Most people make a decision that they want a puppy. They want a puppy now. If they could go online to Amazon and place an order they probably would. The puppy would show up on their doorstep in a few days and off they go ….
Most people have no idea what a preservation breeder does or why they care where their puppies go. Most people visualize a breeder as a person with a kennel of dogs with at least one or more females in various stages of pregnancy or whelp at any given time. They probably visualize a plethora of choices when it comes time to call the breeder up and basically place an order for a puppy. I liken this image to a puppy vending machine. Choose the color, markings, sex and temperament anytime you like. Send a deposit and soon you get your puppy with no strings or obligations. AND this exists. Sadly.
THAT is a business breeder. THAT is a person supplementing their income by bringing in lives to this world solely for the purpose of making more money for themselves. It’s a real thing. They may refer to themselves as a commercial breeder – maybe they are USDA inspected. They may make excuses such as – I am filling a need, providing the public with puppies because there is a need for this. They may sell to local pet shops. They may have online stores. They almost always advertise on places such as Next Day Pets and some might even try hard to legitimize it further by also advertising on the AKC Marketplace. It’s possible they say they health test. Its possible they say they raise champion sired puppies. So they might even show their dogs, hire handlers to show their dogs, make their buyers show and breed their dogs – but they always have a litter and puppies available for sale. Always. Its also possible they say a whole lotta words that really mean – I am selling as many puppies as I can make because most people dont care or even know any better.
When a person purchases a puppy from a business breeder there is a financial transaction, often via Paypal. Sometimes there is a short contract and then the puppy is shipped to the breeder or they may meet someplace to exchange money for puppy. Thats it.
When a person purchases a puppy from me we have known one another for at least 6 months and often more than a year or two. We have negotiated a lengthy contract protecting the puppy first and foremost – then both buyer and seller secondarily. We are now a part of a small family. The Wavemaker Stafford family. We will forever be connected by that little 3 month old life. The buyers know I am there for them for the rest of that dogs life and longer. We will hear from one another often (especially that first month) and they can count on me during times of rejoicing and times of sorrow. They are not paying for a puppy – they are paying for a preservation breeder bred puppy.
I am a preservation breeder. I’m not better than anyone else in any way except that I truly care how my puppies are raised and what homes they go to live in once they leave me. Not all breeders do. I do fully health test my dogs and I am willing to prove testing results. I dont say – clear by parentage unless I can prove that. I health test the puppies before they leave me. BUT even before there are puppies to sell I am working hard to preserve my breed. Not all breeders are.
I work hard to raise money for rescue when one of my chosen breeds is in need. I foster. I visit shelters. I transport. I donate money. I educate. I return emails and phone calls. I mentor. I answer questions. I make myself available to anyone who might need me for any reason when it comes to Staffordshire Bull Terriers.
I do things with my own dogs. They have busy lives. I deeply care about how their lives are spent so much so that its a lifestyle choice. My home is decorated in breed art and an entire room is dedicated to celebrating ours dogs achievements – awards, photos and ribbons adorning every inch of the walls and games and exercise equipment on the floor of that room. I currently have four Staffords living here but I own 28 crates. My shelves are filled with Stafford books and journals. I have dog toys in every room. I sew crate pads, toys, beds and collars for my dogs and also as gifts. Yes. I am dedicated to my breeds future, happiness, well being. I created and run a non profit company dedicated to promoting health testing in the breed, raising money for rescue (not retail rescue…another day another blog entry) and we also offer breed education. We publish an online magazine and we have books we published on the breed. I want to preserve the breed, protect the breed and protect our rights to own them too. My life is all things dog. Mostly all things Stafford.
When we plan a litter here is a little scenario of how the planning goes. I champion a bitch. I sometimes also title in sports. I take notes on temperament and make a list of virtues and faults. I list what I would like to try to improve upon. I look at dogs behind my bitch and the studs. I look at offspring of the stud dogs. I study pedigrees. I print a million generations of pedigrees. I get out my colored pencils and mark every dog in the pedigree that matches up with my girls pedigree. I make sure all health testing and coat color testing gets done – including annual eye tests. I coat color test several stud dogs after asking for them to be considered. I have to consider whether we get to do a live cover, import semen, fresh chilled or frozen – I make mental notes of the risks and expenses involved with all these choices. The expenses can be surprisingly high. A person can expect to spend anywhere from $800 – 1500 for a stud fee – plus expenses – plus travel to the stud or collections and shipping of semen. This is a whole other topic I could write about forever so I will leave it to that…..
