"You Call Yourself a Breeder" Part 3: Comparing Breeders
© 2004 Maureen Laughlan

You think of yourself as a breeder of quality dogs. You just finished reading about the breeders described in the first two parts of this series. You are probably making some judgments about both those breeders and forming some opinions. You may be comparing yourself to both of them. You may come out somewhat better, or a whole lot worse, in that comparison. You may be loudly proclaiming that you behave more like the conscientious second breeder than the irresponsible first one, or you may be quietly wishing it to be a fact. You may be hoping that others see your breeding program as a good thing. You form opinions about both breeders.

You believe that it is dreadful for such people as the first breeder to be allowed to continue breeding and selling those offspring as purebred dogs. You are abhorred that someone like the first breeder chose the same breed involvement as you did. You cannot imagine ever comparing her poorly bred puppies to the ones that you produce. You think that she is doing so much wrong, and that she should be shut down You complain about her to your fellow breeders. Implications are that this breeder is uncaring and ignorant. You feel that the first breeder is producing puppies only for the monetary return. What if you are wrong. Maybe there is more to consider when comparing breeding practices.

Let us analyze what the first breeder is doing and what we feel she should be doing. This breeder does not appear to be someone who would fall into the category of a typical or notorious backyard breeder. This person is breeding purebred to purebred animal. She is allowed to register the off-spring produced. She must have bought an open female from someone who sold puppies without restrictions. She is dealing with someone who sells the services of an open purebred male. That stud dog owner does not appear concerned enough to put restrictive contracts on his offspring. This breeder does not appear to be doing testing for any of the known genetic inheritance disease problems, nor does she appear be interested in breeding to produce a better animal. You may be correct when you presume, that this breeder has probably never heard of phrases like phenotype or genotype, but she may love the type, temperament and style of her bitch. She may feel that she wants others to enjoy the wonderful traits that that this bitch will pass on to her puppies. We understand that this particular bitch has proven, through past litters, that she is healthy enough to produce puppies that appear healthy. What about the puppies? Is this breeder concerned about the welfare of the litter? She does show enough concern for the pups that she takes them for initial inoculations, done by a registered veterinarian. This veterinarian may or may not be advising this breeder about other things that should be considered prior to breeding and throughout the dam's gestation. We do not know if this breeder has been offered the opportunity to work in conjunction with professionals, or if she even knows the questions to ask. This breeder may have valid concerns about the costs of producing a litter. Not every breeder has a wealthy background and she may need to meet her costs. The first breeder appears to be fed up and wants the pups gone. That may just be in the mode of the harried mom syndrome. It is common to become worn out and tired, after weeks of sharing living space with a large and active litter of enthusiastic puppies. It is important to note that these puppies have shared their formative first weeks in a family household atmosphere. They may be extremely well socialized and have adequate training, appropriate to their age. Now we have to consider one of the most important questions of any breeding. Are there better dogs being produced from this mating? The first breeder may have, unknowingly, produced a healthy litter of puppies with a very low in-breeding co-efficient, which may or may not be important depending on your thoughts. This breeding may have produced puppies that will go on to greatness in pet homes, therapy homes, sporting homes, or other areas of endeavor. This litter may live long healthy lives. Through sheer luck, this breeder may have bred a future Champion or Dam of Champions. This breeding may have provided the animal you need for the next mating in your planned breeding program.

The analysis of breeder number two appears to be much easier. In a perfect world, we would all have the quality dogs. We would love to have unlimited availability of resources that appear to be available to this breeder. It would be fabulous to have the time and inclination to do the research. It would be wonderful if everyone had the intelligent and the inclination to use the knowledge gained. The second breeder appears to be doing an amazing job, but there are also areas of concern with the second breeder.

This breeder may wait too long to breed her bitch because she insists on having all those tests, titles and degrees on her line. Testing cannot be completed on a young puppy so sometimes the wrong puppy is kept from the litter. Testing takes time and it is expensive. This breeder's perfect bitch or stud dog could prove infertile or develop problems later. This amazing bitch may only be used once, because she is too busy in her show and sporting life. The limited number of puppies produced may not go on to become great achievers or produce better dogs because they have been placed in pet homes where there is no further interest other than in the dog of the moment. This breeder may only look at popular sires, thereby limiting future diversified gene potential in the entire breed. This breeding may double up on some damaging gene structures and what looked like a perfect pairing may produce genetic problems from far back in the pedigree. This breeder might have used all her financial resources up to this point and on this one animal and will not be able to afford to move forward if problems occur. By being too choosy or particular, this breeder may have "thrown out the baby with the bath water" thereby missing other important potential matings. The second breeder's careful scientific approach may not have all the answers because no scientist can yet accurately predict the health of any future litter. There remains a huge concern with the second breeder. There are no assurances that all her preparation, research and concern are going into a breeding that is designed to produce puppies that are true to the origins of that breed. She may be breeding for the popular pretty dog look of the moment. She may produce beautiful, healthy and sound puppies, but unless the breeding is true to the breed origins, as well as the breed standard, it may not produce better bred puppies than the litter bred by the first breeder.

Using the law of probabilities and the use of old-fashioned common sense; you have to conclude that the first breeder is not doing as good a job of breeding as the second breeder. The first breeder is leaving everything to chance, while the second breeder is making intelligent and informed decisions based on current available information.

Perhaps there is room for improvement on the part of both these breeders. Perhaps there is room for improve on your part, because you call yourself a breeder.