Sylvia Smart - Dog Breeders Professional Secrets: Ethical Breeding Practices

Purebred dogs are incredibly popular, and there is strong demand for healthy, socialized, and intelligent purebred puppies. This is illustrated by the fact that there are many people who are willing to wait months or even years to acquire a high-quality, healthy puppy sold under a written warranty contract. Often, these prospective owners have to put their names on a waiting list and be pre-qualified by professional breeders before they are allowed to purchase a puppy! In fact some dedicated breeders require the buyers to attend a Puppy Training and Care seminar before they will hand over their puppies. Despite these obstacles and restrictions, people are lining up for superior puppiesin 2006 close to a million dogs were registered with the American Kennel Club (AKC) in 155 recognized breeds; the United Kennel Club (UKC) registers over 300,000 dogs annually; and there are many more pet purebred puppies that are never officially registered and so arent included in the basic statistics.

People who want an exceptional purebred puppy have made an intelligent and conscious, quantifiable set of traits and characteristics. And, of course, the best way to accomplish this is to purchase a specific, AKC-recognized breed from an ethical and knowledgeable breeder. These customers dont want to rely solely on luck. It is therefore your responsibility as a breeder to ensure that they are getting what they want and needconsistently tractable, easy-to-train dogs with natural intelligence and a friendly, out-going temperament combined with superior physical condition and a sound genetic foundation.

Ethics and Integrity

My basic philosophy is that breeders who develop expertise in the field and who consistently follow the high road in all aspects of their business can make owning and operating a breeding kennel a successful business. The key to doing it right is based on knowledge and the ability to apply what you learn with integrity. When you lay the correct foundation, consistently put ethics and morality in the forefront, and make a point to incorporate basic proven business practices into your kennel operation, your dog breeding business success is assured.

Quality and ethics go hand-in-hand. To become a successful professional breeder you must be meticulous about details, and fanatically clean about your facility, your dogs, and yourself. You have to behave ethically with the public, fellow breeders, employees or contracted helpers, as well as with your veterinarian and his or her staff. Some of the questions that this book will force you to examine include:

What is best for your dogs?

What is best for your family? Will you put them first, and will you set an ethical example for them?

Can you treat others with respect and integrity? Are you an empathetic person? Can you help people who are grieving the loss of their beloved dog?

Do you have zero-based tolerance for deception and omissionsnot just for lies and deceitbut also for cover-ups and silence in the face of injustice and blatant greed?