23/04/2024
Well said!
Sometimes I spend my time answering messages with people who are looking for full registration. They want a breeding dog and they want all the bells and whistles included, with no effort on their part.
Now, to set the record straight, I want to assure you all that reputable breeders really don't make any money breeding dogs. Sure, I'm sure there are some breeders who do-- and usually they are production breeders or they are cutting corners somewhere. For sh*ts and giggles, I will tell you we actually spent $4000 from start to finish on our singleton puppy... meaning, yes, we lost $4000... we are not rich people, nor do we pretend to be. However, reputable breeding is in a way a gamble, and also there are sacrifices and things that come up that you absolutely have the responsibility to take care of as a breeder, so we make it work. Yes, there will probably be times we will profit in small amounts, but the general motivation behind breeding has to come from passion and a desire to live a certain lifestyle as opposed to just making money.
When a person decides to become a breeder, there are many things to consider. Time, money, space, patience, perseverance, the ability to handle disappointment, problems, and changing courses when necessary. Just because you like a particular body style or color doesn't necessarily mean you will be able to add dogs like that to your program-- it seems the biggest comments I get in some of these messages are "I love your red dogs! I would love to breed dogs that look like this." But there are bigger things to consider when thinking about breeding.
Golden Retrievers were developed to be hunting retrievers, specifically for waterfowl retrieval. The dogs had to be small enough to fit in a little boat, have a water resistant, double coat to protect them from the elements (frigid water temperatures at times), biddable enough to follow the handler's instructions, and driven enough to go back in on repeat. These are traits that were selectively bred into these dogs. These traits are not in all Goldens though, and the breeders today must repeatedly select for these traits in their breeding stock in order to keep them.
This is where titling comes into play. I polled earlier this week and asked if titled parents were important to you when selecting a breeder. Titling can show us which traits are still strong in your pedigree. A dog that is "proven" in any given sport through titling is an easy way for other people to identify that particular dog has the traits necessary for a specific set of criteria that is required to pass, usually multiple times, in order to earn a title on their name. When looking at breeders, its important to know what you want to do with your dog so that you can find a dog who's titles reflect the traits that you're looking for. Generally, you want these titles to be reflected through multiple generations, this shows you that the chances of your dog turning out the way you want are much more favorable.
If you're a hunter, you will probably have a different set of criteria than someone who is looking for an agility dog, which may be different than criteria for a service dog, etc. Now, we don't yet participate in hunting tests or trials, nor are we hunters, yet we would like to select from stock that have those traits often, in order to maintain them to an extent. We participate in other sports, such as competition obedience, so we like to look for lines who are titled in that. If you are "just looking for a pet," you may have lower criteria when choosing, and you may actually want to selectively NOT choose certain lines. Yes, we know you all love the red dogs, but more often than not, the red dogs are the hunting lines-- bred to be very active, driven, and intense. This is not ideal for a family pet in most situations.
Now that I mentioned it, the term "just looking for a pet" seems to come up quite regularly when messaging prospective buyers. Often times they want a puppy without the AKC papers because they think this will substantially drop the value of the puppy... I would like to set the record straight. For us as reputable breeders, the AKC papers are the cheapest part! Its only around $35 per puppy to register with AKC. The value of the puppy is not in if it has papers or not, it is in the dedicated rearing of the puppies, the years of attending training classes, the long weekends of traveling to and participating in dogs shows, the years of research studying to pick the best lines, pedigrees, and endless sleepless nights of worrying about many things relevant to our dogs.
When you support a reputable breeder, you are supporting much more than just their bank account balance. You're enabling them to continue on, to put more into their programs, to raise future litters and hopefully better their lines each time. You are encouraging a lifestyle that keeps their dogs health and happiness at the top of the list.
Now, there seems to be some confusion when it comes to health testing. A lot of people take the breeder's word for it when they say the parents are health tested-- let me assure you, there are MANY breeders out there who are lying to you. Incomplete testing may be the biggest culprit here, with a lot of backyard breeders telling people "the grandparents were tested, so don't worry." Another big one is only having done a genetic panel, or only testing hips but not the other body parts that GRCA recommends, or only doing prelims but not submitting finals.
Yes, of course, not all breeders are required to follow the Golden Retriever Club of America's recommendations. Its too bad more don't decide to do it willingly. These recommendations are put out to help us select the best dogs to breed from in terms of health. We like to look for lines that have passed testing several generations back, this helps to give better odds at our puppies passing also.
I'd like to help you all out! When you're looking at breeders, pretty much all reputable breeders of Goldens will have their dogs listed on our pedigree database. The website is k9data.com and you can type in the full show name of any dog and find them listed. You can see the pedigree, titles on the dog and on relatives, and health clearances. There is even a link at the bottom to view longevity in the lines, which shows you how long other dogs in the particular line have lived and possibly why they died. This website is amazing and it is run by volunteers, people who want this information to be accessible to everyone.
Go to this website, pull up the dog you are looking at, and look for the OFA clearance links. You can click on these links and it will bring you to the OFA database and immediately open up that dog's portal. In the portal, you can see what ratings the dog passed with. If you scroll down, you can see any other relatives to that dog that are in the database! You can also view scores of offspring.
A dog is OFA CHIC if they have the following clearances submitted:
hips, elbows, cardiac (preferably advanced) and eyes (done yearly), as well as a full genetic panel. These must be finals-- prelims are not qualifying for a CHIC number. A reputable breeder will be sure that all the dogs they use for breeding have an OFA CHIC number.
This is invaluable when looking to invest into a new puppy that will be spending the next 10-15 years with you. Look for lines that have low (preferably no) rates of hip or elbow dysplasia, no problems with cataracts, healthy hearts, and are non-affected by genetic problems.
(to be continued...)
