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The Purpose
Of Breeding
The purpose of breeding is to produce a result(goal)by selecting
individuals with specific traits you wish to pass on to the next
generation to improve the breed. Decide what specific traits you want to
pass on, then follow a program that will help you select those traits.
Choose from the individuals available to you that exhibit the best of the
traits that you wish passed on. If you want herding instinct--put your
dogs into herding competitions--if you want Schutzhund ability, compete in
Schutzhund trials, look for the abilities you want in your dogs and be
critical. I highly recommend joining and participating as much as possible
in clubs and associations that promote and sponsor activities that set a
high standard for breed betterment.
Next step, the growth process is not complete until at the least 18 months
of age and closer to two years sometimes. Sometime during this time frame
you will want to have a pre-breeding screening done by a licensed and
experienced vet hopefully with familiarity with the problems that can
present in the specific breed you've chosen. Hip x-rays need to be
checked. Eyes need to be checked for early retinal changes that might
indicate PRA. Blood work should be drawn to check for possible thyroid
deficiency or pancreatic enzyme deficiency---and a through physical exam
to check for heart murmurs, lung sounds, well set dentition, abdominal and
GU abnormalities. Each pre-breeding exam will only indicate the presence
of a problem AT THE TIME IT IS DONE--and needs to be done on each animal
before EACH breeding, or yearly. You should get a letter from the vet on
his practice letterhead stating the health of the parents--and giving any
explanation that might be needed on any borderline findings. You can make
copies of this to send out with your puppies.
I would consider that just wanting "good companion animals" to be a valid
reason to breed--after all that is what most people want. So you need to
get at least a CGC certification on your dogs(the AKC testing program that
will certify temperament and behavior for companion animals), however, in
addition--you will need to train both your animals to earn an AKC CD or
CDX. This will not only prove your animal’s intelligence and trainability,
it will ALSO show your worth as someone who will be able to help the
people who buy your puppies solve any problems or difficulties they may
face later on. That way, there is the least chance possible that your
puppies end up in pounds or need of rescue because the buyers ended up
with a problem and nowhere to turn to solve it. And you will need to be
available and accessible to help with problems long after the puppies have
left.
If you do these minimum things---I would say that you are a breeder that I
would consider to be doing everything possible to insure the best for the
breed, your puppies and your customers.
My
philosophy in order of priority?
1) Health,--before it can be ANYTHING else a dog needs to be healthy
2) Working Ability,--as far as I am concerned any dog that is bred should
be able to perform adequately the work that the breed was developed to
perform, OR for which it is suited but maybe not be widely recognized. For
instance, we have discussed schutzhund elsewhere. If someone […] decided
to train and earn a Schutzhund III title with their Weim in MY(personal)
estimation THAT would be a VERY valuable genetic assett to the breed that
SHOULD be passed on. An extension of the use and value of the Weimaraner
in my estimation.
3) Conformation-- there is NOTHING at all wrong with having functional
things ALSO be things of beauty. I enjoy Chinesse art--and a basic idea of
Chinesse art is, raise the ordinary and mundane to the highest level of
transcendence and beauty----put the art of the spirit into the things that
you see and use everyday. Make the most ordinary of things something that
is a joy and inspiration to your soul. And that is what I think our dogs
should be, healthy, able workers. and a physical expression of the beauty
and joy of having them with us.
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How The World
Works
This is for anyone out there that wants to own a top quality GSD(or any
other breed) but doesn’t have the money for it. You can do it if you are
willing to make an investment. But you need to know how the world works,
this same lesson will work for anything, not just dogs. The examples I’ll
be giving you of coarse are specific to dogs, but exactly the same
principles work if you are talking about dogs, or anything else.
First, forget about money-money is only the medium of exchange. There are
only two things that create wealth-time and knowledge. Everything there is
can be acquired with those two things. Everyone has exactly the same
amount of time, twentyfour hours in one day. How you use your time is
entirely up to you. Knowledge and skill is something that is available to
anyone who is willing to work to acquire it. The only limit is how much
effort you are willing to put in. Once you have it, no one can ever take
it away from you.
Every club I know of has classes on handling and training. Join a club,
get in the classes and learn. As you become knowledgeable and skilled with
training and handling, you will find that you will be in demand by
breeders and owners. The skills you have will convert directly into cash
as you can use your talent to handle other people’s dogs for them at shows
and trials. I have used my skills in the past to support my church. I had
classes in companion dog handling and obedience for the church. I used
church facilities and placed an ad in the classified section of the
newspaper. The class filled up, and I asked people to donate the money
they thought the class was worth to the church. Many of the people in the
class made a larger donation to the church than I would have charged them
for the class. We even had some people that came to the classes end up
joining the church.
You will find once you have the knowledge and skills, that breeders and
owners will actively seek you out and are more than happy to make it well
worthwhile for you to help them with handling and showing their dogs at
trials and shows. If you like to travel, there will be plenty of that-and
it is not hard at all to add an extra day to sightsee when you are already
in an interesting place all expenses paid. That applies to international
destinations too. Are there any breeders out there reading this that
rewarded their handler with a champagne dinner after a successful
campaign? (you bet there are!)
Develop the knowledge and skills---use them to help breeders and owners to
accomplish what they want to attain and you will soon find that owning a
top notch puppy is a piece of cake. You’ll have contacts and friends
everywhere-and inside knowledge of the very best of the breed. People will
be seeking you out to help them find puppies and you’ll have first pick of
the very best of the breed due to your knowledge of what is being planned.
