Dog Breeding and Placement Issues
Thoughtful Breeding
This is a simplified version of Making a Difference: Being a Responsible Dog Breeder.
Do you agree or disagree with the following statements, and why?
a. A breeder can be someone who has bred only once and may never breed again.
b. A dog breeder is anyone who intentionally produces a litter of puppies.
c. It is important to learn the common genetic diseases of your breed, even if you are only going to breed once.
d. Breeding for good health is important to pet owners, just as much as for people with show dogs.
e. Good genetic screening requires that you know about the health of both sets of parents, and all the grandparents.
f. Breed clubs, the breed health foundation (if there is one) and books are a better source of information on genetic problems in the breed than your veterinarian.
g. Temperament is at least partly inherited.
h. Knowing the temperament and behavior expected in that particular breed is important.
i. It is harder to be objective about a dog you love so it is important to get an unbiased opinion about whether a dog is what most people would expect from the breed.
j. Breeding a dog that is very different from expectations increases the risk that puppies with those unexpected qualities will be given up.
k. Helping the person who takes the puppy home in solving and avoiding behavior problems improves the chances that the home will be permanent.
l. A breeder can try to avoid a dog of their breeding ending up in a shelter if they have a good contract, and regularly check on how the puppies are doing in their new homes.
m. A good relationship between breeder and buyer can make the difference between life and death for the puppies as they mature and reach the rebellious adolescent stage.
n. A good breeder understands enough about genetics to know that even a healthy dog can produce unhealthy puppies, and what steps to take to reduce the risks that will happen.
o. A good breeder knows that a veterinary health check is only the start of health screening before breeding. Other steps involve researching the dogs in the pedigree, and looking for "carrier" status. A good breeder knows what a "carrier" is.
Which of the following steps do you think can be skipped, and why do you think it is OK to skip them?
Learn about the most common reasons your breed is given away, sent to a shelter or otherwise does not stay in its original home.
Chat with people interested in puppies from your dog. Make the purpose of the chat to see if they understand your breed and what it takes to successfully live with your breed.
Ask people who say they want a puppy from your dog to put down a deposit, even if you would give them the dog. That way you can tell the difference between serious intent and a casual statement.
Insist on meeting all the people who will be living with the puppy, and make sure they all agree and are able to live with what it takes to raise a puppy.
Remain available to serve as a resource, advise and support for typical problems encountered in raising, training and caring for puppies from your dog.
Require a contract setting out the seller and buyers promises and responsibilities. The breeder responsibility is to always take the dog back, at any age, to avoid it being placed improperly or going to a shelter. The buyer responsibility is to contact the breeder before putting the dog in another home or the shelter.
Protect against broken promises by microchipping the puppy before releasing it to the buyer.
Test for genetic problems that appear in the breed, and do not breed a dog that may pass on serious genetic disease.
Do not breed if health information is missing from any parent or grandparent.
Avoid wishful thinking by getting an outside objective evaluation of the qualities of the dogs to be bred. Someone who wants to avoid hurt feelings or getting on your bad side is not objective.The objective evaluation should be made against some specific criteria so that it can be fair and consistent between various potential mates.
Educate yourself on the risks of mating and whelping. It may be natural, but it isn't risk free. Learn the risks to know how to reduce them.
Contribute to the future well being of dogs. Support and participate in programs designed to collect and maintain standardized information on the health of dogs. Centralized data collection will provide a tool to better enable thoughtful breeders to spot and avoid problems.
If the dog is too young to properly evaluate health, temperament and mature behavior, don't breed. Typically that is older than two years.
Make sure you know the laws and rules that may affect you.
You may copy, republish, or distribute this article for the purpose of education of responsible breeding as long as you do not edit the contents. It must be published in whole, including this statement and the next paragraph. If you don't like something that's fine, write your own. Different ways of explaining things is good anyway.
The article above was written by Diane Blackman for the DogPlay website http://www.dogplay.com. License granted to reproduce, republish or copy to other websites applies this article only, and only as long as the requirements are followed, which means including this paragraph.
Additional Resources:
Copyright © 2007, Diane Blackman Created: April, 2007 Updated November 12, 2007
Help with Contacting DogPlay
For information on linking and other uses of this material see the copyright
page.
Disclaimer and Privacy Policy
Unauthorized copy discovery is enabled
Help About Feedback Partners Listing Home