AN OPEN LETTER TO BREEDERS
By Lynsey Smith
If you don’t have goals:
DONT BREED
(Producing “great” pets, or big and impressive ISN’T a goal). Far too many breeds have been RUINED because people breed simply for pets with no REAL goals for the breed.
If you don’t TEST your dogs (health and/or temperament and working ability)
DONT BREED
If you don’t research the history of the breed to know what to look for (other than “great” pet or big and impressive)
DONT BREED
If you don’t become familiar with the dogs within the pedigree of your dogs in order to know what traits may show up in breeding
DON’T BREED
If you breed back to back to back to back to back
STOP BREEDING
If you never hold any pups back to watch how they develop in order to determine if you are meeting your goals:
DON’T BREED
If you make “picks” at birth or a week old BEFORE a pup can even show you anything about itself other than it’s sex and colour
DON’T BREED
If you will sell a puppy to anyone with the cash or to someone who knows nothing about the breed and you don’t bother to educate them
DON’T BREED
If you “ride coattails” of other breeders in order to talk up your own dogs even though you have done nothing with them yourself (ex: “champion bloodline” or has a “famous” dog back in its pedigree)
DON’T BREED
(get off your arse and prove your own dogs first)
If you do not know your own dogs’ pros and cons and are unwilling to acknowledge their faults and adjust your program accordingly
DON’T BREED
If you do not offer to take back dogs or puppies if they are not working out for whatever reason and will allow a dog that YOU brought into this world to end up in a shelter or worse; don’t say that you LOVE your breed because clearly, you don’t so do the dogs a favour and
DON’T BREED
If you are unwilling to learn from others, take advice (good and bad) and in the process to BETTER THE BREED
DON’T BREED
If your aim is to make a name for yourself or fatten your wallet and not to better your breed
DON’T BREED
Leave a Reply