Just WHO and
What IS a Breeder?
Technically,
anyone who owns or leases a female and produces a litter out of her
is a breeder of dogs. It is of no matter what considerations were
involved in the choice of mate or what the puppies were like, or how
they were disposed of--perhaps to the nearest pet shop. This person
has bred a litter, the minimum requirement to becoming a Breeder.
She is now on the lowest rung of the breeding ladder. How far
upward she goes will depend on many factors, some of which are under
her control, and some of which are matters of luck. Some people
paint all their lives but never become real artists; some people
raise hundreds of litters of puppies, but never become TRUE
Breeders. Let us consider how people buy their first dog.
It usually comes about in one or two ways. In the first case, the
person passes a pet shop with a litter of puppies, frolicking in the
window, lingers to watch and impulsively decides to buy one of them.
Presto! She has now become a dog-owner. In the second case, a person
sees a dog in the street, in the movies, or on television, likes its
looks and makes up her mind to have one just like it. How does she
go about it?
She picks up
the newspaper, sees a litter advertised, goes to look at it, and
comes home with a puppy. Few people in either group have ever seen a
dog magazine or been to a dog show. They want to buy a dog (and I
say this in quotes) "with papers" although they have only the
foggiest idea what they mean. The dogs that these people buy are
like children who grow up with no family.
A much smaller
portion of pure-bred dogs are bought as a result of advertising in
dog magazines and other trade publications. These are the dogs which
form the bulk of our dog shows. For the most part, they are bought
from Breeders. They are not usually the result of impulse buying,
but of considerable searching, looking and even waiting. Many of
these dogs are the second pure-bred dog for the owner, the first
having come from one of the two groups first mentioned.
How does a
dog-buyer move from the first or second group to the third? Some
never do. But if, by sheer luck --and it is often just that--the
buyer gets a reasonably good breed specimen, she may become
interested in the breed and want to find out more about it. She may
attend a dog show, read books and magazines, seek out training
classes and dog clubs and by her own efforts become what the
cognoscenti regard as a "Dog Person." But she has to do this all on
her own.
Had she bought
her dog from a real Breeder, everything would have been much easier
for her. Just what does she get from the Breeder --or let us say,
what can she expect?
Family Pride
First and
above all, she gets a pride of ownership, not only in a breed but in
a family. It will come alive to
her --if not immediately, certainly eventually! There is magic in a
name which stands for something, and it will rub off on all that
possess it.
We see this in
the case of our great families in the social and political world,
the Rockefellers and Roosevelts, the
Astors and the
Kennedys. In the dog world we find it in illustrious kennel
names. These names do not become illustrious overnight. A name which is synonymous with quality in
the mind of the public is that of a great store, "Tiffany's." How
long would it retain its aura if we began to hear television
commercials shouting its' prestige, or urging "Rush to Tiffany's
this weekend for the greatest sale of the year"? Thus, because a
name is known to the public is no assurance that it is a great name.
Only years of high standards and good taste will create a name that
is an asset to a human being, to a product, or to a dog.
The Influence
of the Real Breeder is Far Reaching
She invests
the people that buy her dogs with the desire to become breeders
themselves and an appreciation of all this entails. From her, they
learn a philosophy , a code of ethics in sportsmanship.
They learn how to train their dogs, or where they can be trained,
how to handle their dogs and where and when or whether to show them.
The breeder encourages them to go to training and handling classes,
read books and dog magazines, advises them how to breed their
bitches, raise their litters, take care
of their old dogs. She answers innumerable questions and gives out
emergency advise when they can't get a
veterinarian. All this, a good Breeder attempts to do.
Unfortunately, as the years go on, she realises she has created a
Frankenstein, which grows constantly bigger and threatens to devour
her. For this reason, all Breeders eventually reach a point where
the more conscientious they are in recognizing the demands on them,
the more difficult they find it is to take care of all of them.
The Breeder is
Like the Head of the Family
She gives
those who buy her dogs a sense of "belonging." This is of the utmost
to people with their first or second dogs. They develop an interest
in the dog's ancestors, about which the breeder can give them a
wealth of information, and in the dog's relatives. Thus is built up
a great family pride--in their own dogs and in all the other dogs
that carry the same kennel name. They learn from the breeder more
about their breed and what constitutes a good specimen of it than
they could ever find out from any book. The breeder, in a good many
cases, is also a specialist. This is to say, she is an authority on
her own breed and can be expected to know more about it than any
judge who is not a specialist. She teaches those to whom she sells
her dogs to evaluate their own dogs, many times encouraging and
training these people so that some day they may be able to become
specialists themselves.
