TO BREED OR NOT TO BREED – THAT IS THE QUESTION
So you think
you want to breed a litter of puppies.
There are some important questions to ask before you take that first big
step. The first, and perhaps most
important, question is “Why?”. The answers will be as varied as the people
who own dogs. Do you want to have a
puppy “just like” your dog? Do you want
to breed your dog because people have told you how they would love to have one
of the puppies? Did you pay a
substantial amount of money for your dog and believe that you can recoup some
of that money? Do you want to make some
money? Do you want your children to
experience the wonders of birth and nature?
Do you believe that breeding your dog will make a significant
contribution to the breed? These are
some of the reasons given for breeding.
“I
want to breed so that I can have another dog just like this one!”
Chances are you will not get a puppy “just like” yours. Remember that your dog is only one-half of
the genetic make-up of the puppies. Your
dog is the result of genes from both his/her dam and sire and the possibility
that the puppies will turn out just like yours is remote unless you have
carefully researched the parentage lines behind your dog and the proposed stud
and understand the probabilities of what type of offspring should be produced from them.
“Everyone
tells me how much they like my dog and would love to have a puppy from her/him!”
Most people will change their minds when actually confronted with that
furry bundle of energy and the promises to buy one will evaporate. Try taking deposits before you breed and see
what type of response you have. As a
first-time breeder, you will not have established a reputation and will not
have referrals or references for your puppies.
That little four-legged bundle of fur is not “just like” your dog. The puppy will not be housebroken, obedient,
come when called, and, most likely, will keep the new owners up at night for
the first week or so. Your friend then
returns the puppy, saying they just don’t have time for a dog and you now have
a four-month old puppy that is chewing everything in sight, not quite as cuddly
as it was, and needing all its vaccinations that you have to try to re-home.
“You
can always sell purebred puppies and make some money.” You’ve paid £250 for your dog and got him at quite a bargain
because lots of those breeders with established kennel names were asking £400
for their puppies, so you just know that you’ll be able to breed your dog and
sell the puppies for £300 each and make a substantial amount of money. So, with money racing around in your head,
you set out to breed your dog. Let’s not
even consider the substantial medical testing that one should do prior to
breeding to make sure that no genetic tragedies are passed along, we’ll just
consider the bare minimum of expenditures.
First, there is the stud fee. If your
dog is worth £250 and you’re going to make all this money selling puppies,
it’s fair to say that the owner of the stud dog will probably consider him to
be worth at least £250 or more for his services. Now, we’ve paid out the stud fee and it’s
getting close to the time that the puppies are due. Your expectant female has been eating a lot
more lately (normally about 30% more from about the fourth week of pregnancy
and about three times the normal amount after the puppies are born until they
are about four weeks old). There’s the
blankets and towels that the puppies lay on; all the food that they eat after they
are weaned and before they are sold; advertising to sell the puppies; and that
is not taking into consideration any problems that might arise requiring
veterinarian attention during the whelping or for any problems with the mother
or sickly puppies after the puppies are born.
All these things are expenditures before even the first puppy is sold. For a very realistic look at the various
costs of raising puppies, you should take a good look at the charts.
“I
want my children to see the miracle of birth.”
This can be a very expensive and traumatic lesson for the children. Remember that birth can also be very
tragic. Your children may be seeing the
joy of new life at
“I
believe that the puppies resulting from the breeding will be an asset to the
development of the breed.” This is, in my opinion, the only reason
that any one should consider breeding a litter and even then there are serious
questions to consider. You should have
spent at least two to three years of serious interest in the breed, including
belonging to various breed and working clubs, completed in shows (in
conformation, obedience and/or agility) or performance events to demonstrate
your dog’s worthiness to be bred, have a substantial knowledge of the history
of your breed and its standard, have looked at as many different lines and
specimens of your breed as possible (you will learn as much looking at poor
specimens as you do with outstanding specimens, provided there is a balance
between the two), and talked extensively with the old-timers of the breed about
their experiences and where they see the breed going (even if you don’t
necessarily agree on all issues, these people still have a wealth of
information). Your dog should closely
match the breed standard and free of any temperament problems or serious health
or genetic defects. Look at your dog
with critical eyes, seeing all the faults as well as all the good aspects; a
critical eye is mandatory if you seriously want to breed better dogs. And, after taking all this into
consideration, you need to ask yourself if you can ensure that the puppies
produced go to the types of homes that you would want to live in.
