5 things to consider or do before thinking about breeding your first litter!

#1) Do you have the emotional/financial/physical ability to care for every puppy for it's lifetime in the event you can't sell them or they come back? Before you even consider breeding a litter, you should have at least a few homes lined up. And friends and family who say they'd love a puppy from FiFi almost always find an excuse not to when the time comes. You should also be willing to put some effort into Rescue, and not only of your own progeny. Time, money, referalls, they all are just as important as actually physically rescuing and/or fostering dogs. If you are prepared to bring dogs into the world, you should be willing to help the needy IGs as well.

#2) Does your dog have something to contribute to the breed? Some outstanding attribute that is lacking in the breed overall? Liking the dog's personality isn't enough, as I have almost NEVER had a puppy with the same personality of it's mother. Do you understand the standard enough to know what ARE faults and attributes? This can only be gained by time, experience and exposure. Your initial opinion will usually be that your beloved dog is perfect. We all thought that. As time goes by, you learn that your dog is not perfect, and you gain a better understanding of the breed and what it should be.


#3) Do you have enough knowledge of genetics to understand modes of inheritance? Have you spent the time studying pedigrees and understanding which dogs are producing what? Are you cognizant of the attributes they produce as well as the faults? Is the winning record of the potential stud dog and/or it's puppies your deciding factor? (if so, that's the wrong answer!!) Are you aware of the health problems in the breed, and how to test for them, how to at least try to avoid them, how they are inherited? If not, do you have a mentor in the breed, someone who DOES have the knowledge required?

#4) Do you have a thick skin? If your puppies are continually very successful, people will take every opportunity to discredit you. You will hear rumors about the health, temperament of your dogs, and that you sleep with judges. If your ego is tied up in your dogs, DO NOT breed!!!

#5) Are you prepared emotionally and physically in the event that you have to drop an entire line and start all over again? Sometimes you find that your line is producing something nasty, or simply not going where you wanted it to go, and the only solution is to start all over. That can be devastating. Sometimes the dogs you discontinue using may have thousands invested into them. If you breed him/her to 'get your investment back' you are breeding for the wrong reasons.

--posted by diavig

It's been so long ago from my first litter, I don't remember what I was thinking, except perhaps...

"WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING?"

Although the first litter I whelped I did not breed nor was I the breeder on.... I will NEVER forget it as long as I live.

The bitch herself didn't want to whelp the puppies and with each contraction she SCREAMED the iggy Death scream. The owner of the bitch had to leave work to come help me as I was white as a sheet and thinking something terrible was wrong. She wouldn't stay in her box, she never shut up but thankfully NEVER offered to bite me (I probably would never have bred a litter again).

Finally after wailing like she was being murdered, she pushed out her first pup. When it flew out of her, she flew over me, out of the whelping box, over a 48 inch baby gate, up onto my bed where she began to scream again and proceeded to push ANOTHER puppy out on my bed. I'm trying to clean up the first pup and yet I'm having to go rescue the new pup that has this massive yucky stuff all over my bed - the bitch is STILL screaming and biting at her back end - I'm handing pups off to Paula to clean, trying to catch her... she shoots out anotherone on the floor where she promptly leaps back into her whelping box, panting as if she had run a 900 mile marathon. Break between pups? 3 so far........ She wants nothing to do with them and doesn't want to nurse them or clean them up. We are having to do all the work for her, plus trying to keep her calm.

Then it starts all over again with the same wild ride. It was a NIGHT MARE.....

After SEVEN puppies arrive, I'm having to clean the floor, the curtains, the bed, bedspread and walls from all the blood and goo she has spread everywhere. I'm exhausted - physically and emotionally and just praying that she is done and nothing further goes wrong.

She finally did calm down and did nurse her pups, but she hated it and hated the pups (thankfully she wasn't mean to them, just only took minimal care of them).

Then when the magical 8 weeks arrived I was ready to tear my hair out. Those 7 puppies wrecked my house. Pee/poop everywhere, shredded carpet, shredded couch - one giant toliet of a house and I was ready to SCREAM! Oh boy - I get to keep these heathens for ANOTHER 4 weeks!

Finding homes for 7 pups was hard - both emotionally as I got attached and finding good homes for the majority. THe most calls I got were "What kind of dog is that?" and lots of curiousity seekers who didn't know anything about the breed and just wanted more informaiton. Thankfully, Paula had some homes lined up so the weight of the responsibility wasn't on me, but it was no picnic.

By the time my first "official" litter as the breeder I felt I was pretty well set to handle it (and I did). THe majority of the decisions and the process were left to my mentor so I'd say the thought process was more on her than on me. I was the observer, asking her questions (bugging her to death) and then trying to learn why she made decisions they way she did.

So I guess for hte first time breeder I really hope you have an excellent mentor who can guide you and teach you. It's MUCH easier when you do have that connection.

