Conformation versus temperment We have many new members posting lately. A number are breeding for the first time and asking excellent questions.
For anyone interested in avoiding set backs and total screw-ups I would like to relay a foundation truth.
YOU CAN NOT SEPARATE CONFORMATION AND TEMPERMENT. Any breeder who has breed for any length of time knows you can not neglect either aspect. If I had to pick between the two in order to continue to breed, I would pack it in and never breed again.
I have no desire to produce a gorgeous champion potential with miserable personality, shy, backward, agressive, snappish, mean, scared hyper or any other trait that makes it impossible to live with a dog. On the other hand I have no desire to produce an outgoing, friendly pet with a roach back, bad bite, bad ears, wooly coat, bad stifles, and a buyer asking me if it is really a purebred Yorkie they have purchased?
Conformation is not just a pretty Yorkie. It is vital for good health and temperment. Some people are not able to see the connection. The two are interwoven like a braid...to concentrate on one or the other is to do a huge disservice to the breed. It is the breeders responsibility to concenrate on conformation and temeperment as one. It is a total cop-out to say.."I breed for temperment"..what the breeder is actually saying is "I am too lazy and unmotivated to learn how to do it right".. |