Armed with your copy of the breeding standards, go to work searching for breeding stock for your own breeding operation. Remember, however, that sometimes you need to alter what you are looking for.
The easiest way in the Reading vets opinion to obtain breeding stock is to do so with puppies. Of course, this means that you are going to need to wait longer to commence breeding yourself, but you will have the best breeding stock that is possible. Look for breeders that have a good reputation amongst your choice breed of dogs. Then, seek out a male and a female to start with. It is never a good idea to start a breeding program by getting more than two puppies. You are going to want to start small, no matter what you want to do in the future.
However one critical piece of Reading Vets advice is: Find a male and a female from two separate breeders, or from the same breeder if you can be one hundred percent certain that they are not related.
Look at the pedigrees of the puppies before you buy them. You are going to want to be sure that there are no common relatives within a certain amount of generations. For some dog breeds that are small and new you might find common relatives as close as three or four generations, and that might be fine for that breed. However, for breeds that have been around for a long time, you are going to want to be sure that there are no common relatives for many, many generations.
Again, look closely at the breed standards as this will help you figure out what types of pedigrees you should be looking for in your puppies. You should know that ancestors that have championships are going to produce good puppies, for the most part, and you will be able to be confident in knowing that you have gotten a beginning stock that has championship bloodlines.
You now have the beginnings of your breeding stock. Remember, however, that you have just started on a journey that is going to be a very long journey indeed. It is going to be important that you follow through with your breeding plan and the breeding standards that you have researched so that you can be sure you are providing your puppies with the best possible commencement of life.
Here is a list of things that the Reading vets feel you should look for in your breeding stock.
- Temperament
- The quality of the dog
- The lineage of the dog
- Whether or not the dog has been shown. (if you aren’t buying a puppy)
- If shown, what type of championships the dog has received
- The mother and father of the dog – their temperaments
- If buying a puppy were the mother and father shown and if so, what type of championships they have received
- Where the puppies are raised for the first 8 weeks of their life
- What type of training the mother and father have had
- What type of situation the puppy was born in
- What the puppy looks like –markings and colours
- If the puppies ears are straight and their eyes are bright
- If the puppy friendly
- If the puppy will allow you to turn him on his back and scratch his belly while you hold him in your arms – this shows a trust for people and a love for affection
- What size the puppy is in comparison to the rest of the litter – you should choose one that is not the biggest nor the smallest
- How the puppy acts with his littermates – you should choose a puppy that is good with the other dogs and that loves being with the other dogs. Do not pick one that does not play with the other puppies
By following these Reading Vets guidelines and choosing your breeding stock based on these things, you should be able to produce good breeding stock that you can depend on.