The Beauty and Tyranny of Labels
We make sense of our world through labels. Language – a meaningful set of words or labels – allows us to associate objects, events, thoughts and emotions with mutually-agreed upon sounds or letters, and to use the same to communicate with people who share our language. With our language we label things important to us. This is the beauty of language – of words and labels. Thus, we have family, partner, friends, house, hobbies, pets, etc.
Within the dog-and-human realm, labels also proliferate. We profess to be dog lovers. Some are breeders, exhibitors and animal welfare advocates. We have trainers, groomers and veterinarians. These are the good labels – we value or take pride in knowing or carrying one of these labels. At the other end of the spectrum are the notorious labels – pet abusers, backyard breeders and puppy millers. I believe these people deserve the stigma attached to their labels.
It is in the gray areas of the dog world that we find the injustice or tyranny of labels. Within the pet dog world, two strong tides of public opinion are pervasive. First, human society’s widespread and deepening love affair with dogs brought forth a growing cadre of enthusiasts who go the extra mile for their companion dogs. Second, the irresponsible acts and the continued profitability of puppy millers leave a bad taste in the mouth of the dog-loving populace.
For the love of their dogs, many dog owners buy super premium food; hire the services of a top-notch vet and groomer; and spend a fortune on dog clothes, grooming products and canine equipment. For these people, their dogs deserve only the best. Man’s growing material affluence allows this group of owners to carry-on with these activities with passion. Intrinsically, there is nothing wrong with these pursuits – the dog lovers are simply sharing the fruits of their material success or hard-earned labor with their well-loved doggie companions. Difficulty only arises when other dog lovers are compared with this group. Here lies the tyranny of labels. There is silent pressure to provide one’s dog with the best available care. To give less is to love your dog less. It is also this social pressure that causes the cost of dog care to escalate. Manufacturers and service provides know that dog lovers are a captive, price-insensitive market. While all true dog lovers want the best for their dogs, dog owners differ on their capacity to provide. This social reality is a given. We hope to remove the stigma though – the unjust label that those who provide their dogs with simpler products and services love their dog less. Beneath the thinness or thickness of one’s wallet lies the one label that truly matters – “dog caring person”.
The other wave of opinion stems from the public’s outrage over irresponsible practices of puppy millers. The dog-loving public decries seeing sickly, frail and substandard puppies being peddled by puppy millers through online ads and dingy pet shops. These poorly bred pups often end in clueless pet homes. The public outcry is understandable. Puppy milling is wanton disregard of breed standards, health concerns, and basic honesty – all in pursuit of easy profit. Dog breeding is turned into lucrative business by unscrupulous puppy millers. The outrage and the opinion backlash are such that anyone who makes money from breeding dogs becomes suspect.
In Search of A Label
A dichotomy exists in the dog breeding world. Hobby breeders vs puppy millers. Responsible breeders vs irresponsible breeders. Rightly or wrongly, the responsible label is accorded to the hobby breeders while the irresponsible tag is put on puppy millers. There is no doubt about the puppy millers’ tag. On the other hand, the dog world lauds the efforts of the hobby breeders who use personal resources to improve the breed. That the hobby breeders often times suffer net financial loss in this noble pursuit only makes their efforts more laudable.
I admire the dedication of hobby breeders and consider myself as one. On the other hand, I cringe at puppy milling and pray for karmic retribution. Nonetheless, I honestly find the following statements unsettling: “One should not make money out of dogs”. “Dog breeding is about improving the breed; it is not meant to be a profitable business”. I am bothered by the sweeping generalizations and implications these statements make.
The root of evil is not money; it’s the unquenchable thirst for it. So is the pursuit of it at the expense of others. As a person who has lived through dearth and surplus of money, I see money simply as a means to purchase one’s needs or wants, and as a measure of work effort – paid in terms of salary, professional fee or entrepreneurial profit.
A blanket, negative label on making money from dogs maligns the work of veterinarians, trainers, groomers, dog product manufacturers, and other canine product or service providers. These people would either be salaried employees, professionals or entrepreneurs making honest living directly or obliquely from dogs.
In a world teeming with hobby breeders, I often wonder why there is no professional breeder. In truth he/she may be out there – silently doing his/her work, wary of stigma, and waiting for the right label.
The Professional Breeder
The professional dog breeder is someone who makes a living from selling quality puppies he himself carefully planned and raised. As a professional, he sets and benchmarks himself against work standards, continuously improves his craft, and lives within a defined code of ethics. At the minimum, the professional breeder knows his breed standard by heart, sets his breeding objectives and plan, passes the professional bar by finishing champions, keeps detailed genealogy and client records, guarantees puppy health and integrity of the pedigree, provides dog care tips to clients, and continually learns from fellow breeders, research and the canine public.
The question remains. Is the world ready for a professional breeder? Can it be done? Can one improve the breed and be adequately compensated for it?
In the strictest economic sense, profit is a surplus that remains from the price paid/received after all costs have been deducted. Expenses include the cost of a professional or entrepreneur’s time and foregone interest revenue he could have safely earned from time deposit if he has not foolishly plunked capital into the profession or enterprise. Should the professional breeder at least break-even, then he is justly compensated and his endeavor is deemed a success.
Babies and dogs have long conspired to entice us humans to spend more pesos than what are really necessary to raise them. Years of evolution gave babies and puppies goo-goo eyes, cuddly bodies and charming antics that we adults can’t help but succumb to their spell. This poses the first challenge to the professional breeder: how do you rein in cost while raising well-bred, well-adjusted puppies? In principle it can be done. May God bless you with strong will and restraint.
The next challenge is determining the optimum breeding scale. How many litters will you have to raise to keep yourself paid without comprising quality and service? While the challenge seems daunting, to say it cannot be done because others have failed is to belittle the abilities of the imaginative, resourceful and determined. For the visionary, dreamer or pragmatist, we leave the door ajar. Should you succeed, the skeptics would be grateful believers. Should the task prove Herculean or too taxing, please err on the side of quality and bear the monetary loss with dignity. In the meantime, we cheer you on. You have been bestowed a label worthy of your aspirations. Please guard it well.
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