Seven Foundations of a Successful Dog Breeder
By Jonathan Jeffrey Kimes
This article first appeared in the 1996 Cardigan Welsh Corgi
Handbook.
Published with kind permission of the author.
I - ENJOY YOUR DOGS
The primary reason anyone becomes involved withdog breeding and
showing is a fundamental love of dogs. We treasure the companionship,
the never failing loyalty, the delight they exude. We love to have
them on our beds. Their eagerness to face the new day, evenwhen we
wake them up at dreadful hours, provides us a wonderment that brings
back the exuberance ofchildhood. They forgive us when we lose our
temper,when we are impatient, when we are far less than theya re.
They bring out the best of ourselves, they nurturethe "big" us.
Unfortunately, dog breeding andexhibiting can tempt our "little"selves.
It can feed afragile ego until it becomes a raging ego.Often, this
need to feel we are better than our fellowman is expressed in our
possessions. We need to have the biggest winner, the producer of the
mostchampions, the most champion puppies. We buy, weco-own, we
collect. Soon we have no time for dogpleasures, no time to play or
rub a grateful belly, no
time to stroke a patient brow. Soon we have no room for more dogs;
we stack them and crate them and store them as though they were
baubles that have no meaning but to make us feel important. We lose
our ability to love.Dog showing and breeding is a great vocation. It
is creative and challenging and very rewarding. But we must never
expect our hobby to take the place of a psychologist's work. We must
never expect an unhealthy mental state to be cured by
self-indulgence.
Far too many people take to showing and breeding for the wrong
reasons. Their houses go to ruin, their bank accounts evaporate,
their credit hits the skids, their spouses and children are left to
survive on their own as the breeder pursues their own manifestation
of what they perceive to prove their self-worth.
Being a dog breeder is a huge commitment. It means we should assign
ourselves the role of lifetime student. It means we will be humbled
in countless ways and in countless circumstances. It means our
lessons will be of the hard knock variety if we are to truly learn
them. It means frustration, long hours, late nights and early
mornings. It means never getting to sleep-in again. It means finding
friendships - some of which will last for a lifetime and some of
which will founder, being built on social advantage. It means being
quoted and misquoted and having words put in your mouth. It means
being given ample opportunity to be as "small" as a human being can
be. But, hopefully, it can provide an opportunity to learn to be "big,"
to be generous, inquisitive, and adventurous.
We should never ask ourselves if we are envied or important or
successful. Those questions are meaningless. At the end of the day,
we should ask ourselves, "Am I proud of the person I've become?
What we must always be are dog lovers. We must be their advocates.
We must ensure the life of every dog we breed and every dog we own
is fulfilled and in illustration of humanity at its finest hour. Our
vanity must not be stroked by having our pictures in a
magazine or seeing our name on some ranking system.
Our self-worth must come from knowing we provide our dogs a life of
love, of pleasure, and of happiness.
II - BREED FOR IMPROVEMENT, NOT WINNERS
It is easy to become lost in the purpose of breeding quality dogs.
For some, the attraction of the bright lights, the glamour and the
glitz cause them to stray from the path.
Developing a bloodline that is well considered and that is a
positive influence for the breed
takes considerable discipline. Too often, the seemingly slow and
carefully orchestrated effort to improve a breed is crossed up with
the immediate desire to breed that one big winner and become famous.
The breeder's pledge must be to harbor and safeguard the breed. No
breed is in perfect shape when the breeder happens upon it and none
shall be perfect
when they leave. But to leave a breed in better shape than it was
when you came upon it is the greatest compliment. To improve type,
movement, temperament and health must be the bottom line for every
committed breeder. Such accomplishment takes a long-range plan that
is carefully thought through. It requires dedication and purpose.
All too often, we are sidetracked by our desire to breed to the
latest big winner, and then to the next and the next. Before long
the pedigree is a long list of "who's who" that have no relationship
to each other, other than they found success in the ring. What is
key to learn (and to believe) is success in the ring is not an
automatic indication of the dog's true quality. We all wish one
indicated the other but that is too easy. It would require the
removal of human
fallacy to be accomplished! Dogs do not excel for all the same
reasons. Consequently, you can't simply breed one big winner to
another and produce more big winners. Every feature and their nature
of inheritancemust be studied and understood before you can
"manage" the inheritance variables. Once you gain this skill, you
are on the road to producing a great line of winners.
III - TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE
The breeding of fine purebred dogs should be considered the pursuit
of perfection - it is not the maintenance of it. All dogs have
faults, all dogs are less than ideal in some ways and areas. If not,
the "ideal" has not been well enough conceived. It is very easy to
fall into the trap of being defensive about one's own dogs. This
usually happens because what we assume to be correct is challenged
by another as being less so. This disharmony causes confusion in our
mind and ultimately unhappiness. To right ourselves, we often become
defensive and try to rid ourselves of that which is causing us the
discomfort - namely the opinion that does not complement our own.
We must realize that "truth" is the ultimate standard by which our
decisions should be made. In most cases, a roached back is a roached
back, whether we choose to recognize it as such or not. Consequently,
the best way for us to not be put into a position of being
unhappily surprised is to pursue knowledge relentlessly to ensure
our opinion is as accurate and close to the "truth" as possible.
This knowledge is gained in many ways, one of which is learning from
fellow breeders.
We must fight the urge to make up our minds about something and
refuse to consider another viewpoint.
Indeed, we do not make decisions based on facts when we are first
learning, we are depending upon what we perceive to be the expertise
of others to provide that for
us. If that so-called expertise is, in fact, faulty, our whole
knowledge base is called into question. And that causes us great
anxiety. The best place to sit is in the
seat of the knowledge seeker. Whenever provided with an opinion that
is different than the one you currently hold, always seek to
understand the viewpoint of the other. Why does the person perceive
something differently than you? Understanding another's point of
view can be the road to greater knowledge. If you shut that door and
do not entertain the prospect of learning something different than
what you think is truth you will never actually recognize the truth
and you will not succeed in your goal. Quite honestly, you should be
more critical of your dogs than anyone else could possibly be. That
is not to say you should attribute faults to your dogs they do not
possess, but your evaluation must be as detailed as possible and you
must strive to see clearly their true faults and virtues.
From this comes the map to success.
IV - DEAL WITH OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DEAL WITH YOU
Sounds a bit like the golden rule that we learn in childhood. Yet it
is amazing how many people forget this very important axiom. In
dealing with others, regardless of the matter, think always of the
other person's position. I have heard repeatedly, people state how
they were burned in a co-ownership agreement.
All too often the agreement is geared toward benefiting one party (often
the seller) over another. Written agreements somehow are tainted as
being only needed in a contentious situation. This is the first
misconception. Not having a written agreement should be the very
rare exception, not the reverse. Too often, should a worthwhile
puppy be produced from one of these undefined arrangements, the
fight is on for possession. Before contemplating selling a dog on a
co-ownership or leasing it or offering stud service for a
puppy back, you should think through what exactly you expect and
desire from such an arrangement. Too often, these business dealings
occur in the spur of the moment during a telephone conversation, and
the deal is struck before either party has really had an
opportunity to think it through. For some reason, rather than
rethinking the situation, we tend to try to follow through on such
an ill-conceived arrangement only to
end up bitter enemies in the end. If people would stop and think
about the likely end
result, they would realize the best possible thing to protect the
friendship is to have a written understanding. It is very rare a
litter is going to have more than one star if any at all.
Consequently, it is important to understand who is going to own that
super
puppy, should it appear. People are too willing to tear apart
relationships should one person seem to benefit a bit more than
another. This is too sad and is reflective
of the self-benefit motivation that all too many find as the driving
force for their actions. When pressed, it is far better to give than
to receive. It is far better to let the other seemingly benefit than
to destroy a relationship and acquire the reputation of being
disreputable and self centered, if for no other reason than it makes
you grow as a human being, which is probably a fair trade off in the
long run.
V - BY GIVING YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE
Another pitfall breeders often experience is the inability to
celebrate others' successes. While certainly we feel the route we
are taking is the best way to approach that utopian plateau of breed
perfection, there are actually many routes to that same goal. It
takes
nothing at all away from our own accomplishments to recognize the
accomplished efforts of other breeders.
