Why Breed?
Firstly, you should ask yourself, Why do you want to breed? What is your goal? What was your spark that made you want to think about breeding, why would you want to put yourself through something that can be stressful, emotionally draining, financially draining, exhausting, and can be looked on by others as being so wrong and bad in a society where there are so many dogs in rescue?. What do you want to breed? Are you looking to breed dogs that can be shown? Or working dogs or purely companion dogs/family pets?
Personally, I originally decided to go into dog breeding after myself and my partner purchased our first 2 dogs from 2 completely separate breeders who were, to say the least, unscrupulous. Our very first dog, came from a messed up breeder who was trying to import dogs for show purposes but got “bored” and ended up doing things so badly wrong. He would dock the dogs' tails himself and make a hell of a mess of them (I am talking about nearly 30 years ago now), our pup had a cigarette burn on her rump where the breeder had dropped his butt. He sold the pups at an elevated price as they came with KC papers, but the KC papers never materialised, and so many other things that were just wrong. Our second dog, a few years later, came from a puppy farm in Ireland (we did not know that at the time). When I collected her (from a van, at a ferry port), she was in the back of a van with lots of other puppies of varying breeds, they were covered in faeces, standing on metal trays that were pooled in urine inside filthy smelly rusty metal cages, they were all scared stiff, covered in fleas, my particular pup had a bout of hypoglycaemia because they had not been fed or allowed to drink for the best part of 24 hours, and certainly hadn’t been cleaned out. I knew that I should not have taken her, but there was no way i was going to leave her behind. She couldn’t stand up due to the hypoglycaemia and so my first port of call was to go straight to my vet rather than straight home. She had never been handled by her “breeders”, she was raised in a dark shed outside, she was scared stiff of hands and toys etc... we had to literally start from scratch with her, and she remained my shadow and loyal constant companion for 13 glorious years, she never ever trusted anybody else, but she was so very happy and safe in my company.
Neither of the 2 dogs came to us with any food, feeding guidance, vaccinations, we didn’t even know if they had been wormed, we were never asked a single question about what kind of home we were offering to the pup, it was just a case of hand your money over, here is the pup, get on with it, bye.... Sadly, at that time, we didn’t have the luxury of the internet. We were not aware that such things as puppy farms existed, until after the event and doing some research. I wish I had had the foresight to research prior to purchase, but there was so little information and advice available back then. At the time, I just thought, this cannot be right! how can breeders be like this? Surely there must be a better way of purchasing a puppy, and a better way of breeding the puppies, and a much better way of selling a puppy to the right home and co-ordinating the collection and providing information, advice and food to assist in the transition to a new home. This was my spark. I can do this! and I can do this so much better and make things so much better for future new puppy owners. I wanted purchasing a new puppy to be an exciting and happy experience for new owners. I was not new to breeding, as I had been breeding rabbits for show for a number of years so was already aware of health requirements, housing requirements, correct diets, vaccinations, colour genetics and breed genetics etc in the rabbit world, and had also lived on a farm for a short time and had got involved with lambing. So, I just decided that I wanted to make the puppy world and dog breeding world a much better place and that is how I got started.
At the time, I had a career in Local Government which I loved, and had done for 16 years. It was a career with a guaranteed salary going into my bank every month, a job for life, and I would probably be retired by now if I had stayed at that, and I was also the main breadwinner in our house, but I wanted to make a difference in a completely different way, I had my goal, I had a desire and an excitement. It was difficult but I decided this was it, this is what I want to do. When I was younger, my life goal was to be a vet, I absolutely loved dogs from a very young age, however I developed animal allergies when I was about 15 years old, so the veterinary career had to go, so one of my goals for dog breeding, initially, was to look into breeds of dogs that may be suitable for people with allergies. So, nowadays, fast forward 20+ years, I only breed and keep breeds which are suitable for my allergies, and I also help people to fulfil a life long dream to own a dog who have never thought that they could due to their own allergies. It is exceptionally rewarding for a person to come along to see my pups and find out that they do not burst into hives and runny noses and eyes streaming and wheezing.
I want to breed ethically in order to make a difference. Do you have a suitable environment? We didn’t particularly have a lot of room at the time we started breeding dogs. We lived in a beautiful little secluded farm cottage, with very little land, so our first step, before considering expanding our dog numbers, was to look for something larger, purely for the space to give to our dogs so that they could enjoy a fabulous life running and playing in fields, aswell as having indoor space to whelp and raise a litter of pups safely and in their own space awy from other dogs and pups.
