I would advise you to study pedigrees and learn a lot about genetics. Go to the shows and study the breeders and what lines they are breeding and who is winning. Get signed up for all the breed and show publications. Not all show/breeders are of the highest caliber. The more you read in the breed publications and the show publications the more you will glean from the info. The more people you meet and talk with the more you will realize what goes on in that world. It takes a while to get to know who is who in the dog world. You have a better chance of getting good stock from an honest winning breeder who is willing to teach you what they know. Run away from someone who is eager to sell you breeding stock first thing without strings or contracts. A person who has put years of careful breeding into their line is going to want to protect that line and are not going to sell good stock (or their name) to someone that has not proven that they are really interested in the highest and the best breeding methods and lines. Even the very best have their set backs but those who have integrity will suffer the loss and continue to do things ethically.
You say you are a stay at home mom and I know that breeding dogs is sometimes an attractive kind of side line to home moms but if you are going to breed good stock you are going to have to show them and that takes, time, travel and money. If you have a husband that supports you in your endeavor it may work. If he doesn't mind you being gone many weekends during the show season and he will take the kids for you while you are gone. You will need to learn how very detailed the grooming process is for a long haired show dog. It is a lot of work all the time. All this is why people advise you to get a mentor. There is so much to learn. Just finding the right person to learn from in a place not too far from you can be a task in it's self.
On the other hand your dog is healthy as your vet says and you could breed her again but it would be very unethical. The dog should be spayed. Even one puppy that may suffer ill effects from the breeding is too many. If you want to be a back yard breeder you will find there are many other kinds of problems you can run up against. Just putting dogs together without knowledge of the genetic background of their ancestors is a very risky thing to do. Putting unknown lines together can bring out all kinds of recessive genes that you had no idea about. There are many people on YT that have lived the nightmare of buying a puppy that had an unknown genetic problem and then had to suffer the consequences. That is why so many want to stop backyard breeding and puppy mills. There are just so many animals and people who have suffered because of people breeding without having the knowledge they need.
I hope you will give the whole matter a large amount of study. If you can find someone in your area that is an ethical show/breeder and will let you help them as you learn then you are one step up. It is a lot of work but anything that is worth doing well always is. |