Guide to Ethical Dog Breeding

Being a dog breeder has it's definite rewards or I wouldn't be doing it at all let alone dedicating every facet of my life to them but there is absolutely no way to get around the fact that it is a ton of hard work!

If you don't enjoy taking on challenges, working with incredible risks and possess the patience of Job himself, breeding dogs is likely not at all for you.

If you don't feel that dogs are not just man's best friend but rather one of the greatest companions God ever saw fit to bestow our undeserving, often unlovable selves with, then your barking up the wrong tree.

My dog's are more than just my companions, they are my professor's in the subject of life itself. I am a better person for having them in my life despite the fact they certainly make me work for the grade.

I attended college for nursing as a young lady fresh from high school. Then after having three children, I took classes to obtain my business degree. I worked for many years with the developmentally disabled. I didn't throw myself into raising dogs full time until I gave up my day job to come home and homeschool my children. I then had all the time in the world for my family - dogs included. My sister is a nurse and raises and shows her dogs quite extensively but is able to customize her work schedule around breeding, whelping and unexpected vet calls as well as dog shows and seminars. I do not feel it can be done any other way and still give breeding dogs a fair shake (pun intended *smile*).

My daily life is taken up by dogs in every aspect. Heck, most of the time, I grab a dog when I go to take a shower. (makes grooming so much easier and saves me time in my day, a precious commodity). Other things in my daily life that revolves around my dogs:

*They eat before I do.
*Their need for attention comes before my desires
to be in solitude.
*If I go for a ride in the car (and they won't be left unattended) I take one with me so they get the valuable one on one attention and socialization that they can't get by just sitting home.
*I drive nearly 2 hrs one way to dog handling class once a week, again for socialization as well as training (for myself more than them!).
*Not one, but three of my dogs share my bed with me.
*I spend more time cleaning dog doo than my house.
*For Christmas, I'd be more excited over a gift certificate to a dog supply catalog than diamonds.
*When visiting with my 2 legged family and friends, the subject always seems to go to the dogs. As many of them also raise and show dogs, it is only natural. I was born to parents who raised/showed boston terriers and later cavalier king charles spaniels and married a man with multiple generations of coonhound fanciers from his father on back. I was born into it and married into it. My brother and sister both went on to also raise and show dogs as well (newfoundlands and cavalier king charles spaniels, respectively)

.... and on that note ...
I won't bore you with a list that can most certainly go on for ages - I think you get the point.

But for people like me, life wouldn't be worth getting up in the morning without these dogs - the professors of life.

Breeding dogs is not all fuzzy rolly polly's with puppy breath. It can be downright heartbreaking. You can incur huge veterinary bills for a variety of things but you can also have to suffer the heartbreak of losing one or more puppies and even the mother herself. Nobody should undergo dog breeding until they have done their research not just into the more common dog breeding issues of disease, c-sections and problem births but also breed specific health and temperament concerns. After you have done the proper research, a great mentor is priceless in the arsenal of a dog breeder.

Puppy Mills are everywhere. Thank God for people like the man who reported this woman for allegedly running this puppy mill just outside of Gladewater, Texas.

The SPCA and Upshur County Sheriff's department seized over 240 dogs on 9/27/2007 from a horrendous living situation; underfed and neglected and in filthy living conditions.

Many of the dogs were already dead but the SPCA hopes to gain official custody of the remaining dogs they were able to save so they can have them altered and placed into loving homes once their many medical needs are tended to.

Roaches were everywhere, falling into the feces covered carpeting in the mobile home where cages upon stacked cages sat full of small dogs. Others were scattered around the property in tiny makeshift cages that were too tiny and full of filth.

Many of the dogs were severely emancipated, had serious skin issues, eye infections, etc. And that is only the visible issues...

An ammonia level of 12 is considered dangerous to pets. The level was tested and found to be 38! Ammonia is a component of urine.

Some of the breeds found there were; Boston Terriers, Yorkshire Terriers, Chinese Crested and Jack Russell Terriers among others.

Watch the video

May justice be served...

JUST A DOG

From time to time, people tell me,
"lighten up, it's just a dog,"
or, "that's a lot of money for just a dog."
They don't understand the distance traveled,
the time spent, or the costs involved for
"just a dog."
Some of my proudest moments have come about with
"just a dog."
Many hours have passed and my only company was
"just a dog,"
but I did not once feel slighted.
Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by
"just a dog,"
and in those days of darkness,
the gentle touch of "just a dog"
gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day.
If you, too, think it's "just a dog,"
then you will probably understand phases
like "just a friend," "just a sunrise," or
"just a promise."
"Just a dog" brings into my life the very essence
of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy.
"Just a dog" brings out the compassion and
patience that make me a better person.
Because of "just a dog" I will rise early,
take long walks and look longingly to the future.
So for me and folks like me, it's not "just a dog"
but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams
of the future, the fond memories of the past,
and the pure joy of the moment.
"Just a dog" brings out what's good in me and
diverts my thoughts away from myself and the
worries of the day.
I hope that someday they can understand that
it's not "just a dog"
but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps
me from being "just a man."
So the next time you hear the phrase "just a dog."
just smile, because they "just don't understand."

Authored by Richard A. Biby

Your job as a dog breeder goes far beyond deciding which pair of dogs to put together and selling the resulting puppies when they are old enough. You have to research the pedigrees so you are producing puppies with superior temperaments (which are highly genetic) and of sound health in addition to any show quality attributes you may want if you also plan to show or sell to those who would like to show. Then you must take on the responsibility of prenatal care of your female. Some breeds and individual females require more prenatal care than others.

After the puppies are born, you are responsible for her and each of the tiny lives you've asked to come into this world.... for LIFE. Yes, for the life of each of those puppies, you are responsible for them. A guarantee to take them back should the owner not be able to care for them is a wonderful thing to do but you must give thought and planning to the fact that you may not sell them at all. This means each of those puppies are YOUR PUPPIES. If you can't raise them all up to adulthood and care for the entire mob of them, you shouldn't be breeding the litter to begin with. Even with a list of people wanting puppies. People back out, even if they have paid a deposit.

Even if you do sell your puppies once ready to go to their new homes (not before 8 wks, longer for some breeds, please), there is a ton of responsibility sitting at your feet. There are well puppy checks to have done, preventative wormings to be done at 2,3,4,6 and 8 wks and vaccinations to be given. Time will need to be spent socializing, grooming and perhaps evaluating. I personally temperament test my puppies so I know what types of homes each would be best suited for. You are a big contributor to making what should be lifetime relationships with the puppy and the new family. Knowing your puppies well enough to advise your puppy buyers is paramount to this success. Please don't encourage people to buy your puppies based solely on who's the cutest, comes to them first or is of the right size.

If potential puppy buyers don't give you the impression that they are a suitable home for one of your puppies, don't be bashful in telling them no. You are the advocate for the voiceless. You hold all the power in this decision, please use it wisely.