I'm not a breeder, but I did wrestle with some of these same thoughts when it came time to neuter Marcel. I thought about it mostly bc others were telling me he should be a stud - so I posted in the Breeders Section like you did and it was SO HELPFUL! Putting aside the fact that he hadn't been professionally evaluated and I didn't have experience - the fact was that he has a champion line, he has/had this wonderful little face that people were saying I should "stud out" - so it did give me pause as to whether I was doing the right thing in neutering him. [I had ltd. reg. btw, but thought I could talk to my breeder if I was
truly interested]
But, after hearing about how being a stud *might* change his personality - it just wasn't worth it to me. I wanted him as my sweet, loving boy - and I could've lost that if I allowed him to be a stud. Also, some people fly their studs here and there for lengths of time, and I honestly could not deal with that - I would worry every second. Also, my heart/passion is not in breeding overall - I didn't find myself reading anything and everything I could get my hands on about dog breeding, so that spoke volumes as to where my heart was.
So, I think it's important to ask yourself what you really want in your heart - just a sweet pet? Or, a commitment that is
much bigger than that? To me, breeding is a GIGANTIC undertaking. I mean, just gigantic. It can be life and death - and that's scary. In the end, I decided I just wanted my sweet, furry, baby.
