ATTENTION ALL NOVICE POTENTIAL BREEDERS!!!!!

SO YOU WANT TO BE A BREEDER? - Breeding the female
By Laura Turner and Friends
So you want to breed your female.
You know what to expect if everything goes right.
Your little girl will present you with tiny bundles of joy.
She will lovingly nurse them and care for them until they are old enough to be weaned.

You and your family will find great joy in watching and playing with these little dolls,
and then when the time is right they will all (or maybe you keep just one) go off to special homes to live out their lives as cherished companions.
But have you given consideration to what if something goes wrong?
I have listed here a few of the problems that I myself have personal knowledge of.
Everything listed has happened either to me or someone I know.
These are not isolated incidents. I'm sure other breeders could add miles to my list.
Learn by others mistakes!. Let the breeding up to those who know what they are doing,
have the experience, know what to expect.

WHAT IF DURING THE BREEDING
The stud dog you have chosen is carrying a venereal disease (Brucellosis) and gives it to your female.
She not only doesn't conceive but you have to pay the vet bills to get her infection cleared up and she is now sterile.

The stud dog you decided to breed your darling to is not experienced.
Once the two dogs are joined tightly in a tie, he decides to chase the neighbors cat out of his yard.
He bolts for the cat ripping his penis loose and causing your bitch to hemorrhage from within.

Your modest girl decides she doesn't want the attentions of this gigolo stud chosen for her without her consent.
She snaps at him catching her tooth on his loose cheek and rips it open sending blood flying everywhere.
He retaliates by sinking his teeth into her left eye.

You leave your dog with the stud owner because the breeding is not going very swiftly.
In fact , it's been three hours and nothing is happening.
The stud owners leave the two dogs alone in the back yard.
The dogs get out through a tiny hole in the fence and a truck hits your female.

You pay the $250-$1000 stud fee up front figuring you will make that and more back when the pups sell.
You do not hang around as the breeder says they will call you when they are done.
The breeder guarantees the stud service to work or you can come back again.
After 2 months you discover it didn't work and now must wait another 4 months to try again.
Of course it doesn't work again, so in another 4 months you take your dog to another male and risk loosing another stud fee.
You figure next time you will wait and make sure they are really breeding.

You get her bred. Bring her home.
She bothers you so you let her out she is still in heat and still receptive to males.
You hear a commotion outside there is your girl tied up with the neighborhood mutt.
when she whelps there will need to be DNA tests done on the pups which can total $1000.00

You get her bred. Bring her home and let her out.
(She is still in heat and receptive to other males) but you do not see the neighborhood mutt breed her.
The pups are born but look odd.
You call the stud owner he suggests DNA testing (At your expense). You have a whole litter of mutts!
What do you do about the pups you have already sold ?
What do you do with the mutts you produced ?

Or knowing she tied with the neighborhood mutt you decide to terminate the pregnancy and try again being more careful next time.
But a few weeks later your female is very sick because you had her given a miss-mate shot creating
a hormonal imbalance causing a uterine infection and now she has Pyometra and needs a complete hysterectomy.
All plans of getting a litter is gone and your female's life is now in danger if she does not have the operation.

You show your girl and get your championship.
You also decide to do obedience to prove that your girl is physically and mentally worthy of being bred.
You complete every health test you can. You search for the best possible stud.
Finally the day has come and you take your girl to the studs home.
She refuses to be bred. The stud owner says to try again in 6 months time.
Again she is not receptive. You never do get your girl bred.
You spay your female thinking there is something wrong with her and sell her as a pet.
Years later you find out about a phenomenon called “split heats”.

Your beautiful champion and obedience titled girl will not accept a male.
You decide to Artificially Inseminate her. Finding a Vet is very difficult, but you do find one.
He charges $100 for the Vet visit, semen evaluation and insemination.
2 months later no pups arrive. You try again but this time you go to an experienced “breeder”
who informs you about the physical make up of the female’s reproductive system and how some inexperienced people actually go into the bladder by mistake.
This helps explain why your female also got that bladder infection 6 months earlier and no pups.

WHAT IF DURING THE BIRTH
You have the due date marked down.
Your female never comes into labour, the puppies die and she becomes infected by the decaying bodies.
You must pay for a C-section and a hysterectomy and a stud service and refund your deposits.

The puppies are coming breech and they drown in their own sacks inside the female before they can be born.

You see fluid come but no pups. Pups come much later all dead with no sacks on them.

Pups are born with super thick sacks and are born dead.

The first puppy is large and breech.
When it starts coming your female starts screaming, and before you can stop her
she reaches around, grabs the puppy in her teeth and yanks it out killing it instantly.

