This is the wished-for scenario a good breeder has in mind for all litters of puppies:
All of those little black furballs have had homes even before conception. Names of the new owners were taken from waiting lists. The new puppy owners are all members of the NCA or have applied for membership. That gorgeous pick of the litter boy is going to a show home with a history of championships and VNs. The pick bitch is going to the owner of the stud dog where she will proudly display her heritage as the dam of future puppies, if she passes all her health checks (which you feel confident of, since she comes from carefully selected and healthy breeding stock). Three of the little guys are going to wonderful "pet" homes, where they will join older Newfs in romping with a family who will love them dearly all their lives. Needless to say, these will go on Limited Registration and will be spayed or neutered. The rest are going to show or working homes, and you, the breeder, are confident they will provide companionship and interesting challenges on their way to winning many titles. You will spend the next ten or more years getting calls, letters, emails and Christmas cards full of exhuberant chat about the dogs' progress through life, although you know well that there will be some times of sorrow and heartbreak to come. You are happy. You are prepared. You send your puppies to their new homes full of nothing but optimism.

This is the scenario that all breeders dread:
A rescue volunteer from halfway across the country calls to tell you that he has just taken a dog into rescue from a dog owner who fortunately had the wits to call rescue instead of just taking the dog to the pound. The owner remembered that they had bought the dog from "some nice lady in [you name the state], but since he was just a pet, we never registered him and I can't remember the breeder's name, etc. etc." Fortunately, you had your puppies microchipped before sending them off into the world, and since the dog owner had never bothered to register himself with the chip service, you as breeder are still identified as the contact person. At this point, you either have rescue send the dog back to you or you act in concert with the rescue organization to help find the dog another and, hopefully, permanent home.

Now let's look at another scenario - the would-be, first-time Newf owner. This is a person who has tried to do her homework and would love to buy a Newfoundland puppy. She has bought everything Barnes & Noble has on its shelves about Newfs, she has downloaded information from the NCA website, she has called ten to twenty breeders, to be welcomed by some and rebuffed by others. She is on five waiting lists. She goes to dog shows and "bothers" Newf handlers. She has even called rescue and asked to be placed on lists for adult dogs. She is desperate. She may understand intellectually some of the talk she hears about missed cycles, absorbed litters, mentoring, waiting lists, vetting, but emotionally she is a wreck. Finally, in desperation she begins surfing the web in search of "other breeders." She finds plenty of them. She may begin to wonder if all this talk about health checks is necessary, for there are people out there who claim that "we don't have those problems in our lines - we breed just for healthy pets - it's those show people who have linebred their dogs into unhealthy messes - we trust you - we have puppies for you, etc. etc." This person, who has tried to do it by the book, after two years of searching for a Newfoundland, finally succumbs, plunks down her credit card and buys a dog - either from an internet puppy mill or a pet store in the mall. She has her Newf, and if she's very very lucky she might have a dog who will not bankrupt her at the vet's. If she's very very lucky, she will have a family pet who behaves well, gets along with other dogs, and is a joy to her family. She may be so lucky that some of her friends will admire her dog enormously and will want one "just like that." And so this person will pass on her experience and will send someone else to the pet store, to the puppy miller, to the ignorant backyard breeder. She may even be so accommodating that she will breed her dog herself so that all of her admiring friends can have a puppy "without going through a lot of hassle."

If that Newf is very very lucky, it will live a long life and be well-cared for. If that Newf is one of the unhappy ones who develop a genetic disorder that the owner cannot or will not treat, it could find its life ended prematurely or find itself in a shelter. If its little bit of luck holds, Newf rescue will find it and will unite it with a new owner with just a little more patience and a little deeper pocket. If the Newfoundland breed itself is very very lucky, this particular Newfoundland will have been neutered so as not to perpetuate whatever genes led to this particular unhappy life.

One thing is certain, however: this Newf's breeder will not receive a call from rescue, because the previous owner of the dog will undoubtedly have forgotten where the dog came from, or the breeder will have disappeared into the mists of the misbegotten.

There is a dilemma here, a disconnect between some breeders and some owners. There really are people in the world who would love to have a Newfoundland just because they love their looks, temperaments, abilities, but who have absolutely no interest in showing dogs, working dogs or breeding dogs. They just want "a pet," but they are often treated with sometimes-justified suspicion because of this. Or even if they are welcomed by a show or hobby breeder, there may not be puppies, because the good show breeders aren't interested in churning out lots of puppies just as pets. Most prospective buyers can understand the difference between the pet and show quality pups in a litter - and they appreciate the fact that both the pet and the champion share the same genes. These are often the people who "grow into the sport" and become active members of the dog community. But there are others who really just want a family dog, and this is the segment of the population that is being left behind - at least by "us."

There are no easy answers here. Certainly breeders should not lower their standards and endanger the breed just to meet some perceived demand by the public. However, the next time you meet a Newf on the street who is a far cry from what you consider a Newf to be and who came from "some nice lady in Missouri who just breeds pets," you might ask yourself why. Why do puppy mills exist?

There is much good talk in the fancy now about education. "If we just educate these people, they will know better than to go to a pet store or a backyard breeder." Which is probably true, but that doesn't alleviate the problem of supply and demand. That desperate person may know full well she is doing something "wrong" by buying from the BYB in the next county who sells unregistered Newfs four times a year for $500 and "doesn't have any health problems," but she may well be at the point that she's willing to take her chances because she simply cannot find a good Newfoundland. She knows, of course, what that "good" Newfoundland is because she has been "educated," but she has still been left adrift in a world of dogs that she understands at only one level.

There is no easy solution. Just something to think about the next time you, the "good" breeder, get one of those calls from someone with a little too much anxiety in her voice.