View Full Version : Quoybrae auction - collie pups
neepnipper
12-May-06, 09:20
Cannot believe what I have just read in JOG journal, Caithness Livestock Centre have an farm machinery and implement sale next Saturday, in their listings of items for sale are 7 collie pups.
Is it just me or does this seem totally irresponsible and unethical, I don't know if the pups will be in a cage and held up one at a time for bidders or if there will be photos of them for people to bid on, either way I don't agree with it at all and have phoned the SSPCA AT Balmore to complain, they are going to look in to it.
I think your taking it a bit to far the pups wont be at the sale i would imagine there will be a contact number for any wanting to buy them . that what i think anyway .
neepnipper
12-May-06, 10:55
I'm sorry but I still think it's not on putting puppies in to an auction whether they are there or not, they are listed as being sold in the auction.
What exactly is it about the auction that you don't agree with?
Cannot believe what I have just read in JOG journal, Caithness Livestock Centre have an farm machinery and implement sale next Saturday, in their listings of items for sale are 7 collie pups.
Is it just me or does this seem totally irresponsible and unethical, I don't know if the pups will be in a cage and held up one at a time for bidders or if there will be photos of them for people to bid on, either way I don't agree with it at all and have phoned the SSPCA AT Balmore to complain, they are going to look in to it.
They sell cattle sheep and poultry at the auction and no one objects, what is so different about a dog?
The difference is that you think of a dog as a family pet, the cute little fury thing that the children play with. Not all dogs are like that, some dogs are working dogs, they are every bit as much an agricultural animal as a sheep or a cow. Their sole purpose in life is to herd sheep, most of them live in the outbuildings not curled up on the hearth rug. As with a prize bull or tup their value is in their pedigree, they have been bred to be good sheepdogs and because it is in their breeding when they are working they are doing what they enjoy doing most.
I hope those puppies get good owners who understand them, who will train them well and give them a good active useful life doing what they enjoy not try to change them into something they are not by making them pets, seems to me a livestock auction is just the right place to find such a person.
neepnipper
12-May-06, 11:31
To me it's like selling a puppy as a commodity, and I know cows, sheep etc go to auction but they are farmed animals.
Also I fear there may be the factor of 'oh look, a sweet little puppy, I think I'll bid on that', a few months later to be seen on the animals for sale section 'home needed for collie pup'.
Another point that the SSPCA made was that potential homes wouldn't be vetted, as a responsible dog owner selling pups it's quite normal to check that the pup is going to a good home.
If the pups are going to be at the auction would they of had their jabs?
Maybe I'm too sentimental, but as a dog owner myself I feel very strongly about this.
To me it's like selling a puppy as a commodity, and I know cows, sheep etc go to auction but they are farmed animals.
Also I fear there may be the factor of 'oh look, a sweet little puppy, I think I'll bid on that', a few months later to be seen on the animals for sale section 'home needed for collie pup'.
They are commodities.
If they're good working dogs from good parents I doubt anyone could afford to buy one because it looks cute.
An advertisement in the Groat could get a reply from anyone, everyone reads the Groat. It's mostly farmers who go to farm machinery auctions, it's farmers who would give the dogs the best home. Good working dogs don't usually make good pets, they have an instinctive craving to be herding things.
footie chick
12-May-06, 11:59
I have to agree with you Fred. If a farmer takes one of the puppies it will give it the freedom to roam better than going to someone who will keep it in a small garden all day. My dads working collie is the most gentle I have seen around kids! but she is a big soft lump!
Just a thought, but the collie pups might not be from a working stock anyway, in which case it probably is the wrong place to sell them. I have no problem in principal with selling dogs in an auction, as long as they are treated properly and in clean conditions etc.
Dog Warden
12-May-06, 19:05
I think it is highly probable that the pups will be sold through the ring as i have seen this happen before.
I don't see any harm in auctioning the puppies, this is not the first time that puppies have been auctioned, down in the south there are annual sales of sheepdogs including puppies, the farming community of Caithness usually know the breeder who is usually a farmer and how good his working dogs are and if the are off of good working strain they are worth a lot of money.
Hello,
My name is Gus and I am a three year old collie from a good Caithness breeder of working dogs.
I believe my mother and father thought hard and did some research before they got me as a five-week-old pup, and I'm very glad they did. If they didn't have numerous birdies for me to separate and round up ALL day, EVERY day, I would surely have become bored and destructive. Saying that, I get the best of both worlds and am fairly petted - I smell of Timotei cherry and fresh cotton this week, and I get to sit on the sofa when I'm clean, but when we pass the fields of sheep in the car, I have a yearning.
Sure enough, I get to flex my capabilities now and then when we go to friends' crofts, but I KNOW there's more out there for me to do. My mother has mentioned something called "Dog Agility". Does anyone know of anyone who can help me with this? I've seen it on the box in the corner and want to know more!
Good luck to my relatives in the sale - they will hopefully have happy and fulfilled lives, doing what they're bred to do down on a farm somewhere!
Gus
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e26/manni234ks/herd.jpg
I too have to agree with fred. What is the difference between a pup being auctioned and somebody, anybody, walking into a huge kennels in a large city and saying, "I'll take the one with the white paw at the back of the cage, please."
You walk in, you make your choice, you pay your money, and off you go with your pup and nobody will ask a thing about you. For all they care, provided they get their money, you can keep it in a box in the attic.
The only real differences are that at the auction the price isn't fixed and Mummy and Daddy aren't as likely to be indulging Little Snot-bag who demands the cute one with the waggly tail because it's something to pull when you're bored.
connieb19
13-May-06, 12:08
At least if they are sold at the auction there is a high chance they will go to a farm as a working dog, which is what they are bred to do. These working dogs do not make very good pets, They are far too active, and far too intelligent to be kept cooped in the house. I would rather them sold to a farmer than advertised somewhere like on here or in the local paper, where people will buy them because they are cute and cuddly, then a couple of months later where they are are so hyper, the owners can't cope, then you see them advertised again..:(
I knew a Dog Trainer who was of the opinion that "One Man and His Dog" on TV was the worst thing which had happened for Border Collies because it made them popular with people who didn't understand their needs.
She wasn't being "superior" by saying that but was simply pointing out that there were "horse for courses" and keeping a Border Collie in a house and small garden, or even no garden, with no mental stimulation was asking for problems.
Fred's on the right track: I think way too many town or city peeps have nosed into traditional country and farming ways, with their 'ideals' and thoughts on how things are 'meant to be'..... usually with little or no knowledge of farming or country life. It's harmed the farming community in so many ways, as most of us are aware.
I'm sure that this is not the first time that working dogs have been auctioned at country auctions.... Hell, we might get solicitors selling houses soon: God forbid!
Remember: Don't criticise farmers with your mouth full....
neepnipper
13-May-06, 21:43
Just for the record I have always lived in the country and know the ways of farming and country life, I just don't think it's fair to a pup, working dog or not, to be paraded around a ring full of people, at least if it's sold from home it's in a familair environment when someone goes to look at it.
It's not all farming folk that go to these auctions, I go and although I have a small amount land I am not a farmer, lots of other people I know who go are also not farmers.
I see I am in the minority in my views butI still stand by them.
I see I am in the minority in my views butI still stand by them.
Galileo was in a very small minority when he insisted the Earth was not the centre of the Universe and went round the Sun.
I don't know of many people in the present day who would find cause to declare that he was wrong.
Being in a minority does not make you wrong and, despite what politicians insist, being in a majority does not necessarily make you right.
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