mathteacher
New member
This might be long, sorry in advance. Figured some context would be nice. I have a male red merle Australian Shepherd who is registered with the AKC, I purchased breeding rights with him and planned to breed at some point. Heās gorgeous and comes from a show line, and breeding was always something I wanted to get into. My boyfriendās parents fell in love with him and decided to get an Aussie of their own. They wanted one that they could breed with him so I sent them several reputable breeders in our state and gave them the rundown of the importance of reputable breeding, red flags, qualities to look for, etc. And that was that. A few weeks later they had a new red tricolor Aussie puppy. I asked if she was AKC, and they said yes. She never really looked fully Aussie to me once she matured, at least not a typical one. Her coat never got full or long, just kind of wispy. She was lanky and had a sort of narrow face. However, I trusted that she was purebred. Fast forward 3 years, and breeding was just not on the agenda for them, so I ended up acquiring a black tri female of my own last year in hopes to start a breeding program this upcoming year. I still need to do a handful of things like genetic testing and OFA screenings. (That shit is expensive 
)
Anyways, we visit my bfās family every so often and usually bring our dogs along. Last year I had recommended that they spay their female since we more than likely were not going to breed, and it would aid in avoiding potential health risks. I also just didnāt want to breed my dog with her anymore because of her looks and some temperament and behavioral issues. They did not, and this past February when we visited she was in heat. She wore a diaper inside, and I brought along belly bands for my male anyways because he likes to mark at their house. No one knew exactly how far along in her heat she was, and my male did not seem overly interested so I figured we would be okay. My bf and I were outside with the dogs detailing our vehicles when his younger brother let her outside to potty. My dog mounted her for what could not have been more than 8 seconds before we all screamed running at them, and he dismounted. I was not concerned because they didnāt tie and it was so quick. Well, about a month later we get a call from my bfās dad and he said he believes their dog is pregnant because her nipples are swollen. We told him thereās no shot, and it was probably a phantom pregnancy. Then a few weeks later sheās ACTUALLY looking pregnant and now Iām worried. But also totally in denial and assuming she got knocked up by a neighbor dog (This is before I knew what a slip mating was, lol). I told my bf that we should recommend to them the option of spaying and/or terminating the pregnancy since they didnāt really want them anyways, but he insisted theyād never want to do that. Once she gave birth there was no denying that my dog was indeed the father. She had 9 puppies, 6 red tris and 3 red merles. So now that we knew, I told bfās mom to go ahead and send me their dogās registration info so I could get the litter registration process rolling. THIS is when they decided to tell me āoh so actuallyā¦. The breeder we got her from said this was her last litter and decided not to register them.ā Big huge red flag. I was so shocked, and honestly really upset because had I known, I would have never wanted to breed my dog with theirs. This is also when I found out that the breeder was not among the list of breeders I recommended, but was someone that a friend of a friend had a dog from.. I suggested getting in contact with their breeder for the sire and dam registration and AKC to see if there is any way to get her registered. Their breeder never replied, and to make matters worse my bfās mom sent me photos of the dogās parents and neither of them look breed standard, like at all. So for the past couple of weeks Iāve just been feeling really bad and a little ashamed over the whole situation, and thinking about all the ways I could have prevented the pregnancy from happening. It sucks because Iāve always had the mentality that if youāre going to breed youāve gotta do it right or not at all because thereās already an overpopulation of dogs in shelters, and then thereās the ever growing issue of designer breeds and BYBs. I canāt help but feel like Iāve now contributed to the problem. Theyāre doing a great job raising these puppies, but they keep asking me where they should list them and I donāt really know because all of the resources Iām familiar with require or favor registration. I want nothing more than long happy and healthy lives for them. This all just happened so fast.
)Anyways, we visit my bfās family every so often and usually bring our dogs along. Last year I had recommended that they spay their female since we more than likely were not going to breed, and it would aid in avoiding potential health risks. I also just didnāt want to breed my dog with her anymore because of her looks and some temperament and behavioral issues. They did not, and this past February when we visited she was in heat. She wore a diaper inside, and I brought along belly bands for my male anyways because he likes to mark at their house. No one knew exactly how far along in her heat she was, and my male did not seem overly interested so I figured we would be okay. My bf and I were outside with the dogs detailing our vehicles when his younger brother let her outside to potty. My dog mounted her for what could not have been more than 8 seconds before we all screamed running at them, and he dismounted. I was not concerned because they didnāt tie and it was so quick. Well, about a month later we get a call from my bfās dad and he said he believes their dog is pregnant because her nipples are swollen. We told him thereās no shot, and it was probably a phantom pregnancy. Then a few weeks later sheās ACTUALLY looking pregnant and now Iām worried. But also totally in denial and assuming she got knocked up by a neighbor dog (This is before I knew what a slip mating was, lol). I told my bf that we should recommend to them the option of spaying and/or terminating the pregnancy since they didnāt really want them anyways, but he insisted theyād never want to do that. Once she gave birth there was no denying that my dog was indeed the father. She had 9 puppies, 6 red tris and 3 red merles. So now that we knew, I told bfās mom to go ahead and send me their dogās registration info so I could get the litter registration process rolling. THIS is when they decided to tell me āoh so actuallyā¦. The breeder we got her from said this was her last litter and decided not to register them.ā Big huge red flag. I was so shocked, and honestly really upset because had I known, I would have never wanted to breed my dog with theirs. This is also when I found out that the breeder was not among the list of breeders I recommended, but was someone that a friend of a friend had a dog from.. I suggested getting in contact with their breeder for the sire and dam registration and AKC to see if there is any way to get her registered. Their breeder never replied, and to make matters worse my bfās mom sent me photos of the dogās parents and neither of them look breed standard, like at all. So for the past couple of weeks Iāve just been feeling really bad and a little ashamed over the whole situation, and thinking about all the ways I could have prevented the pregnancy from happening. It sucks because Iāve always had the mentality that if youāre going to breed youāve gotta do it right or not at all because thereās already an overpopulation of dogs in shelters, and then thereās the ever growing issue of designer breeds and BYBs. I canāt help but feel like Iāve now contributed to the problem. Theyāre doing a great job raising these puppies, but they keep asking me where they should list them and I donāt really know because all of the resources Iām familiar with require or favor registration. I want nothing more than long happy and healthy lives for them. This all just happened so fast.