The real
breeder disciplines herself not to expect gratitude or appreciation
for her services-- which is well, because those who benefit most
will rarely give public recognition to the fact. The real breeder
does what she does because of what she is. She can not do
otherwise.
Breeders have
a great deal to say about their Breed Standard. They give
generously of their time to the national Breed organization and it
is through a consensus of the breeders that the Standard is arrived
at, or changed.
The Breeders
are the Aristocracy of the Dog World
If there is a
caste system, they are at the very top. Each breeder has a great
sense of her own worth. Individually, that is. She is proud to be
what she is and what she stands for. However, she rarely thinks of
her worth collectively with other breeders. That is because Breeders
are independent and individualistic. Therein
lies their strength - and also their weakness. It is why
their importance as a group is constantly overlooked in the
hierarchy of the dog world. There are many more women Breeders than
men Breeders, yet the American Kennel Club, which could not exist
without breeders, allows no women to be a part of
it's governing body. (NOTE: Remember,
this was written in 1969. Women are now represented through the
AKC.) Even an all-woman club which is a member of the AKC must be
represented by a man. Obviously, this discrimination on the basis of
sex is a matter which advocates of equal rights for women have not
as yet taken notice of!)
The great
advances made by any breed--and I am not here referring to
registration increases - have all been brought about by the
Breeders.
In
distinguishing between the Breeders in the best sense of the word
and those who fall short of it, I shall refer to these people as
"puppy raisers."
The "Breeders"
and the "Puppy Raisers"
The primary
difference between the Breeder and the puppy-raiser is the awareness
of responsibility; responsibility to her breed, to her goals, to the
dogs she has bred and to the dogs she hopes to breed. She also has
a never-ending responsibility to the people who have bought her
dogs, to the people who are about to buy her dogs and to the public
image--not only of the dogs she has been producing but of the breed
itself.
The Breeders
are essentially givers. They give to their chosen breed much more
than they will ever receive. Their rewards are intangible rather
than financial. Here again is the great difference between the
Breeder and the puppy-raiser. The latter produces puppies in order
to sell them, getting them off her hands as quickly as possible
before their cost has eaten up her hoped-for profit. The breeder, on
the other hand, has an entirely different motivation. She breeds a
litter only when she can devote the necessary time, money and work
to it. She never breeds when she knows she will be up against a
deadline; that is to say, a time when she knows all her puppies must
be sold.
Never, never
does she breed a litter unless she plans to keep something from it,
which hopefully will bring her one step closer to producing her
ideal dog.
If the litter is disappointing, she may sell the whole litter; but
the better the breeder, the less often she will find it necessary to
do this. The Breeder is constantly selecting and pruning her stock,
sometimes because she no longer needs it, and sometimes because she
has discovered a reason why she does not want it. The two reasons
are very different. In the case of a dog she no longer needs, the
reason may be that she has gotten from that dog what she wanted in
order to further her breeding plans. In the case of the dog she no
longer wants as breeding stock, she may have uncovered a reason why
this dog would be detrimental to her breeding program.
The Breeder is
Constantly Faced with Difficult Decisions
Actually, the
latter are her breeding cast-offs. Yet they may be delightful as
individuals. They are not so faulty that they should never be bred,
yet they fall far short of the Breeder's standards. They are like
the so-called "seconds of sheets and towels by Famous Makers" that
stores advertise as "slightly irregular."
The breeder
does her best to put these dogs in the homes of people who are not
primarily interested in breeding, but all too often they turn up
later with litters advertised in newspapers and magazines, trading
on her name and reputation to help sell the puppies. Though the dam
and/or sire may carry her kennel name, the puppies are not of her
breeding, a distinction that the dog buying public seldom realizes.
Sometimes this causes the Breeder embarrassment. Much more often, it
fills her with annoyance. Many years ago, this situation occurred in
one of the dog magazines with a Collie Breeder, who proceeded to
feature the following statement in all her advertising: "The purest
water is at the well."
The Breeder's
Greatest Problem is to Hold Down Her Dog
Population
The better the
breeder, the more difficult this becomes and each time she breeds a
litter, she increases it. For this reason, the breeder does not, and
cannot, breed often. She keeps more dogs than she should, not
because she wants to but because she will not part with a dog unless
she is sure it will be for the dog's best interests. As a result,
many of these dogs live in her house to the day they die,
as
treasured pets, even though they are no longer used in the breeding
program, either because they have already contributed or because
they can not make the contribution she wants. Occasionally, in the
case of the one who has already contributed, she may either sell or
give this dog to someone else, who will indeed be fortunate and can
thus benefit from the Breeder's handiwork. This person may be
another breeder, or she may be a novice. In the case of the dog she
does not wish to use in his breeding program, it may be sold or
given to someone who is not interested in breeding and who wants
just one dog as a lifetime companion.
