And Then There Were Two...

So basically... 2 months after getting Mason it was decided that Mason needed a friend or companion- not that he wasn't enjoying soaking up the full attention of his mommy and daddy.  It's just that mommy and daddy had class and work and Mason had already learned that crying quickly got him out of his crate when he so desired- we'll call it "positive reinforcement" and we will blame most of that on his daddy and his Giggy.  Therefore, Mason was often left to wander around the apartment by himself.

I called the lady that we got Mason from to ask how old a male had to be before AKC would recognize his offspring for him to be studded out.  My plan was to stud Mason out once, ask for pick of the liter, and keep a female pug for myself, and then get Mason neutered.  At this point in my puggy motherhood I did not realize the negatives of dog breeding, as well as all of the homeless dogs out there needing homes.  The lady told me I needed to decide whether I wanted Mason to be a stud dog, or a "fixed" dog.  To put it bluntly, I didn't need to let Mason impregnate a lady and then have his male parts removed.  That was just WRONG!  The lady then let me know that she had extra females left over for sale from a previous liter.  They were females that were born 2 weeks after Mason to a different momma, same daddy.  We got Mason at 6 wks old, and these females were 15 wks at the time.  I wasn't interested UNTIL the lady disclosed the discounted price of the dogs and it was 1/3 the price of Mason.  Plus, she told me she was just going to turn them into breeding dogs if I didn't purchase.

I won't go into details about my visit to the breeders' home.  Let's suffice it to say I wish I could have bought every single dog they had occupying the residence, yard, kennel, etc.  It broke me heart to only be able to "save" two.  I gave one to a mutual friend of G-Man and I, Mr. Goggle.  He named her Annie.  The girl I kept for myself I named Lily.  Even though I did not go through an actual Rescue to obtain Annie or Lily, I would like to think that they were "rescued."  Below are baby pictures of Lily, also known as Lil Pil, boo-boo, baby bear, my boo-boo bear, Liller, and Lily Bear.

Mason.  Annie.  Lily.

The lesson to be learned here is that the home I went to was not the exception, it was the rule.  Most breeders keep the living quarters and residences of their dogs in miserable, unbearable, undesireable, condemnable condition(s).  Their dogs' primary purpose is not to be a pet or to receive love like we think of our pets receiving; most breeders' primary purpose for their dogs is to produce babies to make breeders money.  If breeders can't sell the puppies, they usually turn them into breed dogs.  If their dogs don't get pregnant, they usually discard and/or abandoned them.  These are the same dogs that end up in KPR's care.  These are the same dogs that get found on the sides of roads, dumped off by their owners, the same people who were supposed to care for them and provide for them.