My dear.....the VERY first thing you ask yourself is, "Am I willing to sacrifice the life of my female to get a litter of puppies"? If you think it is worth maybe loosing your female, (and you must have a VERY fabulous female that you paid in excess of $3000.00!) go to the next question. "Am I completely knowledgable of the pedigrees behind both my females dam and sire?"...That includes a working knowledge of the different lines, their strengths and weaknesses, and what these individual lines go best with. I personally have been involved with Yorkies since 1978, and I began to do all my research on the breed and pedigrees, etc, and did not start breeding until 2002. I am still in awe of what has eluded me! I have a mentor that is so knowledgable of these pedigrees as far back as 30 generations, and I thank God for her invaluable assistance and expertise! You NEVER know it all, but you must have a clear understanding of what you are combining and what you are expecting to get from the combination. That comes from knowledge of those lines as far as, at the VERY least, 15-20 generations back. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up, plus the little innocent babies YOU will be responsible for bringing into the world, as well as future owners YOU have sold puppies to..(...people that are depending on YOU to know what you are doing, so their baby, that has completely stolen their heart, does not die from a lousy genetic condition that could have been avoided if the breeder had know what they were doing)...to tremendous heartache, suffering and pain, and tons of expense. Breeding these precious angels is a HUGE responsibility and requires a steadfast commitment to the breed. I am thrilled you are not doing it for the money.....I can promise you, you will be doing very well to break even. If your whelping female gets into trouble in the middle of the night, you are looking at a minimum of $1000.00 at an ER clinic.....you may end up with a c-section (ka-ching, ka-ching), and you may loose the entire litter..... and you may loose your female in the deal....ask yourself, is it REALLY worth it? If you are truly NOT doing it "for the money", unless you have a show quality female, and a show quality stud, why in the world ARE you doing it? All questions you must ask yourself....... |