The one-dog
owner who gives a dog her individual attention for the duration of
its life, loving it, training it, perhaps showing it, can do for the
dog what no Breeder ever can. Because the breeder is so well aware
of this she sometimes parts with her very best dogs, often to the
surprise of others. If this dog happens to be a male, there will be
no loss to her breeding program unless the dog goes to a distance
place, but in the case of a bitch, she usually reserves some
breeding rights. Where a sizable sum is involved, this usually is a
right to select the stud and chose a puppy from the first litter. In
this case, the Breeder is taking a calculated risk, and one which
she frequently finds disastrous; namely, the gamble that there will
be a bitch in that litter that she can select to carry on with. If
there is not, she has lost far more than the one fine dog she has
sold, and there is really no way of estimating the full extent of
her loss.
The breeder is
always thinking in terms of the past and the future, while the
single dog owner is concerned with the present.
The
Puppy-Raiser does not Care to Whom She Sells Her Dogs
The important
objective for her is to get them sold, and as quickly as possible.
She is like the gardener who scatters her seed all over the ground
with little regard for its subsequent growth and cultivation.
The breeder,
on the other hand, has deep concern for the ultimate destination of
what she has produced. To her, a dog is not an over-the-counter
commodity to be sold to anyone who wants it and has the money to pay
for it. This matter of attitude is another one of the great
differences between the breeder and the puppy-raiser.
When the
Breeder sells or disposes of a dog, whether very young or grown, she
is parting with something that is much more than what it looks to be
in the eyes of the prospective buyer. The buyer sees a beautiful
specimen of the breed- -healthy, sound and a look of quality. The
breeder sees all these things, but a great deal more. To her, the
dog represents years of hard work-- often menial work-- years full
of excitement, exultation and disappointments. She does not merely
see the beauty in the individual dog before her, but a long line of
ancestors, dogs that she knew and loved and that went into the
making of this particular individual. When the Breeder looks at an
animal she has bred, her view has an extra dimension-- she sees that
dog in DEPTH.
The Breeder
Carefully Screens Prospective Buyers
She knows that
changes of ownership can have a traumatic effect on a dog,
especially if there are several of them. The dog becomes confused
and loses his sense of security, an absolute necessity if he is to
have confidence. This situation is as disastrous to a dog as it is
to a child, in fact more so because there is no way to explain to a
dog what is taking place.
From the
standpoint of the breeder, the ideal one-dog owner is a pearl beyond
price. The more such people she can enable to possess her dogs, the
more successful she will become as a Breeder, and the more
successful she is as a Breeder the more likely she is to have more
good dogs than it is practical for her to keep. Unlike the
puppy-raiser who breeds her bitches every season and often has
several litters at a time, the breeder rarely breeds her bitches
more than three or four times in a lifetime, and some times not even
that many. The expenses of maintaining her dogs year after year are
exorbitant, and coupled with this never-ceasing drain on her
resources is the gnawing awareness that even though they get the
best of food, veterinarian care, and love, she cannot possibly give
them the advantages which would be theirs in the case of the ideal
one-dog ownership. For this reason, she is usually reluctant to sell
to other breeders, feeling that the dog would not be bettered by the
change of homes where it would still be one of many. She can give
each dog she owns everything that money can by and her limitations
of space can allow - she can literally give the dogs her entire
house, and all her furniture - piece by piece! But the only thing
she cannot give is the important feeling of being # 1 dog in the
household, and the chance for constant exposure to the outside
world.
The
Puppy-Raiser Rarely Asks Questions
If the buyer
wants a dog and has the money to pay for it, she has met the only
requirements necessary to take possession of the dog.
But the
Breeder's attitude is very different. The Breeder not only asks many
questions to which she must get the right answers or she will not
sell the dog--she must also know something of the buyer's
background. What dogs did he have before? How old were they when he
got them, and what eventually happened to them? What were the things
that he liked about each one and what were the things that annoyed
him? From these answers, the Breeder will have to determine what
kind of dog-owner this buyer has been, and what kind he is likely to
be. Did he have only one dog who lived to
be 13 or 14 or more, or did he have several dogs, each of which he
disposed of for a variety of reasons. Obviously, the latter buyer is
going to be a bad risk. He is like the car driver who has many
accidents, none of which he believes to be his fault.