“Okay, I think I still
want to breed.”
Breeding a
litter of puppies is a major responsibility.
You should consider whether you have the time, energy, financial and
physical resources, space, facilities, and knowledge to undertake this
responsibility. If you bring a litter
of puppies into the world, it is your responsibility to properly care for them
before and after they are born, as well as finding responsible, loving homes
for them.
Breeding,
done properly, requires a lot of your valuable time. There are late night and wee morning
feedings, ensuring that the temperature of the room remains constant, trips to
the veterinarian and to the stud dog, endless cleaning of the whelping and
puppy pen, laundry, phone calls from prospective owners and the
just-curious.
If you’ve
ever watched the movie “The Money Pit” where a couple purchased an old home to
renovate and then found they were paying endless expenses trying to renovate
it, you will then understand the comparison to your cash outflow when you breed
a litter. Here is a partial list of
considerations: medical testing for
genetic defects, prenatal veterinarian care, worming of your bitch, postnatal
veterinarian check-up, inoculations and worming for the puppies, purchase of
whelping box and whelping supplies (towels, scissors, hemostats,
disinfectant, iodine, thermometer, etc.), heating lamp, cleaning supplies
(paper towels, detergent, disinfectant, etc.), stud fee, puppy food and
vitamins, advertising, lost salaries and sleep, not to mention any unplanned
expenses such as birthing complications or sickly puppies or dam. (See charts
for realistic expenditures.)
You need to
decide where you are going to raise the puppies. Newly born puppies need a draft-free,
temperature constant environment to thrive, just like other newborns. While it should be in a quieter part of the
house, I don’t believe that puppies should be raised in isolation and strict
quiet. Puppies, like babies, become
well-adjusted adults when they are part of the mainstream of the
household. For that reason, I make sure
that the puppies could hear everyday noises, such as vacuuming, television and
radio, kitchen noises, people talking, etc.
I also try to provide the puppies with visual stimulation once the eyes
are opened. You will need, however, to
consider that six or eight growing puppies need a bit of room and can be
noisy. Because they are not housebroken
and the mother will quit cleaning up after them long before they go to new
homes, you need a space that can be easily cleaned and disinfected to provide a
sanitary and odour-inoffensive environment.
If outside temperatures permit, the space ideally will be located close
to where you can take the puppies out for a bit during the day once they have
started exploring their inside environment.
If you are going to raise the puppies in a kennel-situation, you need to
insure that the kennel is well-insulated and draft-free with electricity for
light (puppies should not be left in lightless places) and a heating lamp. You’ll need a space for yourself and whoever
is going to help you so that you can sit by the mother and puppies during the
first week of their life and spend time socializing them after that.
You need to
consider whether your work schedule and lifestyle will permit you to breed a
litter of puppies. Can you afford to
stay home for a week or so after the puppies are born? Can you arrange your schedule quickly if your
bitch goes into labour early? Do you
have pressing family events planned that may conflict with that time? If so, are you prepared to stay home with
your new responsibilities? What about
your daughter’s recital or your favorite niece’s
wedding? Is your family prepared to let
you make these sacrifices? Who is going
to help you when the puppies are born?
Who is going to guide you through a difficult birth, teach you about
tying off an umbilical cord and making sure that the placentas are completely
expelled? Do you know how to supplement
a sickly puppy who is not thriving?
Breeding means
sacrificing a ‘normal’ life in many cases.
These are things that the average person never considers when thinking
about breeders. These are choices that
breeders make when they decide to breed.
The welfare and future of the dogs are completely in their hands.
Another
consideration is whether you have the space, energy and time to keep puppies that
are not sold right away. Puppy
purchasers need to be carefully screened.
Will you be able to turn down those people who don’t seem responsible
even when the puppy is twelve or fourteen weeks old and are becoming
needle-toothed, destructive, barking imps that seem to eat, sleep, potty and
potty again? Are you prepared to take
back a puppy after it has lost its cute-potential and the owners find out that
a puppy, like a child, requires work and training to be a well-adjusted member
of the family? You may also be unlucky
enough to have a puppy owner call you after a year and tell you that the puppy
has severe hip dysplasia or cataracts and wants you
to take the dog back and refund the money.
