I think your all right, for me to stick to my standards AND that I am being harsh.  But at the end of the day it is something I feel strongly about.  I'd like to see more shelter ads in vets offices!  And while yes it may seem hypocritical because the SO and I are getting a pure bred, there are reason for that (one I fell in love with a flat coated retriever that I groomed many years ago) and my SO never having a dog was more comfortable going through a breeder for our first pup and likes having the breeder as a source of information, support and advice since before she even planned this litter, through the life of the dog we will be getting from her.  We compromised, our second puppy will be a rescue or shelter dog :) 

    • Gold Top Dog

    If the person posted their ad in the vet's office, then likely, they actually take their dogs to the vet.  That's one plus.  Wink  The question would be if the Vet is the one that is also the breeder.  I don't know that I would go to a Vet that I would classify as a BYB or Puppymill because, clearly, they are more about money than the dogs they breed and treat at their clinic.  If it's just ads posted on a bulletin board, well, I don't hold the vet responsible for that.  I post our flyers for the agility club on our vet's bulletin board and so does the local shelter.  They have people that go all over the county posting *new* weekly flyers in businesses and vet's offices all over town.  So you can either buy a pet or adopt one! 

    • Gold Top Dog
    the_gopher
    As for where we live in NH, we are in the Ashland/Plymouth area, and decided to take our pup to a vets office in Laconia.  It's not a bad commute, and it's nearby to where I currently work.  I would LOVE however any vet recommendations that are closer by in case of emergencies, I'd love to have a closer backup option. 
    I am closer to the coast than you. You're about 1.5 hrs from me, and I travel 30 min farther east to my Vet. I don't care for the Vet that is in town, so I travel a bit since our dogs only go annually etc and if there's an emergency, they go to the 24 hr facility.

    Is Concord too far for you, if you shoot down the highway?

    • Gold Top Dog

    the_gopher
    So it's mostly that I feel that the avenue of advertisement is wrong. 

    Where a breeder advertises may raise the likelihood that they are a puppy mill or a BYBer, but it does not make them a puppy mill or a BYBer.  Just like living in a Catholic neighborhood doesn't make one a Catholic.

    There is no wrong avenue for advertising (unless you are advertising to folks that abuse dogs).  Some avenues may give you a higher likelihood of finding good owners (like a vet's office), but no avenue should be surrendered to the bad breeders.  That amounts to discrimination against certain groups of people.  Example:  people that do not use computers.

    the_gopher
    I feel if you have a bulletin board in your office for people to have signs up then you have a responsibility to decide what goes there. 

    It is a brave vet indeed who would run off customers by not letting them post on his bulletin board.  The profit margin of a lot of vets just doesn't permit that.  Would you risk your job over the issue?

    the_gopher
    There WERE other issues I had with the vet office.  For starters, they did not want to give me the time of day when I told them we just wanted to quickly pop in ask a few questions, get some basic information but did not have the pup yet. 

    That alone is enough to reject a vet office.  However, I would let the vet know that (send a letter clearly marked "private";).  Vets are not always aware of the front office's attitudes - especially if those attitudes drive off potential customers that the vet has never seen.