A puppy gets stuck. Neither your female nor you can get it out.
You have to race her to the vet. The vet can't get it out either.
She has to have an emergency caesarian section of course it is 3:00 am Christmas day.

A puppy is coming out breech and dry (the water sack that protects them has burst). It gets stuck.
Mom tries to help it out by clamping her teeth over one of the back legs. The head and shoulders are firmly caught.
Mom pulls on the leg, hard, peeling the flesh from the leg and leaving a wiggling stump of bone.

A dead puppy gets stuck in the birth canal, but your female is well into hard labor.
She contracts so hard trying to give birth that her uterus ruptures and she bleeds to death on the way to the vet.

A puppy is half way out and you decide to help by pulling on it…
like a cork in a bottle the puppy finally comes but has a broken back that is long stretched
and mom’s uterus is damaged by your actions. Mom has to be rushed to the Vet.

You decide delivery is taking too long so you administer oxytocin.
You forget that the Vet instructed administer ..during contractions..
instead of helping the medication interrupts the normal contractions.

You come home from work to discover your female has pooped by the back door.
Puzzled as this is totally unlike her you discover her on your bed panting with dead little puppies all around the bedroom floor
and a very panicked looking girl waiting for your displeasure.
It is only her 58th day so you never thought she would have her pups so early.

You want your female with you when she has her pups, so you can comfort her during this ordeal.
You let your female wander around the house as usual.
She starts her labour and instead of settling on the nice blanket by your bed she starts to cry and pant
running around the whole house peeing and pooping as she goes.
She does not settle in any one place but plops pups as she goes and leaves them uncleaned and is very stressed.

It is 60 days into her pregnancy and you let her outside to pee at night as usual.
She takes extra long to come back inside.
You go out to find her and she does not come to you. Instead you hear wimpering under your deck.
She has crawled under there and won’t come back out for 2 hours.
Finally get her to come to you and go back inside, settling her into her pool.
An hour later she has 1 puppy and is done her labour.
The next day in the daylight you go look under the deck and find dead puppies.

WHAT IF DIRECTLY AFTER THE BIRTH
The mother has no idea what to do with a puppy and she drops them out
and walks away, leaving them in the sack to drown.

The mother takes one look at the puppies,
decides they are disgusting droppings and tries to smother them
in anything she can find to bury them in.

The mother gets too enthusiastic in her removal of the placenta and umbilical cord,
and rips the cord out leaving a gushing hole
pulsing blood all over you as you try in vain to stop the bleeding.

Or, she pulls on the cords so hard she disembowels the puppies as they are born
and you have a box full of tiny, kicking babies with a tangle of guts the size of a walnut hanging from their stomachs.
Of course all the babies must be put to sleep.

What if because of some Hormone deficiency she turns vicious allowing no one near her or the babies,
who she refuses to nurse, or you have to interfere with.

You notice something protruding from her vagina when you let her out to pee.
You take her to the vet to discover a prolapsed uterus, which needs to be removed.

WHAT IF WHEN YOU THINK YOU'RE IN THE CLEAR
One or more of the puppies inhaled fluid during birth, pneumonia develops and death occurs within 36 hours.

What if the mother's milk goes bad. You lose three of your four puppies before you discover what is wrong.
You end up bottle feeding the remaining pup every two hours, day and night.
After three days the puppy fades from infection and dies.

The puppies develop fading puppy syndrome you lose two.
You bottle-feeding or tube feeding the last remaining baby.
It begins to choke and despite your efforts to clear the airway, the pup stiffens and dies in your hands.

You keep loosing pups and can’t figure it out.
They look healthy and when you squeeze the moms nipple milk appears,
so you put a puppy on there who greedily nurses and then suddenly roles off.
You loose that puppy later. After loosing three puppies you finally discover that while there is some milk,
there is not enough letting down and the pups have been fatiguing with the efforts and fading.

Your female develops mastitis and her breast ruptures and pups can not nurse off of her.

Your female develops a uterine infection from a retained placenta.
Her temperature soars to 105. You race her to the vet, he determines she must be spayed.
He does the spay in an attempt to save her life, you pay the hundreds of dollars bill.
The infection has gone into her blood stream.
The infected milk kills all the puppies and the bitch succumbs a day later.

All the puppies are fine but following the birth the female develops a hormone imbalance.
She becomes a fear biter and anytime anyone tries to touch her she viciously attacks them and kills her pups.

Mom and pups seem fine, the puppies are four weeks old and are at their cutest.
However, one day one of the puppies disappears.
You search everywhere but you can't find it. A few days later another puppy is gone.
And another. You can't figure how on earth the puppies are getting out of their safe 4' x 4' puppy pen.
Finally there is only one puppy left. The next morning you find the mother chomping contentedly on what is left of the last murdered puppy.

