Originally Posted by SET Yorkies  I've posted this before, but I would like for you to read it as well. These are my thoughts on breeding... Breeding and working with dogs has been a blessing for me and my family. Sometimes I do well and make a profit sometimes I don't. We do a good deal of training and boarding Yorkies, so I am able to off set loss that way.. In the long run, I can say if I accounted for my time, not just expenses, I'm sure I am beyond the negative in profit.... That said, here's something to think about.....
Every breeder on this board started somewhere…. Let me tell you the story of our humble beginning as something to consider. I had an excellent mentor….. She was passing the torch of 25 years of knowledge and experience to me (how lucky was I?)…. My second litter was due being whelped by my most beautiful dog (not to mention that I was also attached to her as much as I was my children)…. Talk about a textbook pregnancy…. 42nd day ultrasound showed 6 very well proportioned, small puppies…. Delivery started…..no distress….easy labor on the first puppy… then nothing….and nothing… I was prepared…. I had read all of the books…. Not to fear, middle of the day, no emergency call…. We headed to the vet just to be sure (12 miles)….she died in my hands as I walked through the office door…. I called my mentor in horror and unbelievable grief….she said, “you’ll know in a few weeks if this is for you.” …. She said that because I had 6 very tiny puppies (5 saved through c/s) that needed to be nursed every two hours for weeks….I buried my Gizmo where our new kennel stands today and got started with her babies…..I would hardly close my eyes b/f it was time to feed again….two weeks into it, one just didn’t thrive….now I was at wit’s end….three days later one aspirated on the feeding tube….I was done, called my mentor and told her to come get them all… she said, “no, this was your choice”…. 20 or so weeks later of round the clock care, One by one, these tiny replicas of their mom, of whom I had become a surrogate mother, were picked up by new owners, placed under various Christmas trees….and absolutely delighted special families….One to 4 kids, one to a wife of 35 years, one to an only child, and one to new bride. To this day, I still grieve for my Gizmo, to this day I still check up on every puppy I sell… I’ve shoveled truck loads of poop, dried gallons of pee, built kennels, torn down kennels, delivered puppies at 2:00 am on every holiday celebrated by man (even my kids birthday parties which I had to miss)….Breeding is a complete sacrifice of everything else when the moment counts b/c your female is counting on you for everything….If you bring puppies into this world they are your responsibility and yours alone. My mentor made that quite clear to me. If you do not have the ability to deal with the difficulties with the same passion as you delight in the rewards, keep you little girls as a pets….. If you do have the ability, this could be the blooming of a wonderful new career…one that I love more with every pooper scooper full…. |