Or the dog may have started biting his or the neighbour’s children and
you’re suddenly faced with a lawsuit for producing an aggressively-temperament
dog (even though the person may have a new partner and children who are
absolutely horrid to the dog and the biting is environmentally produced,
lawsuits mean money to defend as well as time and energy).
Your dog is
very important to you, are you sure that you want to risk her health or life
for a litter of puppies? Complications
do sometimes occur during pregnancy, birth and post-natal, and these
complications can result in unfortunate consequences.
“Yes, after careful
consideration, I still want to breed.
What can I expect before and after the puppies are born?”
You’ve done
your homework and found a compatible male to complement your bitch’s pedigree
and physical characteristics; both dogs have passed the appropriate health
testing for the breed. She’s in season
and it’s time to take her to the veterinarian for a prenatal checkup and to make sure that her vaccinations, medications
and worming are up to date. Once you’ve
bred her, she should be under veterinarian care for any illnesses and should be
kept away from any dogs that might pass viruses to her. Infestations, illnesses or diseases can
affect the unborn puppies. Bitches can
have miscarriages. If fetal death occurs early in the pregnancy, it is usually
undetected and absorbed by the mother’s body.
Abortion may result if fetal death occurs
later in the pregnancy, and, dependent upon the cause of fetal
death, the bitch may carry the remaining fetuses to
term. A number of things can cause fetal death, including fetal
congenital defects, the physical health of the mother, her uterus and placenta,
malnutrition, anything that alters the health of the mother. This can include reproductive tract diseases and
illnesses, such as cystic endometrial hyperplasia, adhesions (possibly from
previous pregnancies or caesarian-sections), tumours
or hormonal imbalances. Diseases known
to cause fetal death include Canine Distemper Virus
infection, Canine Herpes Virus infection, Toxoplasmosis, Campylobacter
infection and Brucellosis (a type of Canine sexually transmitted disease).
You will still
need to exercise your bitch. As the
pregnancy progresses, your walks may get a bit slower. She will require about 30% more supplementary
food during the last three to four weeks of her pregnancy. Now is a good time to put her on puppy food
specially formulated for the needs of puppies and pregnant or lactating
bitches. She may become a bit moody and
depressed or she may have no changes at all, other than an increased appetite
and thickening around the middle.
As the
whelping date nears, she may become restless.
The whelping area should be ready so that she can become accustomed to
it. You may want to schedule a few days
off before the whelping date so that someone is home with her at all
times. Some bitches do whelp early and
premature puppies are the result.
Bitches should never whelp by themselves since trouble can occur and no
one wants to come home to find dead puppies and/or a dead bitch.
Once whelping
begins, be prepared for any problems that may occur. Dystocia is the
term associated with difficulty in whelping.
While uterine fatigue (inertia), due to length of labour or to lack of
physical fitness prior to whelping, is probably the most common cause of dystocia, other factors may also present problems, such as
puppies too large for the pelvis or vaginal canine, malpresentation
(breech puppies), prolapsed uterus, prolapsed vagina, uterine torsion, or
ruptured uterine. You and your
veterinarian will need to determine the cause of dystocia. Proper treatment may be either administering
drugs (oxytocin) to increase uterine contractions,
manual assistance in delivery, or surgery (a caesarian-section).
Once those
puppies are all born, there are still dangers to both the puppies and to the
bitch. Eclampsia
is not an extremely common disease, but it is
life-threatening. While it is caused
by low calcium levels in the blood caused by the demands of lactating, there is
evidence that giving the bitch calcium during pregnancy may, in fact,
predispose her to this condition. Small
dogs are particularly prone to this disease.
Signs to watch for during the first three weeks of
nursing includes behaviour changes such as restlessness, nervousness or
lack of interest in the puppies. Left
untreated, the next stage can be excessive salivation, a stiff or wobbly gait,
or irritability. Continued lack of
treatment may result in fever, inability to stand, muscle spasms, and seizures
over the next few minutes to several hours.
Death may occur due to hypothermia or respiratory depression. Dogs suffering from eclampsia
should be transported immediately to the veterinarian where, if consulted in time,
the intravenous administration of calcium can result in rapid improvement. Recurrence can be prevented after such an
episode by continuing to give oral calcium throughout the remainder of the
lactation period. Calcium should be
given upon a veterinarian’s advice only.