This inability and unwillingness to appreciate other's efforts
usually comes from having made a decision not to breed to certain
bloodlines or deal with certain persons. When such a kennel then
produces a success, it is difficult for us to acknowledge such an
achievement for we tend to find that inconsistent with our opinion
of that particular person or family of dogs.It takes quite an honest
and secure person to recognize
and celebrate the accomplishments of others. While it is probably
good advice to hold our criticisms closer to our chest, recognizing
another's achievement only brings good things. By being someone who
can see the virtues in breeding lines other than your own, you gain
a reputation of fairness and objectivity that is a very rare pearl
in dogdom. You may find, over time, your point of view and your
philosophies are taken with much greater weight when others do not
perceive them to have originated in a mind consumed with self
-aggrandizement. Thus, by doing so you lose nothing and yet you gain
so very much.
VI - MAKE USE OF OTHERS' ACHIEVEMENTS
One of the worst situations a breeder can find her/ himself in is to
partition themselves off from another kennel or bloodline. It is
highly unlikely that all improvements toward the perfection of a
breed are going to come from one single kennel or bloodline. Like
flowers in the field, they will spring up in various places. The
clever breeder is the one who knows how to pick from all the field
those who will make the ultimate, sublime bouquet. And to do this,
you must be able to use the strengths of other kennels and
bloodlines.
Breeders will tend to have certain biases; and quite honestly, there
are certain strengths and weaknesses in most bloodlines. While you
may feel you have achieved the highest ground in certain areas,
there will doubtless be other areas in which your dogs and
bloodlines are less strong than others. Not to recognize this fact
is to ensure you will plateau quite early in your breeding career.
And by that I mean you will stabilize and go no further. You must
always keep a watchful eye for that very special bloom that will
enhance your bouquet. It is this sophisticated combining of families
without losing the good points of your own bloodline that strengthen
a kennel and move it forward in breed importance. It takes careful
consideration, orchestration and pruning to come to
fruition.
VII - YOU ARE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR MORALS
My last axiom addresses the whole issue of morality. It has many
facets and many ways of expressing itself. Spreading rumors, the
accuracy of which might be doubtful, is one very good example.
Selling dogs on co-ownerships as a means to control other breeders
is certainly another. Accusing other lines of genetic problems while
being less than entirely
honest about your own is yet another. In all, it goes to the very
core of who we are. Do we know right from wrong? Do we practice
right in all circumstances? Dog breeding is not about that one great
win or that one great winner. It is about breed improvement over
time, it is about protecting a breed. Too many people are in search
of some kind of sign
of their self worth and they think they will obtain some special
level of respect and honor if they have a big winner. Dog breeding
is a lifetime's work. It is a continuum which, no matter how quickly
you want to "put yourself on the map," will ultimately be a
reflection of your true character. To wit, you can't fool all of the
people all of the time. There is no honor in "adjusting" reality to
give you the appearance of achieving something you have not.
Politicking for wins will not make your dogs any better than they
are. Faking your dogs will not make them any better than they are.
You may think you can fool the world, but you will ultimately pay
the price. No one wants to be a pretender. And yet, some of the
worst pretenders are people who seem to be infatuated with spreading
rumors about other people and dogs.
These people live in glass houses and invariably they know it. The
breeding of dogs is not about how you impress the neighbors, your
peers or anyone else. It is the expression of your love of dogs and
your personal pursuit in creating an art. You cannot lie about the
art
you create; you cannot lie to yourself. While this list, I
am quite sure, sounds like a sermon from the mount, it encompasses
the many pitfalls that we dog breeders face every day. Some of us
are equipped to navigate these disturbances better than others, but
all of us CAN navigate them. We are all tested from time to time,
even the most educated, psychologically balanced, intelligent and
honest amongst us. There are times when it feels much better to zing
someone who has been hurtful, to control those whom we feel do not
have the proper motivation, to become the ones who
attract the adulation. Only through careful thought and
well-considered action can we hope to become better people and
therefore better dog breeders.
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