Know The Facts Before
Breeding Your Dog
Know The Facts Before
Breeding Your Dog
Quality: AKC
registration is NOT an indication of quality. Most dogs, even purebred, should
not be bred. Breeding animals should be proven free from defects BEFORE starting
on a reproductive career. Breeding should only be done with the goal of
IMPROVEMENT an honest attempt to create puppies better then their parents.
Ignorance is no excuse once you have created a life you can't take it back: even
if blind, crippled or a canine psychopath!
Cost: Dog breeding is NOT a money making proposition, if done correctly. Health
care and shots, diagnosis and proof of quality, extra food, facilities, stud
fee, advertising, ect are all costly and must be paid BEFORE the pups can be
sold. An unexpected cesarean, or emergency intensive care for a sick pup will
make a break even litter become a big liability. And this is IF you can sell the
pups.
Sales: First time breeders have no reputation and no referrals to help them find
buyers. Consider the time and expense of caring for pups that may not sell until
four months, eight months or more! What would you do if your pups did not sell?
Take them to the pound? Dump them in the country? Sell them cheap to a dog
broker who may sell them to labs or other unsavory buyers? Veteran breeders with
a good reputation often don't consider a breeding unless they have cash deposits
in advance for an average size litter.
Joy of Birth: If you are doing it for the children's education, remember the
whelping may be at 3 a.m or at the vets on the surgery table. Even if the
kiddies are present, they may get to see the birth of a monster or a mummy, or
watch the bitch scream and bite you as you attempt to deliver a pup that is half
out and to large. Some bitches are not natural mothers and either ignore or
savage their whelps. Bitches can have severe delivery problems or even die in
whelp-pups can be born dead or with gross deformities that require euthanasia.
Of course there can be joy, but if you can't deal with the possibility of
tragedy, don't start
Time: Veteran breeders of quality dogs state they spend well over 130 hours of
labor in raising an average litter. That is over two hours a day, every day! The
BITCH cannot be left alone while whelping, and only for short periods for the
first few days after. Be prepared for days off work and sleepless nights. Even
after delivery, mom needs care and feeding, puppies need daily checking,
weighing, and socialization. Later, grooming and training, and the whelping box
needs LOTS of cleaning. More hours are spent doing paper work, pedigrees, and
interviewing buyers. If you have abnormal conditions, such as sick puppies or a
bitch who can't or won't care for her puppies, count on triple time. If you
can't provide the time you will either have dead pups or poor ones that are bad
tempered, antisocial, and/or sickly-hardly a buyers delight.
Humane Responsibilities: It's midnight do you know where your puppies are? There
are THREE AND A HALF MILLION of unwanted dogs put to death in pounds in this
country each year, with millions more dying homeless and unwanted through
starvation, disease, hit by cars, abuse, ect. The breeder who creates a life is
responsible for that life.