Are you in it for the right reason????

Are you in it for the right reason????

I hope to breed from Phaze in a few years time – there are several reasons for this: I would like the experience of raising a litter, I have been on many waiting lists (and found several times over that all is not as it seems -unless you happen to be in favour with that breeder at the time then chances are you may get what you want), if it coincides that Dan and I would like a puppy at around the same time; I am not sure where I would find £1,500 from (although at the rate BC prices are going up it may well be closer to £2,000 by the time we look for another puppy!!) and lastly but by no means least I think Border collies are amazing and want to continue to improve the very good lines behind Phaze (with input from both her parents breeders who I consider to be very knowledgeable).

In fact as GOOD breeders I know they will WANT to be involved and share a sense of responsibility for their dogs’ current and future offspring. I know if I say to them I like the look of dog A they will say well bare in mind that dog is white factored, that dog does not have the best temperament ( there are certain things in a temperament that doesn’t bother me – ie I often compare agility dogs to sports horses - if we were all breeding Racehorses the fact they were a bit sharp and tended to get overexcited would not be a problem, however if they were so spooky they struggled to cope with life, generations continued to be a bit on the snappy side, nervousness, etc etc then I would be really looking for a dog that showed none of these traits – not one that was known to be very similar). In some cases I would not breed at all – it’s not like we are short of collies in the agility world at the moment – there is certainly a puppy boom at the moment!

 I am lucky in that Phaze is looking to have a nice structure, is not white factored (this was a factor in me choosing her) and has a nice temperament, however if she was not all these things I know that Chel and Joy would help me find a stud dog which complimented her and would produce the best possible puppies. If I am lucky enough to breed I want to be like this with future owners, I don’t believe the responsibility ends when you pass the puppy on to their new life at 7 weeks old (that’s another thing I could go into but I won’t!) I want to be involved in future decisions so that well bred, healthy, well marked collies are bred.

I believe my reasons for wanting to breed have good intentions behind them. However it seems not everyone has similar ideals, some do not seem to combine many good intentions at all.
I don’t know who it is that should be feeling guilty – is it the breeder who doesn’t follow up on their offspring, the owner who just wants to make a puppy that is wanted by a ‘name’ in agility, the new owner for supporting these bad decisions by buying a puppy just because they want one of those ‘special’ puppies by that ‘special’ dog especially as that ‘name’ is also having one.

At the same time there are many responsible people producing some stunning puppies for all disciplines, I just think it is a shame that those that seem to be the most high profile are those people maybe making some unaided decisions.