You’ll find that your inside knowledge and friendships will allow your to
make all sorts of arrangements-exchange services, goods, co-ownerships,
make breeding arrangements---eventually you will even stop thinking in the
traditional “own the dog, keep it in my house” mentality. You will of
coarse have your pets that live with you-but “your dogs” will include a
much, much larger pack that will extend far off into the horizon and
include a multitude of two legged friends as well. |
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Get the most out of school
Get the most out of school that you can.
Sign up for biology, zoology, microbiology, health, anatomy and
physiology, chemistry, physics and related courses. Biology, to learn
genetics, zoology, to learn about animal behavior and social structure,
communication, adaptation, micro--you'll NEED to be able to talk
intelligently to vets about diseases and disease processes, in order to
run a clean healthy environment in your kennel, health--that is also
obvious--most of what is healthy for humans is also the same for
animals---and disease spread and prevention is also similar applications,
anatomy and physiology--how will you know what genetic diseases do, if you
don't even know what healthy organs are supposed to do?,
chemistry--everything from disinfectants, to antibiotics, to nutrients are
all chemicals, it is very helpful to know some chemistry, physics---if you
are going to be looking at gaits and body structure to find dogs with
efficient use of energy--you need to know about movement, momentum,
centrifugal forces, leverage(a BIG issue here)all of which is involved in
physics.
I'll warn you that while you are taking the courses, you'll think "THIS
HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH DOG BREEDING"---it isn't until much
later when you are actually doing the breeding that you will begin to see
"AH HA!!! THIS IS EXACTLY THE SAME THING WE STUDIED WHEN WE WERE LOOKING
AT FLAT WORM GENETICS!!!!!" Sometimes the AH HA comes much later, but I
guarantee you, you'll be a better breeder because of it.
Take all the English and Communication courses you can. It is no help at
all to have spent years learning and doing, and have no one listen to what
you would like to be able to teach them. If you have poor grammar,
spelling, and lack communications skills, people will assume that you have
nothing useful to say---and it is part of being a good breeder, not only
to breed good animals NOW, but to also be able to pass along your
knowledge, so that future breeders can also breed good animals long after
you are no longer there to. |
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The Bakers
Once there were two bakers who decided to make cakes. The first baker was
lazy and greedy, he wanted to get rich and retire in luxury and never have
to work again. The second baker took great pride in his work. He loved
people, and his greatest joy in life was seeing people become happy when
they tasted the results of his hard work.
So, they both began to assemble the
ingredients for their cakes. They went to the Miller to buy flour. The
Miller showed them the flour he had for sale. The first baker asked the
price, and when the Miller told him, he said, “That is WAY too expensive,
I won’t be able to make any profit and I need to make a very high profit
so I can buy myself fine things.” So, as he was leaving, he saw workmen
shoveling flour in wagons out the back of the mill. He asked the Miller
what they were doing. The Miller told him that the flour had worms in it,
it was not fit to be eaten--so the workmen were hauling it away to feed to
pigs. The first baker said, “Well, if it is good enough for pigs, it is
good enough for my customers--I’ll sift out the worms and the stupid
people won’t know the difference, have them deliver it to my bakery, but
be sure to come to the back door, so no one sees them.” The second baker
bought the best flour the Miller had for sale. The Miller said, “How will
you make a profit? This is expensive flour.” The second baker said, “My
profit is seeing the joy and happiness my cakes bring people. I bake cakes
to make people happy.”
And so it went with the other ingredients, the first baker choosing
whatever he could find that was cheapest or free. The second baker taking
great time and care to seek the finest ingredients.
Then they went to work. The first baker threw everything together in a
hurry, without regard for measuring, or properly heating his oven, or
mixing the batter as much as the recipe called for. He only wanted to get
finished quickly and leave, after all, he had his own comfort to think of.
The second baker labored far into the night. He took great care with his
measurements, heating his oven and mixing, When he finally finished, he
was very tired, but his cakes were fit for a King.
The next day both of the bakers took their cakes to the market. They both
sold their cakes for $2. The people who bought the cakes from the second
baker were delighted with them. They came back for more. But when the
people who had bought the cakes from the greedy baker tasted them, they
demanded their money back. So the first baker said to himself “I’ve paid
so little and put so little work into these that I can still get rich if I
only charge $1, so I’ll do that.” The second baker couldn’t make the price
that low. He’d spent too much on using good ingredients and hard work.
Even so, the first bakers cakes tasted so bad, people still wouldn’t buy
them. Then came a merchant who saw an opportunity. He bought the cakes the
first baker had left for $.10 each, put some fancy icing on them and sold
them for $1. They looked pretty--he told people that the baker with the
expensive cakes was only trying to get rich off of them (the merchant knew
nothing of baking, but he was a good salesman, with a voice as soothing
silk and a mind as crafty as a fox). He quickly sold the cakes, and
hurriedly went his way before anyone had a chance to taste them. When they
had tasted them, the people were angry, but it was too late, the merchant
had fled.
If you want to breed puppies, what sort of breeder do you want to be. Do
you want to breed like the first baker made his cakes? (be a puppy mill
with no concern for the value of what goes into your puppies or the
happiness of the puppies or people who get them)
Do you want to be like the merchant? Just make money no matter who it
hurts--live a life of greed and self interest?
Or, would you be like the second baker, do the very best you can to share
happiness and joy of what you love with others? |
