Could you please suggest corrections and improvements to this blog post?

Mating your Dog? Think twice!!

Many people mate their dogs without a second thought. Yet Malta is full of strays, and full of “purebreds” with congenital diseases, so perhaps it would be good to put forward a few points that one should be considering when thinking of mating a dog.

Quality:

Having a pedigree is a certificate of the dog’s lineage, and not a certificate that the dog is good for breeding. Only dogs that conform totally with the breed standards should be considered for mating. Their lineage should be certified free from the genetic diseases that afflict the relevant breed, and the dog should have no physical or personality defects. Breeding must be done to improve the lineage even further. Please remember that very often, if a breeder produces progeny with defects, this will harm his or her reputation, but the true victim is the dog and heart of the unwitting owner the dog was sold to.

Cost:

Breeding if done well is not a lucrative business. The cost of introducing new bloodlines (which in Malta usually means having to mate the dog with a dog that is beyond the shores of the island), payment for the stud, the medical tests needed to ensure the parents’ eligibility, and those needed to ensure that the pup being passed on is healthy and free of congenital defects run high. Also, if there are complications with the pregnancy or the birth, or one of the pups cannot be sold due to health problems can render a litter unprofitable. It may even happen that the dam dies during whelping, a morbid consideration, but one that would be wise to keep in mind. It may also simply happen that the breeder does not manage to sell all the puppies in the litter. The paperwork involved and the selling process is also a time consuming and potentially costly exercise.

Responsibilities:

A true breeder will keep an unhealthy pup. He or she will also pass contract with a buyer that the dog will not be mated if the dog is suitable to be a pet but not suitable for breeding. The breeder needs to dedicate many hours a day to the female whilst she is whelping the puppies, and to the litter. The litter may keep you awake at nights, there is a lot of cleaning to do, and the pups need to be correctly socialized. In some cases the females ignore the pups, leaving the breeder to act as mother. A responsible breeder as pointed out in a previous post will not sell a puppy to someone just because he or she turns up with the money. He or she should ensure that the dog will be in a home where the personality of the owner or owners is compatible with the breed’s. It does not make sense to sell a whippet or a border collie to a couch potato. It is a recipe for disaster for both the dog as well as the owner, and the breeder has the responsibility to ensure that this situation does not arise by carefully assessing the owner’s disposition to owning a dog of the relevant breed. He or she will also follow up on the pup’s progress, and offer the buyer’s a good “after-sales” service. Last but not least, a responsible breeder will accept back a pup if for any reason – whether valid or not - the owner does not want him or her any longer.

Breeding should be left to professional, responsible ethical breeders. Anyone else should not even consider mating a dog for any reason.