You Are Thinking of Breeding?

Breeding a quality dog is a passion and a labor of love. It should never be thought of as a money making scheme. The wages are puppy kisses and hours frankly suck. The studying and schooling is endless. Your heart gets broken very often and raising a quality pup is expensive if done correctly. Breeders have many battle scars from either the show ring or just what Mother Nature throws them. Don’t get me wrong showing is fun but it can get intense at times.

You will need to study the breed, the standard, and learn what you like. You do this by reading, talking and more important listening to knowledgeable breeders, and attending dog shows. You will need to find an excellent vet, willing to work with you, believe me the vet is a solid cornerstone in any breeding program; you need to find a good one.

In the ideal situation you have the best bitch that money can buy, with an excellent healthy pedigree. You will have shown her, hopefully to her championship. Because this day and age you will not get a top of the line bitch without some kind of contract stipulating how she is to be raised, shown, bred and the bitches breeder will most likely remain a co-owner until after those obligations are met. You have also a confirmed waiting list of homes for the pups you do not keep. (Remember I said ideal) Now that you have fulfilled your obligations to her breeder, and the bitch has passed all health checks with flying colors, and you have a firm knowledge of the dogs in her pedigree including health and structure, it is time to seek out the perfect stud for your Little Princess, let’s not economize here. The male will not be (remember I said ideal) the little yorkie guy down the road with a bent back, crooked leg, wiry coat and an awful bite, but so adorable face. Let’s hope not, remember you paid tons of money to her breeder and tons more to show her and do her health checks. The guy you are looking for is the guy that has his championship, has what you are looking for in a yorkie and who will compliment and even correct something in your bitch. This guy should be proven and giving offspring that you like. He should pass all health checks and know his pedigree as well. Then you have to get the stud owners approval. Some want puppies back, some take stud fees. Usually there are stipulations in the stud contract as to what is expected. You will need to have your vet run a brucellious test and to medically clear her before she is bred. Now you have struck a deal with the stud owner and plans are made. Whether the stud is just a few miles or thousands of miles this must be well planned out. Your little Diva comes into season and you rush her off to the stud, or you may even have her boarded weeks or months prior with the stud owner until she comes in (you will need to pay a boarding fee then). Remember the girl always goes to the stud. The stud now does his job (remember I said everything is ideal here), she is now bred and all the anticipation of a litter of Future champions begin. You take you girl in for periodic prenatal checks with your vet. You may do an ultrasound, x-rays and he may even palpate to confirm pregnancy. By week 6 or 7 your girl starts to really show. Her belly gets pendulous, she starts to look at you like what the “hell” did you do to me. Week nine is here, day 63. Your little Diva starts panting, pacing and looking for a quiet area. She may be very clinging or she may want nothing to do with you. This can go on for days or just hours. Then pains start hitting her, she looks worried and looking at her bottom like “What is wrong?” Then she starts pushing and straining, and more pushing and straining. She may even vocalize her pain. Remember if you ever had natural child birth this hurts like hell. Finally after a short while (remember I said Ideal here) you see the bubble coming from her vulva. She is so worried about that little bubble, she pushes and strains some more, then Walla, a puppy. (Remember I said ideal) She immediately starts licking and trying to get the embryonic sac off the pup. She chews the umbilical cord and then scarf’s down the placenta, oh yummy. Now that lovely deed is done she encourages the pup to nurse (Remember I said ideal), after a few minutes or maybe a half hour or so, the pains start hitting again, she forgets about the little pup she has nursing, she starts worrying about her bottom again. The next pup and then the next until all are born. Mom is happy the pain is gone and she now has her mind on the little ones that are the apple of her eye. Now you will have to tear mom away for a little while to clean her up and have the vet examine her. Then back to her lovely brood. Mom’s milk comes in good, no infections, she is eating well and she seems to be settling into her new job rather proudly. The pups grow and socialize well. They are the hit of the vet’s office, they are weaned without trouble. It is a super good litter; all thrive well without much help. They start solid food and are soon out the door to the loving homes you have found them; that is the ones that are not already obligated to someone else or you plan to keep. (Remember I said this is ideal). The bitch’s breeder takes her pick pup and the stud owner takes their pick pup or stud fee. Everyone is happy and the mom and puppies are the centers of their owner’s worlds.

Now what can happen, why I said in an ideal situation in the above paragraph? Well you are dealing with Mother Nature, and she can be a rather nasty old witch if you ask me. Don’t ever say it will not happen to you. Because I can guarantee it will happen at some point. It may be the first litter, the fifth litter or the 50th litter. Mother Nature will bite you. Your bitch may not take, she may never reproduce. She may produce unhealthy or deformed pups or a whole entire weak litter that soon dies after birth. She may absorb or abort her litter. She may come down with pyrometra or another uterine or reproductive issue. Pups may get stuck in the birth canal. The pups may not thrive or born dead or grossly deformed. You may only have one pup. You might have to pull a pup, or have a sickly pup humanely euthanized. She may have had to have a c-section, hopefully she survives and her pups as well. She may die in surgery, she may die in birth, or even die days later and you are left caring around the clock for very tiny newborns that need constant warmth and nutrition. The pups could be poor thrivers and you spend endless days and hours trying to keep them in this world. Sometimes the grace of God helps them to get stronger and they start to do well, other times no matter how much time, attention, skill or advanced medical support God takes them home with him. Puppy homes can come and go, pups can come back from their new homes, or you have to take them back because they left them on your door step, and the pup’s parents couldn’t face you. Or you find out your pup is abused or left in a shelter. Breeding is not all glory, and there is very little money. Most of any money is put right back into the breeding program. Usually you are digging in your pockets to cover what you didn’t make to cover the cost of raising the litter. Puppies could be afflicted with a genetic issue that only shows up later in their life, well after you have established the bitch in everyone of your pedigrees, talk about devastating. If you lost your bitch, you really have lost a lot that no amount of money could ever replace.

So my thoughts are, don’t breed for money, don’t breed your pet that you couldn’t stand the thought of loosing, don't breed if your not willing to sacrifice friends and family feelings, don’t breed if you are not in it for the long haul, and most of all don’t breed with blinders on. If you are going to breed find a mentor, and learn, and learn everyday. Because to become a master in breeding dogs the learning should never stop. The best breeders have their hearts, mind and soul in the love of the breed, they put far more into their dogs then they ever expect to receive. Their pride comes from what they have left behind in the breed.