Much easier to
recognize, mastitis is the infection and/or inflammation of the mammary gland
and may include all or just one or several glands. The affected glands become firm and hard,
often resembling rocks, are very red, warm to the touch and painful. Milk may possibly be off-colour. Veterinarians are divided in their opinions
as to whether nursing from these infected glands may harm the puppies. Treatment includes antibiotics, massage and
manual expression of the gland, warm compresses and may also include surgical
drainage and flushing.
Puppies need
to be kept in a dry, warm environment that is free of drafts. Care must be taken to keep the bitch from
stepping or lying upon the puppies and to ensure that each puppy is adequately
cared and fed by the bitch, particularly during the critical first three
weeks. Newborn puppies are also
extremely susceptible to other factors, such as disease and stresses such as
physical trauma, infections from less than sanitary conditions, heavy parasite
load, and congenital diseases.
Because it has
been your decision to produce these puppies, it is your responsibility to make
sure that they remain as healthy as possible.
This means that your life for at least the first week will not be your
own and, hopefully, your family will understand the stress and time constraints
upon you. For those of you who are
parents, think back to those first few months when it seemed as if you would
never get any sleep again. Hopefully,
you’ll be able to count upon the support of a partner or hire someone to help
you care for the puppies during this time.
After the puppies are three weeks old, you will need to start teaching
them to eat a type of gruel. This results in extra time spent in preparing the food,
cleaning bowls, assisting the puppies, and then in cleaning the puppies after
so that skin infections do not occur from left-over gruel. This is, of course, on top of the average of
a minimum of two hours a day spent
in cleaning the puppy pen, exercising and feeding the mother, handling the
puppies so that they become used to people, taking the puppies to the
veterinarian for a health check, worming and vaccinations, cleaning the house,
etc. Over an eight week period of time,
this results in a very minimum of 112 hours.
During this
period of time, you will also spend time on the telephone with those people who
have reserved puppies and people who want information about puppies that you
may have available. This can be from
fifteen minutes a day to several hours, dependent upon the people. You will also need to budget money to return
phone calls that you may miss.
Once the
puppies are weaned, from three to six weeks, time should be spent playing with
them, cutting their toenails, carefully examining them to help accustom them to
having ears, eyes, mouth looked at.
Trusted people and children may come to visit the puppies, but only if
you know that their dogs, if any, have been completely vaccinated and they are not
carriers of any viruses. Necessary to
socialize the puppies, this is also an added cost to your time and expenses,
since most of us will serve food and beverage of some sort to our friends.
“People are calling
about puppies, now what?”
Now the really
hard people work begins of spending time with the people who call and making
sure that they are suitable owners with good homes for your puppies. You have a great deal of emotional,
financial, time, and energy investment in these puppies and should want to
ensure that they go to the best possible homes.
You carefully word your advertisements for the various dog papers and,
perhaps, the dog magazines, if you can financially afford the investment. As the phone calls come in, there are
definitely questions that you will want to ask the prospective buyers and
questions that you should look for them to be asking you. Are you determined enough and able to turn
away people from who you don’t get a good feeling? Can you continue to look for good,
responsible homes even when the puppies may be twelve weeks old, eating you out
of house and literally home, as their little teeth tear into the woodwork,
leave little stains on the carpet, and snag your best hose? Your responsibility continues even when the
little imps are not quite so cute any more because the strain of late nights
and extra work has worn you to a frazzle.
“What are the
questions I should be asking the people who call?”
You should
find out as much as possible about the people who want to purchase one of the
puppies. Consider it a job interview for
the life of and responsibility for the puppy.
Some of the questions that you should ask are:
- Why do they want a puppy of
this breed?
- What type of experience do they
have with (insert breed here)?
- What do they know about raising
and training dogs?
- How many dogs have they owned
in their life and at what ages and how did the dogs die?
- Have they ever gotten rid of
one of their dogs and why?
- Do they have children, other
dogs, cats? If so, what are their
ages?
- Where will the dog live in the
family (inside, outside, a combination of both)?
- Do they have the facilities to
keep a (insert breed here)?
- What do they want to do with
the puppy; i.e., do they want to compete with it; do they want a pet; do
they want to breed later?