Do you have time? Breeding is not a 9-5 job. Raising a litter of pups is a full time job and can be around the clock. A litter of pups is going to be with you for at least 8-12 weeks (or more in some cases), and they need constant attention throughout. Breeding is not just about raising a litter, selecting your breeding dogs takes time, the mating process takes time, veterinary appointments for health checks, vaccinations, health tests etc. Take time. Keeping records takes time. Looking for new homes and vetting new owners takes time. Responding to new owner questions takes time. It is more than a full time job. It is a way of life.
Do you have the Support? Are your family on board with your desire to breed? Are they able to help you with day to day tasks, are they happy that you are probably unlikely to be able to take breaks or holidays etc. You will need a good vet who is experienced with reproduction. I believe as a breeder, your vet is your best friend. If you have a good vet, keep a hold of them. My vet is available for me whenever I need her , whether it be for advice, guidance, support, many a time having had to open up through the night for a c-section or other emergency.
Do you have the temperament? Dog breeding can be tough. You must carry on in the face of adversity. It does not matter if you have just spent a full 48 hours with your bitch whilst she whelps, not having been to bed yourself, you still must find the will and the energy to continue looking after your other dogs aswell, and all the daily life routines that still need to be done. Could you cope with death of a puppy? A stillborn puppy? Getting your hands dirty to help a puppy to be born? Do you have what it takes to make decisions about the best outcome for a pup if they are deformed or severly disabled? Can you deal with vetting potential new owners?
Do you have the money? On many occasion, you just see pound signs spinning around in the eyeballs of people that ask you what you do for a living. How many dogs you got? How many litters do they have ? how many puppies do they have in a litter? How much is a puppy? OMG WOW! You must be so rich!!!! ??? er no... I wish! (did you see my ferrari parked outside on your way in????? (not!, more like the 10 year old banger that has to last me another 5 years). No, my richness comes from the joy of what i do, not the money. All my money goes back out on my dogs. If you are a back street breeder, as most “spinning eyes” imply, you must be rolling in it. What they fail to realise, are the costs of breeding. Monthly vet fees, dog food bills, health costs, testing fees, heating costs, specialiset heating for new mums and pups, breeding licence fees, public liability insurance, emergency surgeries such as c-sections, spays, castrations and annual dental surgeries (etc..), insurances, specialist equipment, stud fees, constant washing and drying of dog bedding and whelping etc, (and the cost of the machinery, and the cost of regular replacement of these items), Kennel Club fees (registrations, kennel prefix etc), advertising costs, website hosting, domain name fees, the cost of keeping back pups from your own litters for yourself that then do not incur an income, tax bills (Yes! I pay my taxes, every penny I earn from my dogs is declared and don't I know it!!! i doubt very much any back street breeder declares their puppy income) and so it goes on.... If done correctly, you will never be rich in monetary terms. And if you just breed one litter, and things do not go well, you may even end up with the cost of a c-section, and no pups at the end of the day.
Are your dogs suitable? You should ensure that you look to find out if your breed of dog is prone to specific health problems, and if so, whether testing is available to ensure that you are not going to breed from a dog with this problem or who is capable of breeding this down to their progeny. Undertake all the relevant health tests prior to breeding, and this will also ensure that you preserve the health of the dog breed. Your puppies should be the healthiest puppies that you can possibly breed. Does your dog have a good temperament? If your dog is anxious, or nervous, or difficult to train, or noisy, boisterous etc.. this can be seen in their pups. Will your bitch make a good mother if she is so nervous? This could make her pups nervous. How would I choose a suitable mate ? Your selected dog must fit your breeder statement. The physical form of the dog should be suitable for the function of your dog. You should always look for a dog with the correct conformation regardless if you are wanting to breed for a show, working or pet dogs. The conformation of a pet dog should be that it is healthy and robust in order to live in a home environment (for example, where a breeder is breeding pet dogs). A pet dog owner does not want a dog who suffers with illness, hip dysplasia, luxating knee caps, struggle to breath during a walk etc The main selection process order of importance for me would be health, temperament, COI, Colour, vaccinated, experience, natural breeding (although I do have experience and had success with AI), price and location would be equally last in the list. Health would always come first in my importance. I would expect to use a mate who had all the relevant health tests for the breed, plus more if I felt that the breed warranted this and would like to see the health records/certificates.