Things To Think About Before Breeding Your Bulldog

We think it is extremely important to learn the facts and possible consequences in advance if you are contemplating breeding your dog. In today's overcrowded world, we, the wardens of our domestic pets, must make responsible decisions for them and for ourselves. The following points should be reviewed carefully.

Quality

AKC REGISTRATION IS NOT AN INDICATION OF QUALITY. Most dogs, even purebreds, should not be bred. Many dogs, though wonderful pets, have defects of structure, personality, or health that should not be perpetuated. Breeding animals should be proven free of these defects before starting on a reproductive career. Breeding should only be done with the goal of improvement and an honest attempt to create puppies better than their parents. Ignorance is no excuse. Once you have created a life, you can't take it back, even if if blind, crippled or a canine psychopath!

Cost

Dog breeding is not a money-making proposition if done correctly. Health care and shots, diagnosis of problems and proof of quality, extra food, facilities, stud fees, advertising, etc. are all costly and must be paid before the pups can be sold. An unexpected cesarean or emergency intensive care of a sick pup will make a break-even litter become a big liability. And this is if you can sell the pups.

Sales

First-time breeders have no reputation sand no referrals to help them find buyers. Previous promises of "I want a dog just like yours" evaporate. Consider the time and expense of caring for pups that may not sell until four months, eight months or older? What would you do if your pups did not sell? Send them to the pound? Dump them in the country? Sell them cheap to a dog broker who may resell them to labs or other unsavory buyers? Veteran breeders with good reputations often don't consider a breeding unless they have cash deposits in advance for an average-sized litter.

Joy of Birth

If you're doing if for the children's education, remember the whelping may be at three a.m. or at the vet's on the surgery table. {Note: Bulldogs are typically all delivered by cesarian.} Even if the kiddies are present, they may get a chance to see the birth of a monster or a mummy, or watch the bitch scream and bite you as you attempt to deliver a pup that is half out and too large.

Some bitches are not natural mothers, and either ignore or savage their whelps. Bitches can have severe delivery problems or even die in whelp; pups can be born dead or with gross deformities that requires euthanasia. Of course, there can be joy, but if you can't deal with the possibility of tragedy, don't start.

Time

Veteran breeders of quality dogs state they spend well over 130 hours of labor in raising an average litter. That is over two hours per day, every day! {Note: For Bulldogs this is over 4-6 hours daily. Bulldog mothers can't be left alone with their puppies for at least 2-3 weeks to avoid inadvertent suffocation. Bulldog mothers can be clumsy.} The bitch cannot be left alone while whelping and only for a short period of time the first few days. Be prepared for days off work, and sleepless nights.

Even after delivery, mom needs care and feeding, puppies need daily checking, weighing, socialization, and later grooming and training and the whelping box needs lots of cleaning. {Note: And puppy poop stinks!} More hours are spent doing paperwork, pedigrees, and interviewing buyers. If you have any abnormal conditions, such as sick puppies or a bitch who can't or won't care for her babies, count double-the-time. If you can't provide the time, you will either have dead pups or poor ones that are bad tempered, antisocial, dirty and/or sickly, hardly a buyer's delight.

Humane Responsibility

It's midnight, do you know where your puppies are? There are THREE - AND - A - HALF MILLION unwanted dogs put to death in this country each year, with millions more dying homeless and unwanted through starvation, disease, automobiles, abuse, etc. Nearly a quarter of the victims of this unspeakable tragedy are purebred dogs "with papers."

The breeder who creates life is responsible for that life. Will you carefully screen potential buyers? Or will you just take the money and not worry if the puppy is chained in a junkyard all of its life, or runs in the street to be killed? Will you turn down a sale to irresponsible owners? Or will you say "yes" and not think about the puppy you held and loved now having a litter of mongrels every time she comes into heat, filling the pounds with more statistics—your grand-pups? Would you be prepared to take back a grown puppy if the owners can no longer care for it? Or can you live with the thought that the baby you helped bring into the world will be destroyed at the pound?

Conclusion

Because of these facts, we believe that dog breeding is best left to the "professional breeder." {Note: Bulldog breeders general don't have large kennels.}

Source: by Bonnie Wilcox, DVM; "Notes" added to original article/Ed.

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