Raising the
Standard
Ethics, Responsibility and Buyer education
Transparency Builds Trust
Standard #7
Written by Ashley Young, LakeHaus Kennels — Breeder, trainer, and advocate for purposeful, ethical German Shorthaired Pointer breeding.
Every dog has faults.
Every breeding program encounters challenges.
Every breeder has a decision they’d rethink if given the chance.
That’s normal.
What separates ethical programs from the rest isn’t perfection — it’s transparency.
Key Themes in This Standard
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Every dog and program has limitations
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Transparency as a breeder responsibility
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The harm caused by minimizing or hiding issues
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Why honesty moves the breed forward
Transparency Is a Breeder Responsibility
I’ve always believed that being upfront about my own dogs is part of my responsibility as a breeder. That includes discussing structural faults, personality traits, training challenges, and areas where a dog may not be ideal for every home or every program. Hiding those things doesn’t make them disappear — it just pushes the consequences onto someone else later.
Transparency matters because no program develops in a straight line. Pairings don’t always produce what was hoped for. Issues surface over time — sometimes health-related, sometimes temperamental, sometimes structural or functional. Ethical breeders acknowledge that reality and address it openly, rather than pretending it doesn’t exist.
The Cost of Withholding Information
Unfortunately, not everyone does. Health concerns that aren’t easily testable get minimized or omitted. Failed or borderline results go undisclosed. Temperament issues are reframed or ignored. Puppies with obvious structural limitations are quietly placed without honest conversations. That lack of transparency doesn’t protect the breed — it harms it.
Open discussion is how programs improve. It’s how buyers make informed decisions. And it’s how breeds move forward instead of repeating the same mistakes generation after generation.
Core Principles
Every Dog Has Faults
Acknowledging limitations doesn’t diminish a dog’s value — it protects the people and programs connected to them.
Transparency Prevents Harm
Minimizing or hiding issues shifts responsibility instead of resolving it.
Honest Programs Improve Over Time
Progress depends on openness, not image management.
Raising the Standard Means…
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Normalizing honest conversations about faults and limitations
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Being willing to say when a pairing didn’t work as hoped
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Acknowledging when a dog isn’t right for breeding
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Treating honesty as a responsibility, not a risk
Takeaway
Raising the standard means normalizing honesty.
It means being willing to say, “this wasn’t a good pairing,” or “this dog isn’t right for breeding,” or “this is something we’re working on.”
Because trust isn’t built by hiding flaws — it’s built by being honest about them.