THE SALE
You put your ad in the local paper for your pups at the usual price you have seen others charge
and get only 2 responses and no sales.
You cut the pup's price in half and broaden your advertising
to 3 other newspapers in which the advertising totals $120.00 a week.

You get a few more puppy inquiries from people who ask all about health testing you did before breeding.
You tell them your Vet checked your girl and she was healthy enough.
The callers politely thank you and hang up.

You get a few more puppy inquiries from people who ask all about registration papers.
You tell them that your girl is registered and you will get the stud to sign the paper work
after you finish paying for the stud service, but assure them that the pups are purebred.
The callers politely thank you and hang up.

You get a few more puppy inquiries from people who ask all about what titles your pups parents have obtained
and what goals you have for doing the breeding.
You tell them that your girl is registered and very pretty and that you only breed 1x a year and are not a big breeder.
The callers get the picture that you are a back yard breeder type they were warned about and politely thank you and hang up.

You get a few more puppy inquiries from people who ask all about what clubs you are member of, how long you have been breeding,
how many generations you have bred/kept and references you have.
You tell them that your girl is registered and very pretty and that you only breed 1x a year and are not a big breeder.
You dont belong to any clubs because you just breed 1x a year and you have sold to a couple people who sent you photos of their pups.
The callers get the picture that you are a back yard breeder and politely thank you and hang up.

The pups are now 4 months old and getting bigger , eating a lot.
You try to keep them outside for most of the day to help lesson the smell and noise inside the house which works.
However their barking is really beginning to annoy the neighbors who call the police who inform you of the $150.00 noise by-law.

Your neighbors also call the humane society because they are concerned the barking pups are not being properly cared for.
The Human Society comes out to inspect the care of your dogs.
You pass inspection, but end up feeling stressed and harassed.

Your spouse is getting totally fed up with the nightly barking and having the house smelling like an outhouse
and not getting any compensation for all the work involved.
There goes your support.

Your pups are not selling. You decide to call a Big Breeder who always seems to have their pups sold, for some help.
You have always thought that they were a bit of a Puppy Mill because it seems they have 3+ litters a year and you have always thought this was bad.
You think they only care about money and will take your pups off of your hands for the right price.
Instead they end up being very nice to you and explain about their scientifically breeding for a purpose
, how they preplan their litters and only breed when they have enough people interested
how they wish to produce a litter for a puppy they will keep.
They explain to you about all the health testing that they do,
the expense of it and why they do it.
They tell you about why they bother spending money on achieving show and working titles.
Something you had always thought was a joke.
They also tell you about their puppy set up and how they raise their pups inside in a proper set up and how they start them on their toilet training
and about doing biosensor and other stimulas they give the pups so they develop properly.
They offer you a few suggestions on how to place your pups yourself, but decline to buy them from you to flip,
because your pups are obviously not the quality they are producing and they care about their reputation,
what they are producing and what they are offering the public.
Instead of feeling judged, you feel enlightened and are going to think about how to improve your quality of breeding
if you decide to continue breeding.

You finally decide to give the rest of the litter away but still have to pay the $1200.00 advertising bill
and the $600.00 vet bill, $500.00 food bill and the Stud fee.

You have sold all your pups and spent all the money on bills.
One day you notice one of the pups doesn't seem to be developing like the rest
He is not walking but instead is dragging his rear legs. You panic and go to the Vet only to find out
that you have a swimmer's puppy... what are you going to do ?

You have sold all the pups and spent all the money on bills
You take the pups to the Vet and the Vet discovers that 2 of your pups are blind.
What are you going to do ?

You have all your pups sold and you have spent the money on bills.
It is such a beautiful day that you have put the 6 week old pups outside in an xpen for some fresh air.
You also let your adults outside to play.
You go out a few minutes later and discover the dogs seem upset and you soon find out why
One of the other mothers has attacked and killed 4 of your pups.
What do you do ?

You have all your pups sold and you have spent the money on bills.
It is such a beautiful day that you have put the 6 week old pups outside in an xpen for some fresh air.
You know not to let your adults out with the pups.
You go out a few minutes later and discover a missing puppy and you soon find out why
There are hawks circling your backyard over your xpen.
What do you do ?


WHAT IF THE NEW HOMES AREN'T SO HAPPY
You give a puppy to a friend.
Their fence blows down so they tie the puppy outside while they go to work.
A roving dog comes along and kills the puppy.
Your friend calls you up to tell you about the poor little puppy
and asks when you are having more puppies.

You sell a puppy to an acquaintance.
The next time you see them you ask how the puppy is doing.
They tell you that it soiled their new carpet and would not stop barking so they took it to the pound.

