[sylvan]

.


“We want to keep a puppy.”

It’s far cheaper and easier to buy a new puppy than to breed one yourself!


"All our friends want one.”

Almost everyone who saw your dog as a pup will tell you they want one “someday”. That someday is seldom when your puppies are ready for their new homes! You’ll be amazed at how many people suddenly don’t have time for a pup right now or aren’t willing to pay your price. Don’t count on vague promises!

Placing puppies in good homes is easier said than done. Not everyone should own a dog and bad owners aren’t always easy to sort from the good ones. You have to be a good judge of character and willing to spend time getting to know people before you sell them a puppy. Do they have the experience to raise and train your puppy and if not, are you willing to teach them? Is this the BEST possible home for this particular puppy? Do you know how to evaluate puppy potential to match the right dog with the right person? Will you be willing to hang on to each pup untill just the right home comes along?


“She needs to experience sex" ... or ... “it’ll settle him down.”

No, on both counts. Sex in animals is governed by hormones. There is no love, emotion or thinking involved. A bitch only “thinks” about sex when she’s in season. The experience is forgotten once her season is over. Males only think about sex when they’re near a bitch in season. Breeding won’t settle your dog down at all - it will make your male dog worse. He’ll become more territorial and aggressive toward other dogs, may lose his house manners, and will become uncontrollable if there’s a breedable bitch in the neighhorhood. If they’ve never had it, they don’t miss it! “Settling” a dog down male or female. is a matter of maturity and training, not sex!

There’s no truth to the old wives’ tale that bitches need to have a litter before spaying. Veterinarians who still give that advice are behind the times! Research shows that even baby puppies may be spayed or neutered with no ill effects. Spaying a bitch before her first heat cycle eliminates the risk of breast cancer and life-threatening uterine infections. Neutering a male dog won’t make him a wimp! In fact, neutering will make him a better, more trainable pet by allowing him to channel what used to be sexual energy into other, more constructive, areas.


“We want to get back our investment in our dog.”

As I pointed out earlier, you’re not likely to make a profit from raising puppies. In fact, raising a litter will probably cost more than you ever imagined! You probably bought your dog to provide companionship and pleasure. Even you paid as much as $500 for it, that’s only an “investment” of $50 a year if your dog lives for 10 years - less than $1 a week. Isn’t the companionship. pleasure love and loyalty your dog gives you worth that much?



Learning how to breed responsibly

If you sincerely feel that you have exceptionally good reasons for breeding your dog and can live up to the great responsibility involved, your work is just beginningl

Your first step is to call the American Kennel Club for a referral to the national and local clubs for your breed. Join the club to meet and learn from other serious breeders. Subscribe to dog magazines, especially the national magazine for your breed and the AKC GAZETTE. Read everything you can find pertaining not only to your breed, but all breeds. You’ll need an education in all canine subjects, medical concerns, anatomy and structure, behavior, training and even some psychology for working with the owners of your new puppies. Go to dog shows where you can see and touch other examples of your breed and learn what makes them better than average.

One of the most important parts of your education is learning what the “breed standard” means. Each AKC-recognized breed has a written standard of perfection. It describes what that breed should look, move and act like. Serious breeders constantly measure, test and compare against this standard before deciding whether their chosen dog is good enough to breed. They show their dogs in order to compare them with others of high quality. Standards aren’t easily understood in one reading. It takes study and exposure to hundreds of dogs before you can really see why certain characteristics are important and whether or not your dog has them to such a degree that breeding it would improve the overall quality of the entire breed. That’s the real goal of serious dog breeding and the ONLY reason to breed any dog - to produce animals that are exceptional in appearance, health, temperament and trainability.

It can take years to gain this kind of knowledge and along the way, you might learn that the dog you have is a fine pet, but not good breeding stock. If so, you’re in good company. Some of today’s most successful breeders began by finding out the same thing. They discovered that getting a dog of suitable quality meant a serious financial commitment and a lifetime of dedication to do their very best even though there would be no real monetary reward for their effort.

Breeding dogs today is a serious matter. Before going any further, visit your local pound or animal shelter to see what happens to the dogs that were raised by people who thought it would be “fun” to have a litter. “The miracle of death” by euthanasia is just as educational as the “miracle of birth”! If you intend to breed your dog, then you should be fully aware of what the consequences may be.


Will it be worth it? Most of the time, the answer is no. The decision NOT to breed your pet is one of the most intelligent, educated and loving decisions you can make.




For more information on your breed, registration requirements,
or to find the dog clubs closest to you, call:

The American Kennel Club
200 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10010
(212) 696-8200 8:30a.m.- 4:15pm
Eastern time, Monday thru Friday