the ANSWER

Hoarding is only one of the problems.

Our society has changed from one where the average person was free to let their dog have a litter of puppies, and where most people got their pet puppy from a mother dog who was a pet, to a society where dog breeding has largely become a business.

To keep it a business, people in the business often think they have to prevent the people who buy one of their puppies from becoming dog breeders.

There are 4 laws which I believe would fix a great many of the problems in dogs, or at least open the door for those problems to be fixed:

1) FED. End the loophole that allows dog raising to be an IRS tax shelter.

2) FED. End the USDA exemption for direct sales of puppies. Sell more than 25 dogs/cats in a year, and you need a USDA license NO EXCEPTIONS. Don't blow it like last time by adding exemptions. If the USDA can't do the inspections, then don't bother. Talk about a conflict of interest!

3) Local. Set a maximum number on how many adult UNFIXED cats/dogs a person can own (include co-ownerships in the total).

If you can't get a state law for a 12 dog/cat limit, go for a 50 dog/cat limit, but don't do nothing.

If you can't get a city or county law for 4 UNFIXED (not neutered/not spayed, ie fertile) dogs/cats, then go for 12 or 20, or 100, but set some limit.

4) Local. Set a maximum for the number of unfixed adult dogs/cats allowed to be kept on a property. This is also to keep dog breeder from cheating by saying "Yes I have 50 cats in my garage and 75 dog in my basement but I don't legally own them, the cats are strays, and the dog belong to friends.

In short, taking the production of pets away from puppy mills, and hand it back to pet owners.

A good breeder, who doesn't inbreed and who ships seamen or sends her female to be bred, and who only breeds her best dogs, is only breeding her best dogs. 4 top unfixed dogs make for a better kennel,

than 40 unfixed poor show dogs with few legit wins, who produce 100 puppies a year so that the dog breeder can sort through them searching for one who is showable.

Good dogs

What's a good temperament for a pet dog?

Well if the breeder has to keep her dogs each in a separate cage or kennel, then her dogs don't have it.

He bites.

There are many things that need to be improved in several sections of dog breeding, I know that, but the one thing that seem to me to be such a no-brainer, that I just can't understand why everybody isn't working on it is - good temperament.

Okay, if you want fighting dogs, then you want nasty dogs.

But for all the other people out there, health & temperament are it. And temperament is numero uno. If you get a nice dog that gets sick and dies, that's bad.

But if you get a nasty bad tempered but healthy dog, who lives until somebody kills him, then you never did have a good dog, not even for a few months.

Well, maybe when he was a puppy he was okay. But how does that feel, raise a nice puppy, then he gets too bull headed to deal with, tears stuff up if you turn your back on him, turns on your other pets with you standing right there, growls at the kids.

Like watching the degeneration of somebody you love. At least with a good tempered but unhealthy dog, he dies, or you have him put to sleep for his own good. With a healthy but bull headed mean dog, you have to decide to get rid of him for you or your family's safety.

I have discussed this with a a few dog breeders.
Pretty much people who breed healthy but ill-tempered or crazy dogs, say health is most important.

People who sell nice but sickly dogs say the fact that the dogs are nice, is more important than health - at least the dogs don't try to mess up anybody.

But is it really to much to ask? To get a nice dog that is also healthy?

People have had nice healthy mutts for ages, seems like somehow the system went astray.

Internationally Bred

How many breeds of bird dogs do we need, if each breed has several varieties?

Suppose we use the pdkc method of grouping field bred bird dogs? What would we have?

BIRD DOGS:
1) Curly water dogs
2) Spaniels or Rushers
3) Pointing dogs
4) Retrievers
5) Bird Tollers

You can change the breed names, a rose by any other name is still a rose.

Why the Curly Water Dogs in their own breed? Why not put the Curly Coated Retriever in with the other Retrievers? Ditto, the Curly Spaniel types?

Because they are so rare in the US they would be swamped with straight coat genes if they were out-crossed to any dog except another curly coat.

Also, because the genes are NOT simple Mendelian inherited genes, look what happens when you cross a poodle with a Labrador - the puppies aren't truly curly or flat - not good to keeping out water.

How do you know which breed to put you bird dog into? You take it out into the field, if it can't hunt in a useful manner, or if it's coat is a joke in the field - it ain't a bird dog, no matter what was written on the receipt you got when you bought the dog.

Bird dogging is a profession, best done by dogs whose ancestor's were bred to naturally do the job - but it is still a profession, not a breed.

A Labrador Retriever who can't hardly swim isn't a retriever. A pointer who takes off and runs in a straight line for 3 miles before he looks around, isn't a useful bird dog. Sorry.

A Toller who chases birds away instead of luring them in might as well be a house cat.

Pet 'bird dogs' and show 'bird dogs' have their place, but it is NOT in with field bred bird dogs.

I believe that it is better for a person who is going to be selling the puppies to hunters, to cross an his field bred English setter with a field bred English pointer than with show bred English Setter.

I find no reason the have more than these 5 division of bird dogs - the are based on function, not which country the dogs came from.

But, of course, nobody would have to cross different varieties.

If you have Irish setters that hunt, and you don't want to cross them with English setters that hunt, you don't have to. But if someone else feels that this cross is what their line of dogs need, then, why not?

Retrieverman

Retrieverman (Golden Retriever blogger), said the horse has left the barn? Oh yeah, several horses have left their barns!

See, if you really want to get into splitting, most breeds haven't spit into TWO camps, they have already split into several camps.

It is just that some of the camps are smaller camps, but they have their ardent followers too.

There are bird dog people who have split into:
1) Show dogs
2) Pets
3) Guide dogs
4) Field Trail Competition dogs
5) Duck Retrievers
6) Upland Bird dogs

And I would be surprised to find a person or two who selects dogs to breed bird based on sledding, not shedding too much, not barking much, being a good watch dogs, square dancing talent, or whatever.

Admittedly, lone breeders aren't a camp, but I would guess that Golden Retrievers are at least spit 4 ways: show, pet, field competition, and lone hunters who choose based on things a bit different than fields trails.

5 ways if guide dogs have their own gene pool.

I don't know of any study or site that has gathered up info on how many separate gene pools Golden Retrievers in the US are split into.

If you bred Golden Retriever to guide blind people, and your carefully crafted line of Golden Retrievers got too inbred, which do you think would be the best out-cross:

a) field or show Goldies,
b) Labrador Retrievers that have been bred for generation to be good guide dogs,
c) German Shepherds Dogs that have been carefully bred for many generation to produce good guide dog puppies?