So you’ve decided to bring a dog into your home. Have you thought about what breed fits best with your lifestyle? This can be a critical issue – dogs vary greatly in temperament, energy, physical needs, etc., breed by breed. And where you get your new companion will also influence what you get, too. Don’t be fooled by the “flavor of the month” popular breeds – popularity can be a serious handicap for most breeds and don’t judge breeds based on their physical appearance. One of your best resources for finding a suitable breed for you is a professional dog trainer. They see just about every different breed (if they have been training for a while) and the breed’s inherent issues, and can help guide you toward an educated decision.
Once you decide on a breed or breeds, researching your area breeders are important. Going to local dog shows, you can often meet those breeders involved in showing their dogs and meet that breeder’s stock as well. With the more popular breeds, there are usually a lot of local “breeders” to be found online or through the newspaper. Most of these folks are “backyard breeders” and though their stock is technically purebred, they do not breed with the best interests of the breed in mind. They rarely have any standards (except for having a registered pedigree) when it comes to breeding – they don’t bother with important health clearances and do not breed to the “standard” – their breed’s written “standard” of perfection which specifies what makes a good representative of their breed physically and mentally. That’s one reason dog shows are important to good breeders – the judges compare their breeding stock to their breed’s standard – you don’t see backyard breeders showing their dogs.
A good breeder shows and competes with their stock. They perform any and all important health clearances to make sure their dogs are genetically sound and healthy – increasing the likelihood the resulting puppies will also be genetically sound and healthy. In just about every breed there are medical issues – nowadays many of them are able to be tested for so that they can be weeded out of the gene pool. Researching your breed’s particular issues and being knowledgeable about the health clearances related to them help – they are things you can interview your future breeder about and beware of the breeder that claims they don’t do the tests because they aren’t a problem in their lines. If it isn’t a problem, a “clear” test will confirm it, right?
Good breeders don’t make money breeding their dogs. They do it because they love their breed and feel they are a steward of their breed – their breeding plan is long-range and their goal is to improve it with each generation. Feel free to ask your breeder what he/she is looking to produce with a said breeding. Beware the breeder who uses the same male over and over again – this is a symptom of a backyard breeder. Very few good breeders use the same male more than once. A repeat breeding is only done when the previous litter is INCREDIBLE. Otherwise it is seen as a “waste” to continue to pump out the same genetics over and over. There is no improvement for the breed when using the same combination over and over.
In general, most good breeders use “outside” males for their breeding program, so usually only the mother (the “dam”) is there for visitors to meet. When you go and meet her, understand she will likely look like a skinny, moth-eaten wreck and may not be “herself” in personality. By the time the pups are ready to be seen and go to their new homes, most mothers have been run ragged raising their brood, have blown their glorious coat from the hormonal fluctuations, and those same hormones may also have temporarily changed their behavior – often dams are a little more aggressive and protective (especially in those breeds selected for guarding behavior) or even nervous, so give her a break.
The pups themselves should be bright-eyed, active, with fuzzy haircoats and roly-poly movement. A good litter produces pretty uniform pups – they should be inquisitive, confident and interactive. There are some very good puppy evaluation tests you can try out, or have a professional trainer (who has done this sort of thing before – an inexperienced trainer is no help at all) help you find the pup in that particular litter that would fit best in your home. Remember, in every breed there will be a range of personalities and you want one that will mesh with yours.
A good breeder will also interview you – what kind of home is their pup going to? Good breeders have invested a lot of themselves in their pups, so they don’t want them going just anywhere (which is why pet stores are the WORST place to find a pup – no good breeder lets their pups go blindly off into the world!). All good breeders have contracts. You will likely be asked to follow some specific “rules” when raising your pup – most good breeders have certain foods they want you to feed your pup, as well as making sure the pup gets the best veterinary care, and even some breeders will ask you to show the pup or allow them to show it for you. And in the case of some of the rarer breeds, you may even be asked to whelp a litter, should the pup mature in to an exemplary representative of it’s breed.
There are a lot of amazing dogs out there – it’s an investment of time, money and effort to raise one, so make sure you make the right choice. Good luck, and feel free to write me any questions you may have!
