Originally Posted by Yorkiemom1  Healthy puppies is your foremost #1 goal of your breeding program. Healthy puppies most often come from healthy breeding stock. You build your breeding program jusst like you build a home. You have to start with the best foundation stock you can get your hands on. Where are these dogs most probably found? Dog shows. So that is where you start. You have to gto to shows so you will have a working knowledge of what the Yorkie is SUPPOSED to look like, their movment, their personalities, everything about them. While you are traveling all over the country attending shows, BIG shows as well as smaller shows, you are doing your reading and research on pedigrees and breeders that are clearing the pathways for new generations of Yorkies, maintaining the breed standard. You are building an intelligent, working knowledge about everything Yorkie, so when you DO get the opportunity to actually speak with these winning show breeders, you are able to speak to them intelligently, as well as understand things they tell you. You will get to be know by your persistant presence and determination behind the scenes at shows all over the country and Canada. You will learn what YOU think you like in Yorkies and what pedigrees tend to consistantly produce those characteristics. When you have proven yourself to be trustworth and knowledgable and absolutely eating up everything you can possible get your mind around on Yorkies, you will be noticed and offered help, questions will be more freely answered, and you will then be ready to accept one of these people as a mentor. That mentor will guide you and answer your questions and help you learn all the "ins and outs" of showing and breeding.....you need to be assisting during whelping, so you do not start your breeding never even having seen a dog give birth! All this is going on at the same time you are going to vet tech school, which is going to be a great help to you. Eventually, you will start looking at buying your breeding stock. You associations with show breeders and your associations with different trainers, or handlers or groomers....any and all of these people can be valuable in directing you towards your breeding stock. As a vet tech, you will have the opportunity to assist experienced breeders with whelping their dogs....and you will get help and direction with foundation stock. This is JUST the geginning....but it will at least give you an outline for your plan.....this is NOT a quick venture, and dont think you will be making tons of money....if you are doing it correctly, unless you have a huge facility with many, many, many dogs, you will consider yourself lucky to break even.
There is a webinare on Managing Your Stud....you should sign up for that, just to see what is involved with ONLY the male part of the breeding pair! I think this will keep you busy for the next several years....! When you get this all done, we can go to Step 2... (PS I am a VA nrse, thank you for your service to this coiuntry....you and all the others make it possible for me to put my head on a pillow and sleep at night, knowing the caliber of people that have stepped forward on our behalf....THANK YOU!) |