You give a puppy to a friend and dont hear from them for a long while.
You get a phone call from a stranger asking when they can expect to receive registration papers
from the puppy they bought from your friend that lists you as the breeder.

You give a puppy to a friend.
They call you one night to say that the puppy is at the Vets with bloat
and they have no money to pay for treatment what should they do.

You sell a puppy to a friend (you give them a good price and payments).
They make a couple of tiny payments. Six months later they move to an apartment.
They ask you to take it back. You take it back and of course the payments stop.
The dog they returned is so shy, and ill mannered from lack of socialization and training,
that it takes you a year of work providing socializing and training to be able to give it away.

You foster a male out to a nice family.
8 months later you see that they are offering stud service on the internet.

You sell a puppy to a wonderful home.
They love her like one of the family.
At a vet check done by their vet it is determined that the puppy has a heart murmur.
(Your vet found nothing when he checked the puppy before it was sold.)
They love their puppy and want the best for her.
They have an expensive surgery done. The puppy is fine.
They sue you for the medical costs. They win, because you did not have a contract stipulating conditions of guarantee
and so as breeder you are responsible for the puppy's genetic health.

You give a puppy to your mother. She is thrilled.
Two years later the puppy starts developing problems.
It begins to develop odd symptoms and is suffering.
Hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of tests later
it is finally discovered that the dog is suffering from a terminal condition that was inherited.
Possibly from your female since you know nothing about her family lines.

Puppy buyer gets in touch with you to complain that their puppy is suffering from car sickness
and since they travel a lot with their puppy they want to know if this is congenital condition
Puppy buyer gets in touch with you to say that their puppy has allergies to certain foods
and want to know what you are going to offer them since the only food that the puppy tolerates is very expensive.

One loving home decides your puppy is untrainable, destructive and wants to return the pup and get a full refund.
They show up on your doorstep without an appointment
demanding their money back, which you have spent on your vet bills.

One loving couple calls you and is very upset because their pup has crippling hip dysplasia
and want to know what you are going to do about it.
You have spayed your female so a replacement is out of the question, looks like another refund.

You sell a male for a pet.
The new owners decide they wish to OFA his hips.
He fails the OFA and your vet assures you that he will live a normal happy life despite failing the OFA.
Your pet people are not happy and want a replacement puppy AND refuse to return the male to you.
You can understand because it is their pet and you give them the only puppy you have available out a litter, now a year later, a female out of a different breeding.
Everyone is happy until a year later you see their number in an advertisement
for pups out of the male you sold them that failed OFA and the female puppy you gave them.

You receive an email from pet people who say that their puppy has JRD and they demand that you pay the Vet bill immediately
because their Vet says it is inherited disease and breeder is responsible for the bill.
You inform them that their contract does not guarantee against this disease.
They email you a week later to say that their Vet was wrong because their puppy responded to IV treatment and is all better.
Their Vet now thinks the puppy was exposed to poison instead.

Your puppy people contact you all upset as their 1 year old dog
got really sick and had to be put down from what their Vet suspected is Addisons disease.
They don’t complete the only test that confirms this but they still want some compensation.

Your puppy people contact you all upset that their 1 year old dog got really sick and died and they want their Vet bill paid by you.
Feeling sorry for them you offer them a replacement puppy instead and only ask that they provide a Veterinary autopsy report
stating the breed, sex, colour, microchip number and why the puppy died.
You receive the autopsy report a week later for a dog of a different colour dog than the puppy you sold them.
When you email them back to ask them about it, you never hear from them again.

You get an email from a puppy buyer who tells you a really sad story about how their dog got sick and eventually died.
They send you an autopsy report which does indeed match the microchip number and description of the puppy you sold them.
However the cause of death is inconclusive as to being hereditary or congenital. What do you do ?

You sold all your pups for pets and for pet price,
not wishing to contribute to the back yard breeder problem.
Your one puppy home calls you to ask if you know of a good stud
they can use to breed their female they got from you
as they do not plan on spaying her wishing to use her for breeding instead.

Your puppy home calls you to find out how they can get their AKC limited registration
changed to Unlimited so they can show their pet puppy.

Your pet puppy home calls to say that they bred the female
they bought from you and now they are having a hard time selling the puppies, can you help them.

Your puppy people write to you that one of the two pups you sold them passed away.
They said they came home and found her dead and the other puppy was ok.
You ask for an autopsy report to show your Vet and confirm a cause of death.
They tell you they burried her on their farm.
THey want to know if you will sell them another puppy at a major discount because
they suspect the puppy died of a seizure and they feel that this is inherited.
You start seeing red flags...what do you do ?