Once I decide upon a stud I count the days tic toc tic toc for my bitch to come into season. I begin to talk to potential new owners. I build a rapport with them and really get to know them to make sure we are a good fit. Finally – day one. On around day 6-8 we drive the 90 minutes to my repro vet who is one of the best in the country to do our first progesterone test. If we are to do a surgical AI with frozen semen we also draw blood daily for LH surge testing once her progesterone levels are sufficient to determine when she ovulates. This means a daily 3 hour round trip drive for anywhere from a week to three weeks! Progesterone testing every few days at $85 per test and a daily blood draw…..if we do fresh chilled AI this also means the stud dog owner must be ‘on call’ to get to their repro vet on the exact day required to get the semen shipped across the world to arrive at my vets door the exact day my bitch ovulates. If we do a surgical AI using frozen semen we will have already done the collection and shipping – but this means a surgery for my bitch. Not only risky but another $450.
OKAY now what – she has been mated or inseminated….now we wait 4 weeks to find out if she is pregnant via a scan. STRESSFUL days ahead…..now a month has gone by since she was mated and we find out (A) no puppies, she has missed and we either have to wait another 6-12 months to try again or she may be too old to try again and we missed our chances. OR (B) we see little coffee bean sized blobs and heartbeats and we celebrate…..but cautiously….as mother nature determines whether or not these little beans develop into healthy puppies over the next few weeks…..tic toc tic toc….meanwhile we supplement, feed a slightly modified diet and try to live our lives as normally as we can . . . with phone calls, texts and emails coming in daily from those potential homes waiting and wondering…..
ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. She can resorb the litter. The pups can die in the womb. She can get Pyometra. OR fingers crossed all goes well and on day 63 (plus or minus) she begins to nest in her whelping box that you lovingly built and set up in a quiet room where you have also been sleeping with her for at least a week…a room you have equipped with a web cam, thermometer, whelping supplies, TV and movies, all your whelping books, chargers, stacks of plain newsprint and medical pads. . . . . on and on and on…or perhaps she doesn’t…..and then off you go for another progesterone test ($85) and a check of fetal heartbeats via ultrasound ($45) to see whats going on it there…if no labor and progesterone drops below 3 or so this means a cesarean ($1000-3000 depending upon emergency or not, where you live) and the complications arriving from this. (see newer blog post on this scenario)…
If the above scenario doesnt occur then she goes into labor. Usually at 1am. On a Sunday. On a holiday weekend. And your repro vet is at a family reunion. Your emergency vet nearby is anti breeder because all they see are puppy farmers and back yard breeders and they have no clue that breeders such as myself exist. We are all evil. All they see are BUSINE$$ breeders. You arent a praying person but now you begin to pray all goes well and you wont need a vet. You alert the stud dog owner. You alert your buyers. You alert your closest friends who are also preservation breeders. You may even alert your mentors. You set up your private video channel and test it to make sure a few helpful, non panicky types are available. You check to make sure you have ice cream. Vanilla ice cream and your favorite movies. You already mixed up your raw goat milk, honey, egg yolk mix that you give to your bitch for calcium and energy after the puppies begin to arrive.
You have already probably invested not only months of planning and work but usually (for us at least) around $6000-8000 as well. Yes, I have a spreadsheet with expenses from the very beginning. Now you wait. and pray. and hope.
Skip ahead to any imaginable scenario including but not limited to a happy healthy full litter of gorgeous perfectly formed and alive puppies including your gorgeous perfect bitch pup you are keeping…..and we wont think about the other scenarios that dont end this well….now your work really begins. Kiss your bitch and thank her and dont plan on getting any sleep for the next few weeks. Get the calcium supplements going and enjoy the long night, days, weeks ahead….
…continued later.