But if you don't, here are some things I think are important:

1. Have a hard shell. If you can't handle a little rough spot in your life or someone disagreeing with you, don't breed. I can guarantee you that hurt feelings are nothing compared to holding a dead puppy in your hand or the bitter disappointment of a dog you bred being killed by a car because you sold it to some idiot (who didn't seem like an idiot at the time) who thought it would be okay to let the dog run loose (after you tell them not to). ... If you are one to pack up your toys as soon as something doesn't go your way, you have no business even thinking about becoming a breeder. Life can really suck and sometimes you just have to roll with the punches.

2. Have a very soft heart. If you are a rigid person and want percision or you don't like to get emotionally tangled in with your dogs... don't breed. The Italian Greyhound expects nothing less than your heart as he/she will give 100% of theirs to you. If you can't give yourself a total committment back to them, don't breed.

3. Be intelligent. Breeding is a lot more than sticking two dogs together and producing pups. Any dog with balls and a bitch who is intact can be bred together. It takes a bit of talent and knowledge to produce sound, healthy dogs. If you cannot devote time to learning all you can - DON'T breed! And here is a tip --- YOU NEVER STOP LEARNING.

4. Be Patient. Nothing is ever gained overnight.

5. Be Committed. If you are just wanting to play at being a breeder, go breed rabbits, gerbils or mice. If you cannot picture yourself doing this for the rest of your life (being involved in dog breeding) then go away. Don't even think about breeding dogs. When you become a breeder, it is for the LIFE of those puppies, even should they not live in your home. The concept is cradle to grave - meaning you are responsible for that pups welfare the rest of it's life. Even though you give that responsibility to someone else, you should be there should that person fail. Don't expect the private or public Rescue groups to shoulder your responsibility.

6. Be in it for the right reasons. If you are just wanting to breed the next "Best In Show" IG... GO AWAY. You are in our breed for the wrong reasons. If you are only interested in breeding one pet litter... GO AWAY. There are plenty of pets being produced now, our breed neither wants nor needs another pet quality litter.

If you think you've got what it takes to be a breeder - welcome to my world. I'll see if you can make it past the 5 & 10 year marks. I've seen a lot of people come and go already in the IG breed - some doing more damage than others as they trip their way towards their own demise. I know breeders in this breed longer than I have been have seen even more come and go... We always welcome the responsible caring breeders with open arms, but don't expect it to be right off the bat - proving oneself is a huge part and doesn't happen overnight.

--posted by izatkaren

Here are 5 things in no particular order

1. don't be in a rush to breed because most diseases are late onset in IGs. wait until your girl is mature and the future grandparents are extra matured. make sure everyones testing is up to date - including the grandparents.

2. don't consider breeding something from an unknown/unrespected source. it's just too risky for the newbie. why make things hard on yourself? leave it to those with more experience to dabble as they like.

3. run on your best two pups if you can. select the best for showing and potential breeding but try to keep the other in reserve - either with a co-owner or friend. you never know what is around the corner. Also, the prettier one might not be the healthier one.

4. definitely acquire a reliable mentor in the breed so you know what lines are safe to combine and what the concerns are with the lines you are using. make sure you mentor actually has sufficient experience with the breed and their own bloodlines & subsiduary bloodlines. look for someone with multiple successful generations and very happy pet and show owners behind them. usually they will have mentored others very successfully in the past.

5. be willing to pour a lot of money down the drain to maintain your IGs to the style they have become accustomed over hundreds if not thousands of years.
the IG maybe small & smooth coated but it is a very costly breed to maintain for its size.

--posted by flowerpot

I agree completely with what has been said so far. Those who breed FREQUENTLY ask ourselves ... "WHY ON EARTH DO WE DO THIS???!!!!" - we may know in our hearts we are doing everything with only the best intentions, but a million good things cannot make up for something traumatizing... and it only takes one horrible experience to for you to question if it is really worth having ANY good experiences in breeding dogs if you have to risk going through something potentially awful. Ask ANY breeder, bad things happen ALL the time! Difficult deliveries, puppies sick dying or stillborn, problems that a pregnant bitch or new mother might have (mastitis, eclampsia, etc) - then of course, there is a whole new set of horrors that can arise AFTER the puppies go to their new home! Just because the puppies leave to new homes doesn't mean it's over, hell no! Shit happens, sometimes dogs come back to you, sometimes puppies develop health problems despite all the research and good intentions you had at the time of the breeding, plus an infinite amount of other tragic things can happen. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

So here are my 5...... (in mostly good humor... what was written in other posts was already pretty good)

1. Must be able to live with an almost infinite amount of heartache, grief, disappointment, and guilt when even your most well intentioned decisions go awry.

2. You have no qualms about cleaning poop, pee, blood, and any other bodily functions from your most treasured household belongings at all hours of the night/day. And you happen to enjoy doing 5 loads of laundry a day! And you also don't mind cleaning up a huge mess... when you just cleaned up the same mess 5 minutes ago. In fact, it is your favorite pasttime!

3. You have a second job to pay your vet bills, or work at the vet - and every extra cent you have goes to something dog-related.

4. You enjoy hearing criticism, rumors, and negative comments about you, your breeding choices, and your dogs.

5. The employees at the insane assylum know you by name, you even have an engraved name plate on the door of your padded room


--posted by Raindance