- Are the puppies in this litter
suitable for their needs?
- Do they plan to spay/neuter the
puppy?
- Do they have the financial
means to feed and properly maintain, including veterinarian costs, a
(insert breed here)?
- What kind of exercise will the
dog get?
- Do they have a fenced in
garden?
- Do they know about grooming the
dog (especially important in coated breeds)?
- If they are thinking of
breeding later, will they do the necessary health checks and prove the
worth of their dog within the breed prior to breeding?
- Do they have a problem with
signing a contract for your puppy?
A good
breeder, concerned with the welfare of their puppies, will make the buyer feel
as if they are adopting one of the breeder’s children. Any breeder who will sell puppies without
asking questions and doing all possible to guarantee that the buyer knows about
If the answers to any of these
questions are vague or not to your liking, you should either decline selling
them a puppy or talk to them in person and then make your decision. Remember that if they are not willing to work
with you now, it is likely that they will not follow your guidelines in the
future, contract or not.
“What questions should I be
expecting from the buyers?”
Informed buyers are going to want to
know about the background of their puppy.
Be prepared to not only discuss everything you know about the sire and
dam, but also everything you know about the other dogs on the pedigree. Since a good breeder has done her/his
homework prior to breeding, answering those questions should prove no problem.
1.
Can
I see both the sire and dam of the puppies?
If you don’t own the sire (and this is the normal case), am I able to
visit the sire’s owner and see him also?
2.
Tell
me everything you can about the sire and dam.
What are the sire’s worst and best faults or traits? What are the dam’s worst and best faults or
traits?
3.
Has
this dam been bred before? When and how
many litters has she had? What are the
dogs from that litter(s) like?
4.
How
long have you had this particular breed?
How knowledgeable do you consider yourself?
5.
What
testing has been performed on the sire and dam for genetic problems? Have they both been examined for hip dysplasia and do they have certifications? Have they both had their eyes examined and
certified? Have they both had vWD testing (a blood disorder)? What about other testing? Do you have evidence of the findings of the
testing and can I see the certifications?
(An informed breeder will have checked about genetic problems in the
breed and the answer of “Oh, they’re just fine.” is not appropriate or good enough.
6.
Do
you have certifications on any of the dogs further
back in the pedigree?
7.
How
many of the dogs in the pedigree have you seen and examined personally? Tell me everything you know about them. (Be prepared to discuss more than what is
found on the pedigree – a good breeder will know about the temperaments,
health, workability, etc. of the dogs in the puppies’ pedigree.)
8.
What
can you tell me about the types of titles (conformation, working, obedience
and/or agility) are in the pedigree? How
far back in the pedigree do these titles occur?
How many of the dogs were titled?
Are you currently working on any titles, degrees or certifications with
the dam and/or sire? What about with
your other dogs?
9.
Why
did you decide to breed this particular dam to this particular sire?
10. Tell me about the incidence of dysplasia, eye problems, vWD,
epilepsy, allergies, thyroid problems, growth problems, cancer, etc. in the
pedigree.
11. How many puppies were born in the
litter? Did any have congenital
problems? If so, what were the
problems?
12. How much time have you spent planning
the litter? How did you determine what
stud to use? Had you seen him and
examined him prior to taking your bitch to him for breeding?
13. How much time have you spent with the
puppies? What is your normal day like
with them?
14. Has your veterinarian examined the
puppies? Have they been inoculated at
all? If so, for what?
15. Do you perform any temperament
tests? How do you evaluate your
puppies? If you temperament test, which
test do you use? Did anyone temperament
test the puppies? (An informed buyer
will ask to see the results and you should be prepared to explain those
results. If you can’t explain the
criteria used to evaluate puppies, what good are the evaluations?)
16. Do you have a puppy contract that I
will need to sign? May I have a copy
before I come to see the puppies? What
does it entail?
17. Do you offer any health or temperament
guarantees? What are the terms? If there is a problem, does the puppy/dog
have to be returned? (While returning a
dog may be very traumatic, it may sometimes be necessary. A good breeder is one who is concerned about
not only their dogs and their puppies, but with the breed on a whole.) If there are any health or temperament
problems, will any of my purchase money be refunded or will I get a replacement
puppy from another breeding (with another sire or dam)?
