Glazed thoughts

Potential breeders who are looking to break into the world of breeding for fun, profit, to maintain the integrity of a particular breed or a combination of these reasons will likely be faced with a number of difficult decisions before they start breeding. The first decision will be to determine what type of breed they are interested in breeding. There may be a number of factors which contribute to making this type of decision. This article will discuss a number of the factors which may contribute to the process of selecting a breed.

For some potential breeders there is a love for a particular breed which drives them to break into the world of breeding. They may already own a number of dogs and bitches of a particular breed and enjoy working with this breed. When this is the case the potential breeder is typically driven by a desire to produce the highest quality puppies of this particular breed. For example a potential breeder who is interested in hunting dogs such as Labrador Retrievers or English Setters may be determined to begin breeding puppies which have a physical structure and temperament which helps them to excel as hunting companions. Likewise a breeder of a toy breed such as the Pomeranian or Pekingese may be interested in producing puppies which will excel either in the show ring, as companion dogs or both. If the potential breeder already has intact dogs or bitches free of traits they would not want to pass on to future litters there may be no need to acquire additional dogs. However, if the potential breeder does not have intact bitches or dogs free of negative traits they will have to begin searching for dogs or bitches to use for breeding purposes.