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AAkasha -> RE: My Poodle's Performance Anxiety (10/11/2005 4:51:57 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: FLButtSlut
The "holier than thou" perspectives of a good number of people here are really interesting.
So let me give you the "low down" with all the nitty gritty details.
I am working with a THIRD generation poodle breeder for starters, who probably knows more about breeding than the bunch of you combined. That is "strike 1" against all of the "poor judgment" comments. Yes it is my first experience with breeding, but everyone starts somewhere.
AAkasha, you come off as condescending in nearly all of your posts, this isn't the first one. Your posts act as though I have no clue what the financial obligations of owning pets are and that my financial stress has been an ongoing thing, making me the "oh so irresponsbile" pet owner. Obviously, these dogs were not gifts, but purchased by me. They were certainly not inexpensive, so the money came from somewhere. My financial stress is EXTREMELY recent. So recent in fact, that the cost of breeding was not a factor at the time of breeding.
Perverseangelic,
An "emergency pet fund" is an absolutely wonderful idea. Of course, all "emergency" funds at this point, i.e. rental funds, food funds, and even the little bit I had been saving for my son's college have been depleted for unforseen emergencies that have arisen. And yes, it is amazing how so many emergencies could occur in so short a time.
As for "petfinder", the "scads" of poodles that they have are 5 years old or above, with health problems making them difficult to adopt. We looked there (and places like them) when we first decided to get dogs. While YOU didn't say it, and before anyone else does, why would I want to adopt a dog with health problems that needs special care for the remainder of its life? All the "die hard" animal lover here whining about the unwanted dogs in shelters can feel free to adopt all of them. Personally, I just don't want a dog who is blind, and with a 12 year old in the house, a dog with a heart condition who needs a "quiet environment" is certainly not suitable for me. That would be "strike 2" on poor judgment.
Thaily, I'm sure in your 4 whole years as an adult (how much of that was spent with mommy and daddy supporting you at university), you have no concept that sometimes things happen and financial trouble occurs unexpectedly. I guess by your standards, my sudden financial problems indicate I should also put my son up for adoption. I think I will stick with taking advice from people who have a clue, which does not include you.
Now for the rest of the sordid story. Right before the dogs mated, I suffered a very bad knee injury, whereby I was laid up on my couch for nearly a month. This occurred WHILE Pepper was in heat. Prior to my injury, the dogs were kept separated quite well with no problems. I would love for all you "holier than thous" to tell me exactly HOW I am supposed to keep them separated when I could barely make it to the bathroom on my own.
Needless to say, being immobile for a month did not do my career a great deal of good. Having just begun with an employer, they decided that my sudden illness was not worth the effort. Welcome to "right to work" state of Florida. While I gave up the career of bartending and waiting tables some time ago, the possibility of doing so again no longer exists as a result of my knee problem. Standing or walking for long periods of time is not an option.
Charley's "mood" started when I began temping to try to make money. The dogs had never been left alone for the entire day before, and poodles are not only among the most intelligent dogs, they are also among the more emotional. Furthermore, the "hyper-puppy" stage does quiet down after a year quite often. So his lethargia and being less the "ADD" dog was not really a big concern. He was still playing, eating and drinking normally, he just wasn't quite as hyper. Given the fact that there were other things going on, his behavior was not seen as him becoming ill. I also don't run my son to the doctor if he has the runs or throws up for a day. For those of you who think that is the proper thing to do, I'm sure that your pediatrician and vet are loving the BMW's that your irresponsible behavior has bought them. That's right, a RESPONSIBLE parent and pet owner knows when something needs medical attention and when it doesn't. An irresponsible one runs out for every cough, sneeze and sloppy poop they see because they have no judgment of their own.
When you have two dogs that regularly weigh about 6.5 pounds each and one is gaining weight, the other's loss is not always very noticeable because you are looking at two extremes. Charley was weighed the beginning of the week, and when I weighed him later in the week and the scale indicated he had lost a pound in a week, I took him to the vet.
NO, I cannot afford an autospy on Charlie, but then again at the moment, I also can't afford groceries. I realize that so many of you will give up your own life or feel that human lives are not nearly as important as an animals, but that is probably only because you are valuing your own life compared to the animals. My son's well being has got to be first priority.
For the record, Pepper is quite healthy. She eats regularly, drinks plenty of water, and even still likes to run her now quite fat belly around to play. She also sleeps quite a bit. Perhaps I should rush to the vet to find out if that is a good thing according to most of you, but knowing that pregnancy with ONE baby can be tiring, I'm sure multiple puppies can be even MORE tiring. Oh yea, and she cries a bit more than usual, but then again, since her and Charley had been constant companions from about 8 weeks, she is grieving for him too.
As for this being a good opportunity to "educate" those who "think it would be "fun" or "cute" to breed puppies", do you spend a lot of time preaching to pregnant teenagers the value of birth control if they have a still born baby? Or do you actually manage to develop some common sense about time and place at some point in your lives?
It seems that the only poor judgment that has occurred here is in that of some of the posters to this thread. As for the risk of the puppies when they come, interestingly enough, at least one is already sold, one will be likely be kept, and if there are any more, given the quality of the parents, they will find homes rather quickly. Oh yea, since I'm sure none of you are really aware of this anyway, a first litter of toy poodles is rarely more than 3 if you get that many.
I'm sure responsible pet owners will be very eager to pay for your baby poodles when after they ask the key question, "What can you tell me about the health and temperment of the dog's parents?"
The father is dead, and you don't know why. Very good medical screening.
Waiting an entie week to get a visibly ill dog to the vet after witnesssing an obvious not-normal mating isn't the right choice. You didn't have the money, pure and simple. Be honest about it. You waited until it was obvious the dog was terribly ill.
You say you have an expert breeder right there helping you yet admit in your first post:
quote:
As this was my first experience with doggie mating, I wasn't sure what to do. I knew that you weren't supposed to pull them apart, but my poor Pepper kept screaming everytime one of them moved.
How much training did you get from this expert? ZERO apparently.
Yeah, as for the rest, keep telling yourself all that until you believe it. You should stick to goldfish.
Akasha
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