When
considering a buyer, the breeder must project her thinking into the
future. She must decide whether the germs of future trouble are
lurking in the buyer's present situation and thinking. If a young
man, is the buyer likely to go into the Army, or to college? If an
older man, does his wife want this dog? If a bachelor, who will care
for the dog if anything happens to him? What attitude does the buyer
have toward his past disappointments? Does he blame everyone except
himself? Is he the type of person who is always trying to get as
much as possible for as little as possible? Would a really good dog
be wasted on him?
To the extent
that the breeder can make these evaluations successfully, she will
save herself many future complications. No matter how many dogs she
has, as long as her money and health hold out, her dogs are a
problem to him, but only a problem. The problems of keeping them
well fed and comfortably housed may seem difficult at times, but
they are not serious. In the hands of the wrong buyer, however, the
dog becomes a hostage. Why?? Because the breeder
cares. It could not matter to the puppy-raiser because she
would not concern himself about such matters.
Regardless of
how carefully she screens the buyers, the Breeder will still have
occasional disappointments. Human nature being what it is,
this is inevitable. Dogs will be returned to her-- and she will
accept them-- not because of any fault in the dog, but because the
buyer himself, or the conditions of his life, have changed.
What happens
to These Dogs?
Few people
realize the number of older dogs that live to the age of 13 or 14 in
the homes of Breeders. In the business world, these dogs would be
considered obsolete equipment and destroyed. But the Breeder's world
is different. She recognizes a responsibility toward anything that
she has brought into the world and takes care of it
it until the dog is dead-- or she is. If
she can find the right person to sell or give it to, she does; but
if she can not, she continues to keep it herself. The drain on the
breeder's strength and finances is merciless. Occasionally, when
faced with severe illness or drastically reduced income, she may
have to decree that some or all of her dogs be put to sleep. And
even this costs money. When a breeder makes this decision, few
people understand it.
The general
public and those who have never known the responsibility which goes
with more than one or two dogs will probably regard this as cruelty.
But, as previously stressed, the Breeder has a responsibility for
whatever she brings into the world until it goes out of it. If the
dog is in the wrong hands, she must try to get it back, and then
either keep it or see that it is put into the right hands. If the
Breeder is no longer able to do this, there is only one way she can
be sure her dogs will never know hunger or abuse. That is
euthanasia. To the breeder who loves her dogs, there is no more
tragic decision she will ever have to make. When she herself is
faced with incapacitating ill health, or even death, she must
recognize the cold hard facts regarding the future of her dogs.
Without her guiding hand and sense of responsibility, the dogs are
much better off dead. A breeder will make any sacrifice to avoid
this situation, but when it arises, she will do what she knows is
necessary. Why? Because she is a Breeder and
feels responsibility towards her animals.
Now, what of
the Breeder's Responsibility to Her Breed?
A successful
breeder usually becomes something of a public figure. She may be
requested to write about her breed, to speak about it, to judge it.
Her
relationship to her breed is something very different. As a judge
and as a writer, she must be completely objective. Indeed, she must
bend over backwards to achieve this impartiality.
The breeder's
responsibility to her breed does not permit him to use opportunities
either in judging or writing to exploit her own stock. She is
abrogating this responsibility to the breed, not to mention
considerations of good taste, if she uses a magazine's breed column
to promote her own breeding, or in judging to
favor the same. She can make known her bloodlines and her
winning through the paid advertisements, providing they are honest
and factual, but never uses the public space to get free publicity.
When the breeder writes for the public, she is representing her
breed, not herself or her stock, and it is this broader perspective
that sets apart the true Breeder with a sense of responsibility from
the commercial one whose only consideration is to promote her wares.
A Breeder has
Great Care for the Public Image of Her Breed
She tries to
inoculate these values in the people to whom she sells her dogs, and
in everyone with whom she comes in contact. She is reluctant to
criticize what he considers the shortcomings of other Breeders, or
to fault the products of their handiwork. She scorns high pressure
salesmanship and the advertising techniques of Madison Avenue.
Giving straightforward answers to the people who have bought, or are
about to buy, her own stock, she neither glosses over the faults nor
makes exaggerated claims or predictions. She is forthright in her
thinking, her talking, her actions.
People instinctively trust her, not because she asks for their trust
(which she does not), but because of what she is.
The real
Breeders are the heart and soul of the dog world. They stand proud
and often alone, resisting commercialism,
undeviated in their search for perfection and idealistic in
their code of ethics.
