There is alot of very good information on this thread, but something I feel vital hasn't been mentioned. Breeding is not about the couple of months involved with the actual process only-it's about the dogs you produce and your LIFETIME responsibility to them and the Breed itself. Shelters are overpopulated with dogs produced for all the wrong reasons. No, there is no 'perfect' dog, but if it's not as close as you can get, don't breed the poor examples. Not for the experience of it, not to get another one just like your darling, not because you think he should get to 'do it' once before he's fixed, not for any reason other than to try to perpetuate the best qualities of the breed and improve future generations. If you are responsible for putting those dogs on the planet, they are YOUR dogs. Even if they go to live with someone else, they are YOUR dogs until they are gone. AND if you sell them with full registration any dogs they produce are also YOUR dogs and your responsibility. The details of caring for a whelping dam and the litter are minor in comparison to the ramifications of a negligent act. Go and see the shelter dogs. Most are there because they are the product of irresponsible breeding and a breeder who didn't screen and train it's owners on the proper care and training of the pup they sold. Spay and neuter, spay and neuter. |