Zack Hill by John Deering and John Newcombe for February 22, 2020

When I was breeding miniature beagles, many years ago. I was referred by the local beagle club, sanctioned by AKC to a breeder who had beagles, and two males were miniatures. All the dogs involved were AKC registered, and the males were champion bloodlines. I took my female to this recommended breeder, and she had to have a hysterectomy at 5 weeks because the puppies were almost as big as she was. I am sure that the miniatures were not interested in doing the job, so she used one of her larger dogs. And, when I became more familiar with the breed, and remembered how her “miniatures” looked, I’m suspicious that they were not full grown dogs.This breeder was making her living out of those dogs, so she had an incentive to lie about bloodlines. AKC requires that you register litters, but no one is standing around to make sure that the champions registered as the father or the mother actually are the parents of the puppies. I complained to the breeder, got no answer, so I contacted AKC and got a form letter saying they didn’t control anything.So, I would never allow my females- I now raise Havanese- anywhere near any male dog but my own, even when I don’t think they are in heat. And, I figured out that, not only are papers irrelevant when considering the value of a dog, since breeders can tell you anything, but papers are also irrelevant when considering the value of a breeder.