By Linda Cooper (Megwellin).
I have now been feeding my Spinoni the B.A.R.F. diet for more than 10 years. Basically nothing has changed in 10 years except that I’m no longer considered weird or hippy (well in some things) and you can now buy every thing you need already packaged in neat little bags should you not want to do it from scratch.
Why register? Or Rather Why You Must Register
I read with growing concern about litters of Spinone not being registered and as a responsible breeder who has spent the last 25 years trying to improve the breed, both in health of mind and body, this both maddens and saddens me.
You may ask why this happens as surely anyone who is proud of what they produce must want to legitimise them both for their own good standing in the Spinone community as a responsible breeder and for the good of the breed records especially where health and genetic issues are concerned.
Hypo-allergenic? A non-shedding Spinone? A spinone sheds hair and is not hypo-allergenic.
If a Spinone is crossed with something that is less pre-disposed to shed hair then why would any puppies only inherit the coat genes from the non-shedding dog? If you want a dog that doesn’t moult, then don’t get a Spinone or a cross breed. Get a breed that doesn’t shed hair.
Health – are they more healthy than a pedigree?
A reputable Spinone breeder will have a great deal of knowledge and experience of the dogs that are in their pedigrees. They will know what goes with what, they will know the health issues in their lines and are breeding to improve on the previous generation. They will test their breeding dogs for known health issues and care about the welfare of both parents and puppies for the whole of their lives.
The best of both breeds? Why would crossing two breeds of dog result in only the best features of each breed?
All breeds have their good features and their bad. Individual dogs within each breed can display desirable and undesirable traits. Nature does not take all the good bits from each parent to produce the perfect dog. Even when breeding 2 dogs of the same breed this doesn’t happen, otherwise all pure bred dogs would be perfect!
Rare breed, pedigree, registered – what do these words really mean?
The breeder will tell you or advertise the fact that it’s a rare breed, the parents are both registered pedigrees.
Cross breeds are often marketed to fool the unsuspecting buyer into thinking that they are getting something of high quality or better than they actually are.
I own a cross breed, I don’t pretend she is anything more or anything less than that. She is an Italian Spinone x Irish Water Spaniel, she doesn’t have a made up name like a Spinaniel or a Spanone.
When I bought her, I was led to believe that the mating was accidental, the events that followed then made me come to the conclusion that she may have been more of an experiment. About a year later a lady appeared in my garden with another cross breed puppy, the same as mine, from the same breeder.
Are cross breeds really cheaper than a pedigree or an expensive mistake? What are you actually getting for your money (or not as the case may be)?
Cross Breeds – Don’t be fooled by a fancy name.
The ISCGB neither supports nor recognises the crossing of a Spinone with any other breed.