heritage":z1b66m14 said:
I was talking to my mom about being interested in an Australian Shepherd and she absolutely balked at it, about how high strung they are, a bit psycho at times, that it was not at all what I wanted. I am guessing some of that depends on the dog?
Absolutely, it depends on the line of dogs. That is one of the things that makes our dogs so wonderful- they are incredibly mellow, and content to just lounge around with us unless asked to do something. When we had riding horses, they loved going out on trail, and could go for miles and miles without stopping. My kids can get them all riled up- they love to play chase or hide and seek with them- but once the game is over the dogs are back to being calm and mellow.
Part of that is genetics, but it is also how we raise our dogs. Pups are trained to be calm and responsive
first, before introducing any excitable games or behaviors such as playing tug of war or chase. I believe that if you start a dog out with hyper behaviors, that becomes their "default mindset"... that they become addicted to that adrenaline rush, perhaps. Once they know some basic commands such as sit and down,
then we will introduce those excitable games and behaviors because their "default mindset" is to be calm and gentle.
We had someone buy a pup from us about a year ago, and they then bought another Australian Shepherd (purebred) from someone else as a companion for their pup from us. That dog was way too intense and became very dominant with the first pup. They ended up finding him a new home and came for another pup (full sister to the male pup) from us.
Zass":z1b66m14 said:
With dogs you are looking at vet fees.
Not necessarily. Our dogs have never been to a vet, with the exception of Basil who as a pup ran into the wheel of a golf cart that was piled high with kids (mine and a bunch of their friends) while being chased by one of their dogs. She sheared of the head of her femur, which required a $1200 surgery to remove the ball joint.
She was the foundation female of our line of dogs, and earned that money back many times over.
Dewclaws and tails can be done at home by a confident and skilled breeder. I actually do the tails and dewclaws for two other breeders in my area... they could easily do it themselves, but are just a bit squeamish. One of them did their first litter, as a matter of fact, but the tails turned out too long, as opposed to mine, which are always perfect, *smug, self satisfied grin*, so now they always bring them to me. I don't charge anything for the service- these people are my friends, and I know that if I ever needed the favor returned in some way they would be there for me.
Zass":z1b66m14 said:
This is why it is so important to get dogs from lines that are known for several generations.
Ours have some quirky behaviors that we see passed from generation to generation. For instance, Sherlock will always grab something (a toy, stick, glove, gardening trowel, whatever) and "talk with his mouth full" whining in delight upon greeting us in the morning or when we return home from town. We see this behavior in some of his pups, and know that his grandmother June does the same thing.
Sherlock also has a "girly bark" when he is excited/frustrated, such as when the dogs play fetch, because Levi will not allow him to get the ball. His father Bocephus does the same thing.
Zass":z1b66m14 said:
I actually have people contact me wanting an older trained dog occasionally, so unsold pups (we have one that is about eight months and a four month old currently- out of eight litters) are never a worry for me. I know that I will eventually sell them, at which time they know sit, down, sit from down, the command "out" (get out of the flower bed, out of the rabbit area, etc.), "off", "up", sit as a default behavior, etc. They also have the calm and mellow mindset from being raised with our pack of dogs.
Zass":z1b66m14 said:
Poor genetics? You could easily discover an entire expensive line of dogs has genes that are questionably ethical to breed.
About 14 years ago I decided to breed great Danes and traveled to Tucson Arizona
twice- a twelve hour drive, mind you!- to buy first the female ($1200) and second the male ($2000). I showed the dogs and they did quite well.
When my female came into heat for the first time I was not yet ready to breed her, so the dogs were separated. Viktor, our male, became so stressed that he had a seizure and did a back flip. :x The vet was unable to diagnose him without an MRI, which was not an option, so I took the wait and see approach.
There was no seizure activity until Shirobi once again came into season. This time, not only did he seizure, but he managed to twist his gut and bloat. On a Sunday. So off to the vet he went, and thankfully they flipped his stomach with a tube. On Monday he went to our regular vet and spent a couple of days being stabilized, whereupon he was neutered and had surgery to tack his stomach to his abdominal wall.
So, yes, you can pay a lot of money for what you believe to be good stock only to find that they are not breedable after all. :angry:
wamplercathy":z1b66m14 said:
Another thing to think about is are you wanting to breed for standard or function.
Our males come from some of the top lines in the country, bred for conformation and performance. The dogs behind them were dual registered and dual titled with Conformation championships and either herding or agility titles, many of which were MACH dogs. Our foundation female is from local working ranch dogs.
If you know anything about true cowboys/ranchers, they will not tolerate a dog that does not know it's job, so again there are good working lines behind her.
One of our pups is a certified service dog, and another is in training to become certified. Others are working ranch dogs, but most are companion animals.
wamplercathy":z1b66m14 said:
From my experience there's not much of a profit margin in breeding dogs.
I disagree- at least on the west coast where breeding dogs has become so frowned upon (rescue, rescue, rescue!), there is a real shortage of well raised puppies. Our pups have been placed all over California, many have gone to Nevada, and one went as far as New Mexico. I have over a dozen people on my waiting list for spring litters.
Our dogs are not even purebred- they are crosses of Australian Shepherd with some Border Collie. Basil is half Aussie half BC, while our males are full Aussie, so her pups are 1/4th Border Collie. Her daughter's pups are 1/8th BC, and pups from the next generation have just a touch of BC.
People love this cross, and many are biased against full purebred dogs, so actually they have been very profitable for us. In fact, they are what has been keeping us afloat since the economy tanked and construction jobs are few and far between.
JJCRabbitry":z1b66m14 said:
My mom joked one too many times with my dad about buying a female, and he went out and got one. We plan to be breeding mid June/July.
I would suggest that you get some type of larger livestock- goats or sheep- so the pups can be raised with them. It is very important to start the pups with the type of livestock they are destined to guard, which in turn will make them more marketable.
And on that note- MARKETING- is very important. This entails not only a well written ad with quality photos, but also extensive communication with the potential owners, and follow up communication with them as well. I offer support to my buyers with questions regarding veterinary care and training, and anything else they may have questions about. As a result I get many repeat buyers and referrals to other people seeking a good dog.
I often cringe at the ads I see on Craigslist showing puppies in newspaper lined pens covered in poop... or puppies being fed out of trash can lids, often times with a bag of some horrible "meat flavored" kibble in the back ground. I suspect that my ads sometimes get flagged just because they are so much more professional than "the competition".
I also will name the pups and add that to the photo so that when people contact me about a particular pup I know exactly which they are interested in. It also makes me feel closer to the pups when they have a name, and I think people also connect more with a named rather than a numbered pup. Quite a few people have actually kept the names, although I make it clear to them that the pups will readily accept a new name and in most cases don't actually know their names at all.
