LEAVE THE BREEDING TO THE BREEDERS!!!
By Kenia Luis - Admin, Yorkies United
As
a breeder I sometimes wonder where from some pet buyers get the idea that all
dogs can be bred?
If you are determined to breed your pet I would like to open your eyes.
My first question.
When you purchased your pet were you thinking about breeding it?
If so, did you mentioned it to the breeder or did you hide that part to get
the puppy at a better price?
Did the breeder make sure you got the best quality puppy from the best quality
parents, or did you just pick the cutest puppy from the litter that caught
your eye?
Did the breeder provide you with all proof and documentation for parents that
were tested for liver issues, patella certified and other health issues on the
breed?
Did you asked your breeder for full AKC registration as the puppy was meant for
breeding?
Are you aware of the weakness on the bloodline you chosen?
Do you know that a good breeder will not decide to breed a dog until such a dog
is mature enough to be able to evaluate if he/she meets all criteria to be bred
taking into consideration size, color, ears position, ears size, eyes, coat
type, personality, parents background, genetic faults and the list goes on and
on...
Are you knowledgeable about the standard for the breed?
Now, that you got the perfect stud and dam that meet all the criteria to the
breed, my question continue.
Assuming you bought a top quality example of the breed from a reputable breeder, who will be your mentor for the rest of your dog's life, and you invested 1000's
of dollars to make sure you got the best of the best! (Hopefully, you didn't lie
to get the puppy stating you only wanted a pet). A reputable breeder will never
sell a dog for breeding. If the buyer doesn't know anything about breeding. A
reputable breeder will never pass her bloodlines to wanna be breeders because
a bloodline is the pride and joy of a breeder.
Are you emotionally and financially ready to deal with a dog's pregnancy? Are you
ready to deal with the loss of your beloved pet?
Are you prepared to lose your dam if things goes wrong?
Breeding doesn't mean to put a male and a female to have sex.
There is much more to that.
Is your female mature enough to carry a full term pregnancy? Is she in top
healthy shape? Did you forgot you have to do lots health test on both male and
female before breeding them to make sure they are the proper candidates to
produce healthy puppies?
Let's do some math.
Brucellosis test $150.00 to $200
Orthopedic evaluation and certification$200 to $500 on each dog.
Heart and liver test $200 to $400.00 on each dog.
Oh and you haven't started breeding yet.
You don't know anything about the background on each dogs. Your
female may end up bred with huge puppies in her belly that can't come out on
their own. (don't get fooled by the tiny size of your male. At time of breeding
a size means nothing if you don't know the background a few generations back)
Are you ready for a c-section? A C-section can cost a good amount of money. In
my case my Vet charges from $1500 to $2500 x section.
What would happen if you can't recognize the signs of trouble? You can lose
your female leaving you with 3-5 puppies needing supplement feeding every 2
hours on the clock for the first 2-3 weeks of their life and every 3 hours on
the clock after the 3rd week until they turn 5-6 weeks old.
The need for supplements feeding can also happen if the dam doesn't produce
enough milk (it happen often). I am assuming you don't have a full time or part
time job that demands your presence because you in no way can leave those
puppies alone.
Now that your puppies survived the first 10-12 weeks of their life. Yeyy! Money
time!!
Are you ready to screen each puppy buyer to make sure your puppies are getting
the best home?
Are you ready to be on call 24/7 to respond phone calls from potential buyers?
What will happen if one of your customers comes back upset, telling you the puppy
they got from your breeding has a congenital health issue? Are you ready to
keep that puppy and provide him with medical care for life?
Do you know you can get in huge legal issues if you sell a sick puppy?
Are you ready to stay in touch with each buyer for the lifetime of their
puppies?
By the way, each puppy needs vaccination, deworming and vet check before they
go home. Add that to your math.
Let's hope you produce the best quality puppies and you may be able to find
them good homes. But if you produce poor quality be ready to keep those babies
or to give them away.
Did you expect to make money on your first litter?
Are you ready to do things right from the beginning and to invest in breeding
quality dogs or are you planning to make shortcuts on your breeding to become
another backyard breeder?
If you are not ready to confront all of the above and way more that can show up
leave the breeding to the breeders!