[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by Yorkiemom1

In my mind, breeding dogs involves a lot more than throwing two dogs of the opposite sex together and letting nature take it's course. The very first thing I would suggest you to do, is become THOROUGHLY knowledgable about your own dog's pedigree. You have to know what lines can be bred successfully, (successfully, as in to produce HEALTHY babies that you will then put out there for people to buy) and you have to have a clear, precise working knowledge of your own dog and what his genetic capabilities are. THEN, you have to know what lines he can be crossed/combined with, in order to produce HEALTHY babies that are not a genetic time bomb that some poor loving new owner is going to have blow up in their face in a couple of years. As a "breeder" , that is the very LEAST you can assume as your responsibility. THIS education on your part will take a couple of years at a minimum.....then you do the same thing for any female you will be breeding your male to.....which is why it is better to have your OWN breeding stock, because then you only have to know which of YOUR dogs can be crossed/combined, rather than learning about ALL lines/pedigrees you will encounter.

Great post!