18. Do you require that any companion
(pet-quality) puppies be spayed or neutered?
Will there be an endorsement on the registration? (Most people who want a dog for a pet will
understand that a good breeder wants to ensure that only the best (those
conforming to the standard and with a minimum of faults) dogs are bred.)
19.
Will
you be available throughout the life of the dog to answer any of my questions
and concerns? Can you answer any
training, food, exercise, medical questions?
If you don’t know an answer, do you know who I can go to for
answers?
20. What documentation will I get with my
puppy? Will I get a four- or
five-generation pedigree? Are any
medical testing results for dogs on the pedigree listed? Will I get information on how to take care of
my puppy and what I should expect? Do
you provide the puppy’s health record?
Will I get any helpful information on helping my puppy adjust to a new
home and training?
21. What do you consider to be the most
important facets of a breeding program?
What are you striving for in your breeding program? (A good breeder will consider the entire
standard, including not only the physical aspects, but also the purpose for
which the breed was conceived, health and temperament. A good breeder doesn’t concentrate on any one
part of the standard to the exclusion of others.)
22. Tell me about your philosophy on
breeding dogs in general and how it relates to this breed? Why did you breed
this pair of dogs? Does this breeding
match your philosophy on breeding?
23. What dog-related clubs or organizations
do you belong do? How long have you belonged
to them? Are you active in these clubs
or organizations?
24. Do you work your dogs? Do you show?
Do any of your dogs have temperament degrees (such as PAT dogs or good
citizenship testings)? If not, can you explain why?
25. Can you give me references of any
people who own dogs from your previous litters?
May I call them?
“Whew, I didn’t realize that selling
puppies was this hard. Now what?”
Be prepared for those who are
interested in the puppies to come over and visit before selecting their puppy. This is a good time to discuss the information
in your puppy packet. What? You say that you don’t have any puppy
packets? You should put together useful
information for the new owners. Things
to include in each packet:
1.
Four-
or five-generation pedigree (including any certification numbers for hip, eye, vWD testing, etc.)
2.
Pictures
of the sire and dam (and any other pictures that you may have of dogs in the
pedigree)
3.
Picture
of the puppy
4.
Health
record of the puppy, including any inoculations, worming, medical care and the
phone number and address of your veterinarian
5.
A
copy of the breed standard
6.
An
application form for the breed parent club and any other clubs that you belong
to
7.
A
list of training groups and information on puppy socialization/training classes
8.
Information
on the inoculations that the dog will require (a brief explanation of each of
the diseases being inoculated against is always helpful and will emphasize the
importance of making sure the dog has immunity)
9.
Copies
of brochures that you have found helpful (such as crate training, leash
training, helping the puppy adjust to a new home, housetraining, etc.)
10. Recommendations of feeding schedules
and types of food
11. A list of references
12. Puppy contract (this is very important;
everyone should have some type of contract to stress the importance and
responsibility of dog ownership, as well as what you expect from the buyer and
what the buyer can expect from you, and information of what you expect to
happen if the buyer finds that he cannot keep the dog at any time in the dog’s
life)
13. Information from the Kennel Club about
dog ownership and responsibility
Sit down and talk about the dogs, the
pedigree and dogs in it. Introduce the
people to your other dogs. You’ll want
to see how they react to adult dogs with all the size, slobber, coat (hair on
their clothes), boisterousness, etc.
These reactions will tell you a lot about how they will be able to deal
with that cute little buddle of fur when it becomes full-grown and not quite so
easily cuddled. They should be able to
see the mother separate from the puppies.
If the puppies are very young, you may wish to have them look in at the
puppies but not touch them. It is always
recommended that before you have anyone touching the puppies that you first
make sure that any dog they may now own has been fully inoculated. In the States it is not uncommon for a
breeder to ask that the buyers have not visited any other litters or dogs on
that particular day before seeing the puppies.
Puppies are very vulnerable and the last thing that you will want is a
virus brought into your home.
You may, as a matter of course, serve
tea, coffee and desserts, during the time the people visit. Be sure to add those into the cost
of raising a litter of puppies for sale.
Multiply the time spent with one puppy buyer by number of puppies in the
litter and you will see that time is a serious factor in deciding whether to
breed.
“What happens if there aren’t buyers
for all the puppies?”
