When I was younger I always looked up to people that breed animals for a living or hobby. I thought they where so skilled and at one with animals, that they cared for them greatly and wanted to improve the breed of whatever it was they where working with.

Then I got older and realized that 90% of people do it for the money they think they will get or that they do get out of it. Care very little for any improvements and just see the animals they have in possession as "things", not real living creatures.

By the time I realized this I had already became a breeder of several types of animals myself. Show chickens (Silkies mainly), Redtail boas, and Leopard Geckos. Of course I don't consider myself one of those types of people. Cause I only breed what I love and I love breeding what I work with.

So I'm a little curious, do you think that these people that obviously don't care, use to care? I adore all my pets right now and I never want to become one of those types that just see dollar signs.

Its sad that people tend to breed pets only for momey but there are people out there that genuinely enjoy what they are doing not just because of the paycheck. I've heard lots of bad things about the puppy mills and find it just sick the kinds of things people do to animals bcause its 'fashionble'.

hat I mean is when they clip a dog's ears or tail simply because thats just what the breeds sterotype has boiled down to. I hate it, seeing those pretty dogs with little stubs for tails makes me want to cry sometimes. very dog deserves something decent to wag when he or she's happy.

I got both of my current dogs from a breeder, the same one, actually. It's kind of a joke between my family and me, we say that we rescued the dogs. The state that these breeders lived in was so disgusting and it was a mess. I wouldn't want dogs living in that scenario, much less a human. If you're going to take care of the animals you're breeding and be nice to them and such, then I'd say it's fine.

@Lady Luck;; Clipping the tail isn't always to be fashionable. My dogs' tails were clipped when they were born because the breed generally is born without tails. The miniature version sometimes has a tail, so they clip them to be with the breed. My mom's friend has two dogs of the same breed and they were born without tails. They can still wag them, and I think it's cuter. ^_^

In my opinion, breeding should be left to GOOD PEOPLE. If an individual wants to breed animals, they better be capable of providing adequate shelter, food, etc for whatever they're breeding, and love every second of what they do.
I'm sorry if this offended anyone, but I just get so worried about this subject. D:

The people I stole my cat from (Long story) had a puppy mill in their backyard; seven male dogs, two females. The males were kept in a 6x6 foot pen, and the females were left on the porch. Whenever one of the females would go into heat, they would toss the female into the pin with the seven other males, get her knocked up, and then wait for her to birth the puppies and drive up to Miami and sell them.
The state the animals in this backyard lived in was disgusting.
Unfortunately, Florida's Animal Control is (for lack of a better term) piss-poor, and they didn't check the back yard either of the times my step mom called them.
The people have since moved, so there isn't really much we can do for those poor dogs...

I puppy-sit for a friend of my mom's. She breeds Bull Mastiffs. She's licensed, registered, and loves what she does. The puppys are part of her family, and she always does a thorough back ground check before she sells them.

As long as the puppies/kittens and parents are well cared for, I have nothing against breeders. It's mills that I can't imagine why anyone would put animals through that!