At the end of the Undercover Boss episode with Mark King, CEO of TaylorMade golf equipment, I almost cried when he gave $3,000 to a 21-year-old employee so that she could buy a dog. She was a lovely girl, smart and dedicated to her job, so I don’t begrudge her the money. But this is what caused him to do it. While they were working together, she’d shown him a photo of herself, her husband and her dog, a Bull Terrier by the looks of him. Ah, I thought, isn’t that sweet.
Then it all changed for me. She said they had paid $2,000 for him, the money she and her fiancé had for their wedding. Now they want to get a “female and…” . She didn’t finish the sentence, but I did. And breed them and sell the puppies. She said “big” or another word indicating an adult female. I took that to mean she wanted one already of breeding age so they could get right to business.
Mr. King might as well have given her $3,000 to start an at-home golf ball-making businesses because she probably knows more about making golf balls than she does about raising puppies. And what she’s talking about is business. Evidently, neither Mr. King nor any of the show’s production staff were thinking about backyard breeding because the updates at the end said about her that she was looking for a larger apartment to accommodate the new “puppy”. She and her husband had been living in a trailer.
I might be wrong about her wish for a female dog so they would have a breeding pair. If so, I wish she had finished her sentence. Because I could almost hear the dimwits I know saying ‘see, it’s ok, other people do it.” Yes, unfortunately, they do. People foolish enough to pay exorbitant amounts of money for pups from Kijiji or Craigslist or backyard breeding friends then decide they can do the same thing and breed puppies to recoup the money they spent for the dog.
Unless her dog has spent time in the show ring winning ribbons and unless his daddy or mother is a champion, there is no good reason to be breeding pups from him. She was definitely proud of him, so I think she would have told us if he was a show dog.
Mr. King evidently has a soft heart and a degree of naivety about the problem of backyard breeders. He would have done the dog a better service by paying for his neutering and giving this girl and her husband a belated honeymoon in the Dominican Republic or whatever it was they had originally planned for the $2,000 
they spent on buying their dog.
If I’m right, with her getting a female dog, the unnecessary cycle of selling overpriced pups continues. The people who pay her a lot of money for her dogs’ pups will want to make their money back too and, well, everybody’s doing it, aren’t they. So it must be ok. Not!
April 16th, 2012 - 2:09 am
That’s as out of touch as the people on Dragon’s Den!
Did you see the episode for the pet dating and mating service?
Arlene liked their pitch and offered to (and is?) working to develop this company!
Description: “A Toronto, ON, couple think they’ve found the perfect way to profit off of puppy love.” http://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/2011/09/matchmaker-pet.html
From the company’s website:
“Our purpose is to help you find the perfect match for your pet & create new life. Sign up now and take advantage of this new opportunity to make breeding simple, fun, and easy.”
I really think the rescues, dog owners associations and animal welfare groups should contact Dragon’s Den, the CBC, Arlene, the company and their ad sponsors to voice their concerns about this company that promotes backyard breeding.
April 16th, 2012 - 9:21 am
This circulated online a few months ago to educate potential dog breeders:
“ATTENTION ALL NOVICE POTENTIAL BREEDERS!!!!!
SO YOU WANT TO BE A BREEDER?”
http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/breeding/breeder2.html
April 19th, 2012 - 1:28 pm
Thanks for this, Chris, and the link in your other comment. I saw the ad for that Dragons’ Den episode and hoped that it wasn’t what it sounded like. I guess it was exactly that! That’s beyond irresponsible of all of them.
December 30th, 2012 - 1:06 pm
Are you sure that she wanted to breed them? I thought the dog in the picture she showed looked like a miniature bull terrier. I assumed when she said she wanted a ‘big’ one she meant she wanted a standard sized bull terrier. These dogs are hard to find as King mentions, although there are more bull terrier rescues in the south than you can shake a stick at so I’m not sure why they didn’t start there.
December 30th, 2012 - 3:43 pm
Hi Rosie, I never thought about maybe miniature and standard sizes. I know she said the dog they had was male and they wanted a female, a “big one”. I can’t remember for sure if she specifically said for breeding. She did say the amount they had paid for the male and what they would have to pay for the female. Yes, why not look for the rescue groups first? Thanks for pointing this out – I hope I misjudged what she was planning.
December 30th, 2012 - 4:24 pm
I hope we misjudged too…this breed is near and dear to my heart (I have 2) and it makes me cringe at the thought of backyard breeding. While watching the episode I was secretly hoping that they were going to say, “Hey we made a donation to this rescue and found you a new bully!” This breed also gets along better with male/female or 2 females so MAYBE she did her research and that’s why they want a female? I suspect at this point I am desperately trying to find a responsible and logical explanation to push thoughts of irresponsible breeding being broadcast on national TV out of my head. lol We bully terrier owners are slightly crazy…
December 30th, 2012 - 8:08 pm
Hi Rosie, maybe she knew it was best to get a female for the reason you say. I was hoping they’d give her the deferred honeymoon and a gift certificate from a vet for neutering her present and future dogs. I really enjoy the show and really liked that girl, but the lack of clarity about where the dogs were coming from and what she was going to do with them ruined that episode for me. Give your dogs a big hug from me!