ARE YOU FEELING PRESSURED INTO BREEDING?
“FIRST THINGS FIRST: DO YOU HAVE THE TIME, FACILITIES, AND KNOWLEDGE? IF ONE OF THOSE COMPONENTS IS MISSING, WILL YOUR BREEDER STEP IN TO WHELP THE LITTER AND DO THE HEAVY LIFTING UNTIL THE PUPPIES ARE READY FOR THEIR NEW HOMES?”
THE CACHET OF ‘SELECTIVE BREEDING’ By the 1980s and ‘90s, the clarion call, the motto, became “selective breeding.” Sadly, those great breeders of yesteryear, with their large kennels, who gave many of us our start would be called “puppy mills” and “high-volume producers” by the new crop of holier-than-thou fanciers. In many breeds—including my own, Afghan Hounds—prospective buyers were scared away by some overzealous breeders who emphasized the ordeal of grooming and exercise, and considered many would-be owners to be unqualified. However, these value judgments are completely subjective in nature. Knowledgeable breeders with the time and facilities to do their puppies justice should be breeding several litters each year. Others, who know little about animal husbandry or genetics, with large, active breeds being denied fenced, free space to run, should not be raising even a single litter a year. It’s fine to claim in a contract that you will replace a show prospect that “doesn’t turn out”—and we’ve all had a few of those puppies—but if you piously breed one litter every three years and your breed’s average litter size is four puppies, do you expect even patient owners to wait that long? Many of us kept waiting lists with dozens and dozens of names. There’s an old expression that tells us, “You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.” If you’re going to call yourself a breeder, you have to breed the occasional litter. SO WHERE ARE THE ‘QUALITY’ PUPPIES? Fast forward a decade or two. With fewer experienced breeders producing litters, buyers were often at a loss to find a well-bred puppy from health-tested parents and ethical breeders. Guess what? Many mediocre breeders popped up to fill the demand. The problem exploded with the arrival of the Internet. Bad breeders who couldn’t buy a decent bitch from good breed- ers in this country could now re-invent themselves online and buy dogs from other parts of the world, no questions asked.
Impatient buyers sought instant gratification by going to these breeders. In rare, hard-to-find breeds, they often went online and imported a puppy from a foreign country themselves. An experiment in Australia to produce a guide dog for blind allergy-sufferers gave rise to the Labradoodle, a canine disaster that had its creator, many years later, writing that he profoundly regret- ted his idea that spawned the worldwide “designer dog” craze. We know his lament did nothing to push the genie back in the bottle. So here we are, in 2024. We have woefully small numbers in many breeds. Reading the AKC List of Low-Entry Breeds is shocking. Their devoted supporters are urging buyers to breed, and breeders to favor those buyers who agree to breed, whether they intend to keep a puppy from the litter or not. It is a matter of keep- ing breeds viable—and, in some cases, in existence. The days of hobby breeders being told to refrain from breeding are clearly over. We want the public to discover the same joy of owning and competing with purebred dogs that has motivated us in the sport for so many decades. That will lead some to face a moral dilemma. Should you breed your bitch just because she comes in season and there are bad breeders out there, even when you have no intention of keeping a puppy from the litter? First things first: do you have the time, facilities, and knowl- edge? If one of those components is missing, will your breeder step in to whelp the litter and do the heavy lifting until the puppies are ready for their new homes? In the meantime, please let’s welcome all our newcomers to the sport, like my acquaintance described at the start of this article, unconditionally. To the new folks: maybe some people can and should change their initial plans and breed those additional litters, but please don’t feel guilty if you are not one of those people.
46 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, MARCH 2024
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