Breeding Done Right

I’ll go over “Why are you wanting to breed?”  I will talk about why I bred. What I bred. And I will talk about the difference between a responsible Breeder and a non responsible Breeder. 

Transcript

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Hey everyone, welcome back to Of Hearts and Hounds. I'm Christy Hemrick and I'm so glad you are here. Today we have a really special episode for you. Today we'll be talking about breeding done right. It all starts with love. Now that you know my story and what you'll learn as a breeder, let's talk about the bigger question. Why are you wanting to breed? Are you wanting to breed because you need money? Or is it because you have love for puppies and dogs or for the love of the breed? Maybe a mixture of all of that and more. The love is why I decided to become a breeder. I had a huge love for puppies and dogs alike. I enjoyed also watching puppies when as they grew, playing with them, holding them, watching them play with each other. I also enjoyed the love of the process that went on and the love of families that I got to meet during all of that. It was very rewarding as well. The rewarding part was letting families choose their puppies. And that way I would have them pick their puppies. They would either come to my house or they could do it through video or on the phone. And it was just exciting to hear the excitement in their voice as they chose which puppy they wanted. And also when the puppies went home, that was super rewarding. Just seeing the excitement in these families' faces. I knew exactly what that was like because when I got my puppies, I was always so, so excited. So it's exciting to see their excitement in their face when they got their puppies, and even seeing the videos they would send me when they took it home to the children and let the children meet their puppy. So all of that was really exciting. And the purpose for when why I did what I did as far as the breeding and everything, it was excitement of watching the puppies move in their mama's belly, which is that in itself is so exciting. And then the excitement of the birth, finding out if it's a male or female, what colors are the puppies, holding them for the first time, and then seeing how much they weighed. And then the fulfillment part for me was hugely on the excitement in the parent family's life. Whenever they got to see these puppies, their eyes lighting up and playing with the puppies and everything. I really enjoyed that. So, right now I want to talk to you about what makes a responsible breeder versus an alternative breeder like the puppy mills and the backyard breeders. So, what responsible breeding means is that they see their dogs as not a business or money making. They see them as their pets first. Their dogs are loved, spoiled, and part of their family. With my dogs, they run the house, they sleep with us, they go with us whenever we go anywhere, they sit with us and watch TV, they get snacks. They're just purely spoiled by us. And so now with the breeding sizes, like with me, I did small to medium breed. So with those, they all lived in my house. My mama dog, whenever she would breed, she'd go out with I'd let her out with my male, and they would breed, then come back in and still be part of my family. And then once the puppies were born, the mama dog, what I would do is I'd have a pin in the house, and it would be the kitty pool would be inside of the pen, and the kitty pool now would be a little bit smaller than the size of the pen, so that I could put the mama's bed out there, out on the outside of it, and her food and water. So she would have access to all of that and be able to take a break from the puppies when she needed it. And I also, if she ever wanted out of the pen, she was free to come out. Like I said, she was my pet first. So she was able to come out, be with me, go to the bathroom, do whatever she wanted to. And then she could be with her puppies as she wanted. Now I will say for the first week, she was more about the puppies. So didn't get to see her as much, but she did spend more time with her puppies at that time. So yes, so that's how I would run my program. And then when it came to larger breeds, I never I did not do the larger breed, but a lot of people when they do that, they do not do it in the house, or they may have a room built onto their house, or they may use their attached garage, and they make it sort of like a puppy nursery. So they will set it all up like I do mine, but they make it a give it a little bit more room because you've got a larger dog and you've got larger puppies, and then once the puppies have had their parvo shot, then they would have a run out bat that they could let the puppies out to go play in when they want to just get out for a little bit, but they didn't keep them out there. You would bring them back in, and in the way you're still spending time with these puppies, you're still playing with them, you're holding them, you're everything you're weighing them, you're doing socialization with them and more. So these puppies are gonna be really good puppies when they go to their forever homes because they've been socialized by you and played with and held. Now, with the irresponsible breeder, what they do is they keep these dogs in a kennel 24-7. They're not loved on, they're not part of your family, they're not spoiled or anything. They only use them for money. They that's all they see is this is a business and they are wanting to make money off these dogs. So they keep them 24-7 in a kennel. When they're time to breathe, they'll put them with the male, put the female and the male back in their kennels, and after the puppies are born, puppies stay with the mom in the kennel. They never played with, never held that much or loved on. So it is more of a money business for them. So when people come to get their puppies, they're not introducing them to the mama dogs or letting them see how they're living. They will probably meet you somewhere or they will have you come in their house and have all the breeding, everything the kennels and all that in a place where you can't see it. So all of that is hidden and you won't see any of that. I will say that if you ever go looking for a puppy, make sure you ask them if you can see where the puppies were raised, where the adult dolls are, you want to meet them, and everything. That will help you to know if that is a backyard breeder or responsible breeder. So that are those are what I would suggest. And then because of these backyard breeders, responsible breeders are getting bad names. You'll have the people who are rescue people. They will say, adopt, don't shop. Because they think all of us breeders are all bad breeders when that is not true. There are some like me that have actually been able to get a good name from those rescuers. I have rescuers who even have told people to come get a puppy for me if they want a specific type of puppy. So, because I bred responsibly and I helped rescue dogs and find homes. Because at the end of the day, for me, it was never about one or the other. It was always about the dogs. Now, with me, I bred doodles specifically, and so why did I do that? I did it because, for one, they're hypoallergenic and they are low to non-shedding. Now, with the low to non-shedding, if you ever decide to breed doodles, you can never say that your doodle will not shed. That is not true. Some of them do shed, but they're not going to shed as much as like the cavalier or the golden retriever will. They will have low to non-shedding. Then also the doodles are also tend to be more healthier than a full-blooded dog. And it is best of it is the best of both breeds as well. So, like with me, I did a cavalios and miniature golden doodles. So, why did I do the cavalios? Because it's a good mixture of the miniature poodle and the cavalier. So now with the miniature poodle, you've got a highly intelligent dog that is easily trainable, gentle, and energetic, also affectionate, and is hyperallergenic and non-shedding. Now with the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, you have one that is highly intelligent, just like the miniature poodle, easily trainable, affectionate, gentle, adaptable, and then when you mix them both, you get a good mix of both. You also get the highly intelligent, the easily trainable, the in they are both affection, they're all affectionate, gentle, loves, and they also love their owners. Now with the golden doodle, they've got the mixture of the poodle and the golden retriever. A golden retriever is highly intelligent, easily trainable, affectionate, gentle, good with children, and lots of inature energy. So I did the miniature golden doodle, and so because of that I had puppies that were highly intelligent, easily trainable, affectionate, gentle, good with children, and had lots of energy. Now what makes a doodle special is that they are hypoallergenic and loaded on shedding, and they're also loving and easily trainable. And when I would the feedback that I would get from my families, they would always write me and let me know that the puppies were had already been or were looking like they were already potty trained, may have accident, they may have accidents here and there, but basically trained. And puppies are very sweet and loving. And in a later episode, I will talk to you about how I did the potty training that made it easily easier for the families when they got them to get them trained. Now also wanted to let you guys know that I do have a Facebook page, and that it play is a place where I will have where you can ask me questions. I will have links on there to things that I will talk about on each episode. I will have updates on when a new episode comes out, and I will also give you a newsletter on there. So remember, breeding done right is always about love first. And until next time, keep loving on those dogs.