A Professional Breeder tends to have ONE PRIMARY GOAL. That is to breed and create an animal or animals that will IMPROVE the overall quality of the animal they are creating.
I'm willing to say that not ALL Professional Breeders do have this as their primary goal...but generally it exists in some way within their goal structure. Very few true Professional expect to "get rich" breeding animals, unless those animals are intended for human consumption. Companion animals, Pets are never going to earn a breeder who invests, practically a life time in many cases, the same sort of pay off that animals in the food chain will represent. The exception, of course, being Puppy Mills as they are not breeding for QUALITY...they are breeding for QUANTITY...and pump those puppies out with no thought of bloodlines or care for bitch, dog or puppies.
Professionals make it a point to KNOW their breed best of all, but to also know as much as possible about other breed TYPES that exist within the group of animals they are working with.
For example...Hounds, Working Groups, Sporting, Toys, Terriers, Non-Sporting are the different classes of dog TYPES generally accepted by the AKC and other canine organizations world wide.
Lets say YOU want to breed Pugs. Pugs fall into the Toy group. So you want to know as much as possible about Pugs in general. Their health challenges (Past and Present), Coat conditions...care of the coat, potential problems, strong points. Their general temperament...how they react to training, with children, with loud noises, with other animals. While much of this is going to depend upon a given individual dog, some of it SHOULD BE standard and somewhat predictable within the BREED OF PUGS.
Pekes are also within the toy group, generally too are other toy TYPES such as the Toy Poodle, but while all three are considered "Toy types" each breed is different in many other ways! You want to be aware of these differences, even if the other breeds are NOT your primary interest or concern in connection with YOUR breeding of Pugs.
Professional Breeders learn to read BLOODLINES and Breeding Records. They can usually quote accurately who was who's mother, father, aunt, uncle and what titles those animals held. This isn't just obsession at work, it is a matter of knowing WHAT dog to breed to what bitch in order to IMPROVE the breed outcome in their litters of puppies!
If your Bitch has been shown and earned her Titles, but there are still a few points you know could be improved upon to make her even better...health, temper, or confirmation, you then look for a Dog to breed to her in whose bloodlines are strong with THOSE desired qualities to improve the puppies you hope to have from your bitch.
Example: I had a friend with a Ridgeback (f) (hound group). She was a very good example of the breed in all ways. But her chest was slightly more narrow than the ideal for the breed. So, she looked for a Dog (m) whose females in his bloodlines tended to have slightly wider/deeper chests OR at least leaned in that direction by being optimum or bigger. The hope (and result too in this case) was to create a chance that her puppies would have better, deeper, wider chests.
Had she not had a strong, professional breeder helping her choose the best bloodlines, she might well have missed this opportunity to improve the breed!
While there are memberships that Breeders can join; the stronger belief is that a True Professional is a person who strives to improve the breed and who has taken the time to learn everything they can about dogs in general and THEIR chosen breed of favor...they then put into practice what they have learned and generally are willing to share information so as to promote the breeding of quality animals, in terms of Temper, Health, and Ability to do that which the dog was bred to do successfully and confirmation to the breed type.
Comments
Ok Good, I just wanted to make sure I do not become classified with the "Backyard breeders"!
by Elegant Kennels on June 26th, 2007
Backyard Breeder is an "iffy" term. It's rather sad really. My friend with the Ridgeback would be honestly a backyard breeder. She owned 1 bitch, she wanted to breed her 1 time, but she was NOT a professional. She enlisted the help and experience of a professional to insure that she was not simply creating low class purebred dogs. She had a very good bitch and wanted to both pass on those good qualities, and have the experience. Typically, a (negative termed) Backyard breeder is deluded, first and foremost. They do not bother to show their breeding dogs and earn their points and titles so they don't really know if the animals "deserve" to pass on their genes. They may believe that because they spent $300 or more on their dog or bitch they can earn $300+ per puppy. Or they believe their female "WANTS" to be a Mommy, wrong! They do not know or put much thought into improvement. They do not attract proven, titled dogs to breed with.
by Redhawk on June 27th, 2007