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Originally Posted by tammy8833  im glad you have a great mentor..im not in it for showing..im in it because i enjoy the breed, i enjoy breeding and meeting the new owners and watching them grow and visiting with them |
You talk about breeding like it is a hobby like crochet or knitting -- something you like to do for fun and socializing. You kind of want it to turn out okay, but if you drop a stitch, or breed carelessly, who cares, right? As long as they are selling, it's all good? Breeding is so much more.
It is a huge responsibility. It is picking the best representatives of the breed you can find, making sure to align complimentary characteristics, getting them evaluated for conformation, having the vet run tests for potential genetic problems, checking the hips, knees and spine, blood work. Then it is timing and patience to get that litter whelped with the minimum of problems and then finding the perfect families that will have the same high regard for their well-being. Its learning, studying and picking the brains of those who have done it RIGHT before you, hoping they will mentor you along your way. I skipped the whole process of showing in there -- showing is all about determining if the dogs ARE good enough to breed. It is an evaluation process. This is something I want to include if I ever breed again. I see the importance of this step in getting others' input and assessment of your breeding efforts.
To take any two dogs, regardless of meeting the standard for their breed or even being the same breed, and breeding them just because you can sell them....that is being in it for the money! Did you not read when I explained there being a demand for something does not make it right? Is it right for people to sell drugs? Of course not! But people will buy! Just as you said. You do it because they are selling better than the full yorkies. Maybe your full yorkies are not being bred correctly either?
What you are doing is not caring about the future of the breed. It is diluting the gene pool! Next thing you know, one of those mixes comes out looking all yorkie, the new owner sends in a picture and gets them a nice little CKC registration paper. Then they breed their mix like it was a pure bred yorkie, the pups come out with pointy little snouts and hair as thick as a lion mane.....where did that come from? Next generation breeds again, and the puppies look less and less like that Yorkshire Terrier standard set forth by the YTCA. 20-30 years go by and now you have a whole area of the country where you can hardly find a Yorkie that looks like it is suppose to. I wonder how many of your puppies descendents will wind up in shelters, pounds, and rescues. When I looked for my first yorkie, I found a lot that did not have it -- they had obviously gotten a mix somewhere in their background and it changed their appearance. That was when I first started learning about CKC, APRI, and some of the other penny ante registries. That is when I decided I wanted to learn more! There are plenty of people willing to share their knowlege with you on this site. You can learn something new every day. All you have to do is open your mind and realize it is no crime to look up to someone for what they have accomplished. It is no crime to change direction and start doing things right. Many of us have had to re-evaluate and maybe do things a little better next time around. Mistakes are made, but if we learn from them, change and do better -- progress is also made.