K9 Training Center

In the dog world there is no second way to breeding dogs. Breeding dogs is a very serious matter that must NOT be taken lightly I know of people who are completely against dog breeding. These people form two groups. Group 1 believe that we should leave dogs alone and let nature do its job. Group 2 believe that breeding is playing God and that the harm done was back in the early 18th century and ignorance is contributing today.

I actually accept a piece of both thoughts. Yes it is true that back in the 18th century human kind played God and developed many different breeds that are known of today as purebred dogs. These dogs came to existence by mankind influence. mankind decided which dog was to mate with which dog. The goal each time was to create a new breed that was equivalent to the persons dream dog. Those that indeed succeeded were people who studied hard and learnt as much as they could about the matter. Careless people on the other hand with no knowledge had different breed dogs in their back yard or had a single dog that had come from far away. These dogs bred between each other forming dogs that are known today as mongols. The damage has been done and blaming people of thousands of years ago isn't going to make anything right. Leaving nature to play its role isn't going to fix things either. Blaming and correcting people of today will however have considerable affects.

Dogs at one time were in there special geographical areas. Each dog kind gradually evolved according to its geographical position, availability of food etc. These dogs didn't mix with new other breeds easily, they were in their own areas and had their own packs. These dogs are the true pure-breed dogs. As man domesticated dogs life for dog-kind changed. Man changed location and with them came their dogs. In new areas new dogs were domesticated. History shows that these people however didn't cross breed their dogs. These people realized and appreciated that each kind had its unique specialty and they had domesticated the breed for that unique specialty. However as time went by man-kind couldn't help himself but to investigate. x-dog great nose but small in size, y-dog bad nose but a big dog. Lets mix and get a bigger dog with a good nose. In the beginning man kind was limited to his travel but in time dogs were in the exchange cycle and variety grew. In time man sailed and variety became unlimited.
When one looks at nature in its natural term you do not see any animal breed that has any problems. Each breed has adapted to its surroundings and have no problems. When we look at interfered animals we will see a variety of breeds with certain problems.
My most favored dog is the German Shepherd Dog. Let's take a look at my most favorite breed. This breed is actually a mix breed of different shepherd dogs. The breed is known for its utility, it is successful in many different roles. However the German Shepherd Dog is also known for problems such as Hip Dysplacia. Now looking at the German Shepherd dog we know that man-kind must step in and take a role of playing mother nature. Man-kind has opened registry offices for the breed. The true idea of these registry offices is to protect the breed and preserve it. The idea is that these registry offices will keep record of each dog and its problems and will decide as which dog can breed and which dog can not breed. These registry offices will require certain things to b provided by each dog owner to be able to decide each dogs breed worthiness. All true professional breeders will give these registry offices the details that are required and will breed accordingly. The goal here is to preserve and protect the breed. If everybody was to contribute and act responsibly then genetic problems that are passed down in lines from one dog to its new generation would be stopped. A dog with such a genetic problem would not be accepted for breeding. This includes problems that the German Shepherd Dog breed has such as HD. Our example dog the German Shepherd Dog is well known for its sound character and how good it is with children. This does not mean that each and every German Shepherd Dog is. There are aggressive dogs about. These registry offices do not accept their breeding thus eliminating these bad traits as-well. Any good breeder cares about its breed and act accordingly.

Now lets look at puppy mills and back yard breeders. Their goal is purely money. They will pair their dogs for mating before they are ready to mate at very early ages such as 6 months or a year old. These people do not care about breed standards or they don't have a clue. They will have for sale dogs that have genetic disorders, bad traits etc.

Now lets look at the standard owner. The standard owner doesn't know or understand that matching two dos require genetic knowledge. They will look at size and color only. This will result with the same problems as puppy-mills and back yard breeders.

A professional responsible breeder sells puppy's with a contract they will sell their dogs with contracts stating what is to be fed, how the puppy is to be looked after, whether it can or can not be bred etc. They will also supply the adopter with a written health guarantee. They will also inform the adopter what they believe the dog will look like when fully grown, what type of character the dog has etc. and they are rarely wrong.

People with dogs often do not protect their dogs from inappropriate breeding's and mongrels are born.

Now lets take a look at the difference of a purebred dog of today the improper dog and the mongrel.

A purebred dog of today acquired from a responsible breeder will have all the good traits the breed is known for. The dog will have a small chance of having abnormalities, the dogs are according to breed standards and healthy. The dog was only sold to people that the breeder felt that deserved the breed and could properly look after. The incorrect purebreds will have the wrong character will have a high risk of showing genetic problems or abnormalities, will have a small chance of showing the breeds true traits. A buyer of such a dog may not be able to provide what the breed requires nobody cared about this at time of sales. The dog will be dumped when the family realize that they can't look after the dog or when they realize that the dog grew up into something other then they hoped for, the dog will be dumped when grown up and the owners find that it can't run because of pain due to abnormalities or because it was aggressive or shy.. mongol dogs have their own problems. Mongrel. dogs are a true gamble. You acquire one and then wait for the dog to grow up so that you can find out what the dog is good at or not. If it has abnormalities or not etc. Dogs do not drive cars they require properly proportioned limbs. They walk on four legs. They require that their front legs are in proportion to their hind legs so that they can walk in harmony. In small breeds these dogs often do not show great problems. The reason for this is because they are not expected to run a marathon. They have pain but dogs do not realize things we do a dog born with a pain thinks it is normal and lives with the pain. Do you really call that responsibility or animal love on the human part?

In short if you wish to adopt a puppy then you must first decide on what life style you can supply. What will you be expecting from the dog. What is your character and what character dog will provide a match of your stars. Then go about investigating breed standards. Once you have decided on breeds that fit your requirements lifestyle and what you can supply to the dog, choose one from your choices that looks like you want. Once decided find a responsible breeder and make a visit. Get to know the breeder and find out about his thoughts and knowledge. Go with your heart and common sense. now tell the breeder about your life style, your character, whether you have children or not whether you are thinking of having future children or not etc.. A responsible breeder will then be able to pick out puppy's from your required breed that will best fit in with you. Then decide on the puppy you want. If this road is taken then you will end up adopting a puppy that will be happy with you that you will be happy with too. You will know what your puppy will be like when grown up and you will have a considerable low risk of having a puppy with bad genes or abnormalities.

Don't be the next person to acquire a puppy that you gambled for appearance, character, breed worthiness and health.

Don't allow your dog to breed with other breeds or unsuitable dogs. Don't allow your dog to breed unless your dog has proven its breed worthiness. If you are not thinking of breeding your dog be responsible and make sure that your dog is spayed or neutered at the right age. Prevent unwanted puppies from being dumped, drowned, abandoned, put to sleep. by preventing them from existing in the first place.

Ben Senova

German Shepherd Dog Club® Master Instructor, breed supervisor and behavior specialist.