"A breeder is not someone who has 60 dogs on a ship, without seeing sunlight and who breeds in all jealousy"

The door opens and not one, nor two, nor three, nor four appear ... Golden Retriever but seven friendly hairy people who greet us as if they had known us for a lifetime. Welcome to Gray Goose, the family formed by Pepe and Patricia in the Madrid town of Hoyo de Manzanares. Here they all live together and here they are born and raise their puppies until they find a suitable family.

"The word breeder is very devalued, but most breeders are like us. They are responsible people for whom cinofilia is a passion. They just want to put their grain of sand to try to maintain or even improve a particular breed," Pepe Bolaño defends, outraged because they all get into the same bag.

"What people have in mind that is a breeder is not. For me a person who has 60 dogs in an industrial building, without seeing the sunlight, raising in all jealousy is a criminal, not a breeder That hurts us a lot. In social networks many times if they see that you are a breeder they stigmatize you, they tell you that you take advantage of animal suffering and nothing is further from reality. Most breeders have very few dogs and dedicate themselves to this it costs them money, "he adds bluntly.

According to data from the Royal Canine Society of Spain (RSCE), the cost for a breeder of a standard litter of six puppies is around 3,110 euros provided it is a natural birth and not by caesarean section, which would increase the expense in 300 euros more. In addition, breeders have to face, among others, expenses derived from health and character tests that must be done to the mother, and the food and care needed by both her and her puppies.

Ethical breeding

In front of the industrial warehouses where puppies are crowded in very bad conditions, subjecting the mothers to continuous deliveries as the unfortunate case that we have known this week, in which 270 puppies were rescued from hell living in two illegal breeding grounds in Arganda and Dumb; Ethical breeding concerns the welfare of the mother and her children.

"Our breeding ethic is based on having only the number of dogs we can have as members of our family. That is why we breed very little. A litter every two years or every year at most," Bolaño explains.

In addition, Patricia Gallardo continues , "we accompany the mother both at the time of the birth of her puppies and during the first months to make sure that each other is fine. And they do not leave, in any case, never before eight weeks They leave with two vaccines, chipados in the name of the owner, dewormed and under veterinary supervision. "

This medical visitor and this commercial in the field of HR never thought that they would have a large dog family and that they would be raising in their spare time. But after having behavioral problems with his first dog, Athos, they began to learn about the Golden and became true experts of this breed. "You have in mind that the Golden has a wonderful character and you don't think you can have character problems with him. That is why, after our experience with Athos, we began to be interested in responsible breeders who do things well with a correct selection of puppies, of character, with genetic tests ... ", summarizes Bolaño.

And his work began to bear fruit. The walls with medals and trophies won by their dogs prove it. "People think that these are beauty competitions, but what the judges evaluate is that the morphology and temperament of the dog match the standard of the breed. We do genetic tests and select the specimens with the best characteristics to cross them. and prevent puppies from being born with habitual problems in their breed, for example, in the case of the Golden, with hip dysplasia, "he says.

Adoption versus purchase

Both want to make it very clear that although they are dedicated to breeding, it does not mean that they are against the adoption of dogs. "It seems very legal for people to adopt, but also to choose a breed dog. If you choose a breed dog, you know the size it will have, its type of hair, the character it has, whether it needs a lot of exercise or not. .. You know in advance how that dog is going to be ... ", Pepe emphasizes, adding:" What we are not is in favor of giving away our puppies. Not only because it costs us money to feed them, veterinary consultations .. but also because when something costs it is not abandoned so easily, "he says convinced.

In the same opinion is Jacqueline Lasry, responsible for Made in Spain, dedicated to raising miniature Schnauzer . "We do not want any dog ​​to be left homeless, of course, but we defend that dogs are bought because this way you make sure exactly how the animal will be. If not, you risk too much," he defends. "In the case of mestizos, we don't know what behavior they are going to have, how they are going to behave in a family. Every dog ​​has to live in a suitable environment based on their characteristics," he adds.

Lasry is a veteran in competitions. Since 1975 he has been presenting dogs to these competitions where it is evaluated that the specimens meet the breed standard. At first he did it with his Doberman but after meeting Angel, his partner, he became interested in the miniature Schnauzer and his love for these little hairy has not stopped growing since then. "He is a very affectionate dog, familiar, very intelligent, small but with the head of a large dog and I love that," he confesses.

In his home in the Madrid municipality of Las Rozas, there are currently 11 Schnauzer, and both Jacqueline and his assistants are undressed by these hairy ones who constantly demand their attention. "I started to raise in 1980 and for me they are my family. That is why I do not sell them to anyone. Before giving them up, I do interviews to find the most suitable owners. If they tell me they have a very large garden and that there is where the dog is going to be, I discard them. These dogs are used to being at home, not outside. If they have small children, too, because puppies get very stressed out with young children, "he explains.

Photographs, pictures of Schnauzer, cushions, sculptures ... everything in Jacqueline Lasry's house reminds this dog of German origin. "They are my life. That is why, every year, I organize an annual meeting so that all the families that have any of the dogs she has raised are known and, of course, to see them again." We have great families, they connect between them on Facebook and the dogs are super careful, "she proudly confesses.

Although some puppies can sell for 5,000 euros -the usual prices range between 800 and 1,200 euros-, Lasry says that for responsible breeders it is not a business . "The commercial objective is very different from ours. We want to preserve the standard of race, temperament, health, and we seek its improvement."

To achieve this, each year they make a selection and stay with one or two puppies to continue competing. For the rest they look for suitable families. "Our goal is for the puppy to be well taken care of and be another component of the family," she says surrounded by her inseparable companions.

José Miguel Doval, director of the Royal Canine Society of Spain: "We must end animal abandonment"

Convinced that "the Dog, with capital letters, is much more than a simple animal or a pet", the Royal Canine Society of Spain (RSCE) has been working for more than 100 years so that "dog breeds are known and respected, recognizing their high social, historical and cultural value and the importance of the services they provide: assistance, therapy, drug or explosive detection, etc. ", explains José Miguel Doval, director of this organization and Communication Director of the Exhibition Canine World Cup 2020, which will be held between April 23 and 26 in Madrid and which will be attended by more than 20,000 dogs from five continents.

It is also important that we be aware of the responsibility we acquire with this living being knowing that it will accompany us at least the next 12 years of our life or more. Therefore, we must guarantee your well-being, respect your exercise and activity times, educate you (and educate us) to facilitate your relationship with the rest of our society and also be able to meet the expenses that this new incorporation entails for the family and that can Around an average of about 105 euros a month or more.

If the decision is focused on a dog of breed, it is essential to be informed about it, to know if it adapts to what we are looking for, to know its qualities and also its weaknesses, to look for a responsible breeder, without complying with the first thing we see, and establish with him a relationship of trust that will continue throughout the life of our dog.

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