A breeder must have the space and
financial resources to take care of any puppies that are not sold. This means, of course, that the breeder must
start the housetraining and socialization, as well as further veterinarian
costs for inoculations and worming. Not
all puppies are sold quickly, unless one is not careful about the homes that
the puppies will go to and are willing to sell them to whoever rings up. It is not uncommon to have one or two puppies
remaining at even twelve or sixteen weeks.
Puppies at a young age require a great deal of time; housebreaking and
socialization takes up even more time.
As a breeder, you are responsible for making sure that the puppies are
as well-socialized as possible to prevent future problems from occurring. Puppies cannot just be placed in a kennel and
forgotten about except at feeding time.
It means toe nail trimming, ear cleaning, baths, teaching them to walk
on leashes, meet people, car rides, etc.
If you are not prepared to take on the responsibility of extra puppies
for an extended amount of time, you should seriously consider whether you
should be breeding.
“Yikes, it’s
two years later and Mr. Smith is being transferred to
That puppy which is now a two-year-old
dog is still your responsibility. Mr.
Smith may not have done any socialization or training and Fido
may hate small children, but you, as a breeder, should be taking Fido back for rehoming. This often means that you will incur
additional expenses, such as training classes, veterinarian costs (Mr. Smith
didn’t take Fido anywhere so he didn’t bother with
the inoculations even though you told him that it was mandatory), additional
food costs, as well as lots of your time.
It means having the means to separate Fido out
from your other dogs until they become acquainted and finding the right home
for him all over again. It doesn’t
matter whether the scenario is that Mr. Smith is getting a divorce, the ‘puppy’
got too big (even though he saw all the adult dogs and Fido
is actually the smallest male you’ve seen), or the new Mrs. Smith hates the dog
or his new stepson is allergic to dogs.
Some dogs are even returned to the breeders as old dogs because their
owners just couldn’t bear the idea of them being sick and needing to be put
down. Breeding is not just a four-month
proposition (between breeding and whelping).
It is a lifetime responsibility.
Conclusion
Mating your dog is not something to
lightly undertake. One important thing
to remember is that the Kennel Club registration does not guarantee that the
dog has been well-bred by a caring, conscientious breeder who has strived
mightily to ensure that her dogs are as free as possible from genetic disorders
and conforms to the breed standard on working ability, structure, temperament,
and purpose. That piece of paper does
not mean that every dog should be bred.
Indeed, only a small fraction of dogs should ever be bred. Any person who cannot breed to the standard
and only to better the breed is not deserving of the name of breeder. Those who cannot manage to breed the right
way (which means the betterment of the breed in its entirety and not just one
characteristic should try raising snails instead.
Design-a-doggers
and puppy-raisers do just as much harm as puppy mills and backyard
breeders. In some cases, the damage is
even greater because these people can talk well, but just can’t meet the
exacting criteria of someone who has dedicated themselves to the task of
safeguarding and improving the dogs that they love.
Some breeders lose the distinction of
breeder and join the ranks of backyard breeders, puppy farmers, and even the
design-a-dog category (by intensifying on one or several traits rather than the
overall standard) when they lose track of the objective of breeding which
should be solely and entirely the betterment of the breed. These are often wonderful people who at one
time and held the greatest respect through their ability to breed with the
future in mind, having a plan and a goal. Having worked hard to get the respect
and become true breeders, these breeders gave up somewhere along the line,
believing that everything they produced was the best without clearly looking at
where they were going. Many of these people now simply put dog A with dog B
because they own them or they are top winning dogs and they don't bother to
look beyond. Breeders cannot afford to sit upon their laurels, nor can they
simply start looking at each litter as a way to pick up a bit of money and
start compromising their integrity and reputation by cutting corners. It's a
tough life that we, as breeders, have, but it is one that we have chosen and to
do less than our very best each time is not only neglectful to our dogs, but is
dishonest to the breed and dog world in general, as well as those who trust
that we live up to our reputation.
Breeding
for any one trait is irresponsible breeding. Breeding to make a bit of money is
irresponsible breeding. Breeding to
simply produce dogs and fulfil a market is irresponsible breeding. Breeding without doing everything possible to
ensure healthy puppies and dogs is irresponsible breeding.
Make sure you
don’t join the ranks of the irresponsible.
Copyright 2001 Sierra
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