Backyard Breeders

Description. Backyard breeders are people who breed dogs for some reason other than showing or breeding working dogs. Technically, almost all pet dog breeders fall into the category of backyard breeders. However, the term 'backyard breeder' also carries a negative connotation: producing puppies purely for profit, or some other 'wrong' reasons. Common reasons that backyard breeders produce puppies include: • They want a puppy from a beloved dog. • They want their dog to have a litter before spaying. • They want to show their kids 'the miracle of life'. • They want to breed because puppies are cute. • They want to make money by breeding and selling dogs. • They have a friend or neighbor with a dog and thought it would be 'fun' to breed their dogs. None of these are good reasons to breed dogs. But backyard breeders all too frequently don't care whether they have the knowledge and experience to breed responsibly. Problems with Backyard Breeders. The biggest problem with backyard breeders is that many times they are under-educated about breeding dogs. Backyard breeders have generally never heard of the Coefficient of Inbreeding, and may not realize that inbreeding can cause serious canine health problems. Because backyard breeders don't know to look for health problems, find suitable matches for their dogs, or pursue responsible breeding programs, puppies from backyard breeders can come with a host of genetic health problems. What You Get with Backyard Breeders. When you get a dog from a backyard breeder, you're typically getting a puppy from someone's favorite house pet. You're not getting a show dog or a performance dog. But if you’re looking for a house pet, it might not seem like a bad idea to get the offspring from a house pet. Realistically, you could get a puppy from a show-line breeder who competes in AKC competitions that has a whole host of health problems due to inbreeding. And you could get a perfectly healthy puppy from a backyard breeder for a lot less than you'd pay for a show-line dog.