"You Call Yourself a Breeder" Part 4: Where Have All the Puppies Gone?
© 2004 Maureen Laughlan

The puppies are out the door! The paperwork is signed and delivered!

You glance at your lonely four-footed pal who mothered the litter. You think she has earned a well-deserved break. Wasn't she wonderful? All that work of feeding and training the pups was something she took in stride. She was a natural! Didn't she do a great job of caring for her brood of puppies? You wonder for a brief moment if she will miss her pups.

Wait a minute! Will you miss the puppies? You were there for those first formative weeks. You watched as they developed their first senses. They were adorable as they found their mother's milk which nourished them. Weren't they cute as they discovered their first peek of the world out of narrowed corners of eyelid slits? Wasn't it interesting to see them react to the first sounds they could hear? How funny were they as they tried to stand and walk and finally developed the ability through repeated stumbling attempts? Remember those other first moments-the first bark, the first playful tumble and the first sibling rivalry. Those were great times.

Then there was the other side to hosting a litter; the side that wasn't all that much fun. It will be a long time before you forget the work load involved. It wasn't amusing when you had to put up with the first messy attempts at eating solid foods. Remember the days when the puppies walked in the food, wore the food and shared the messy goop with their siblings, their bedding and your clothing. It wasn't so great when their Mom quit cleaning up after them and you had to do our share of paper training and then all that outdoor mess. Talk about a pooper scooper workout!

It will be difficult to forget the hours each day that were consumed with care of that litter and the worry about the litter. What about the times when you had to be home for puppy duty when you would have preferred another choice from your busy lifestyle? Was it that much trouble with a human child? Probably not, because you could at least take a baby with you. Those puppies presented real challenges in scheduling your daytime hours, and attempting to get some sleep in the nighttime hours.

As the breeder, will you continue to spend time concerned about welfare and development of each of those puppies? A good breeder does not call it quits when the pups move on to their new homes. The breeder is concerned about whether enough was done to prepare the new owners for life with a puppy? They try to make themselves available to discuss concerns the new owners might have through the early stages of puppy ownership, but is there more that a good breeder should consider.

You, as the breeder, know that a new breed line is established every time puppies are born. The pups are the result of a combining of other genetic lines, which is a melding of the history of your breed to form the genes of this new litter. It can stop there, if all the pups are spayed or neutered; or this new line can go on to produce further lines. This new line, developed by a breeder and inherited by those puppies, may have huge importance on the breed.

Have you considered some of the responsibilities of the breeder to this new line? It is an inherited responsibility that does not come to an end when the pups leave the breeder's home. A breeder's duty to that litter continues until the day they die?

If you are a breeder who is truly breeding to improve the breed, then you should want to know about those pups. You should try to obtain as much information, as you can, about the growth and development of each and every puppy from your kennel. How can any breeder claim to know about their own line if they do not know about the allergies, the diseases, the temperaments, or the longevity of a litter of pups that were produced through past mating on this lineage.

The process of breeding dogs has not yet come to a time and place where we have established the perfect line or the perfect dog. Many breeders claim the purity of their dogs is shown in the best of the best dogs that they kept from each litter. What about the siblings of those dogs? What about the offspring of those siblings? What is happening to those lines?. You should want to be informed? You should insist that you be kept informed. If you want to be a successful breeder you should know the answers relating to the quality of life of all your pups.

If your champion of champions is wonderful and producing wonderful puppies that is a terrific achievement on your part as the breeder. Yet, if your champion among champions has progeny or siblings who are dying early, showing signs of genetic diseases, or have not developed with true temperament and characteristics of the breed; then it is up to you to know those facts also. Knowledge of these facts puts you in a stronger position as a breeder to improve our line. Your future breeding choices will be based on solid information. You may still want to breed your best dog, but you will be watching and providing information on what to look for and to watch against in future breedings of this one or its progeny.

Following up on the puppies can be done in a number of ways. You can use the traditional methods of telephone and newsletters. You can form an e-mail group among the litter owners where the newest group of owners can share stories with you, owners of past litters and each other. You can set up an Internet website and post pictures, brags and accomplishments of the pups as they proceed through life.

You can aid the pups in the transition into their new lives. You can share the stories of learning and progress. You can be the mentor in their development. You can be there to take back a puppy that is not working out in the home and find it a better placement for than animal. You can have annual kennel parties and invite those who own your dogs to bring them back for a social event. You can post pictures and notes and anecdotes of any who choose to participate so those who did not attend can follow the progress of all the dogs.

The best reason for keeping informed about the life cycles of any puppies that came from your kennel is the one about the pride of accomplishment. You can be assured that puppies from your kennel are sociable dogs, which are a tribute to you. You can be proud to call yourself a breeder.