Wrote this the other day for a poster on here, thought I should add it on to here for others who can't be bothered to search:

Be very wary that "letting her have a litter of pups" could ruin her forever, assuming that she lives through it all. I do not been to sound all doom and gloom about it all, but its only fair that you do not go into it blindly. Here are points to consider before choosing to breed your bitch:

• Is she health tested to Breed Clubs standard: the breed club are often much stricter than the KC regarding Health testing for eg: our breed club states that Leos should be health tested for Hips, elbows and eyes (certain scores are also relevant) whereas, the KCABS says we only must do hips and eyes, elbows are choice, despite it being a known problem within the breed.

• Is she of perfectly sound temperament: this means to all people (which I would hope, but isn't always the case) and all dogs. It is fair to say that some breeds naturally don't like other dogs as it has been built in to them, for eg Shar peis, staffies, akitas etc, but the cocker does not have this built in, so if she ever shows aggression to other dogs sshe doesn't fit the bill, so to speak.

• Is she shown or worked to gather herself a reputation (a good one) within the breed? With a breed like cockers that are being bred left, right and centre, it is important that further overbreeding does not continue. I'm sorry this sounds blunt, but to me, unless a dog has something to offer the breed as a whole, they should not be bred from. I hate the term "pet breeding" that seems to come along with the phrase: it doesn't matter what she looks like as long as she resembles the breed, the pups will only go to pet homes. In which case, why not adopt from a rescue kennel? Rather than breeding a litter of pups and just adding to the population? Just because "s/he is a pet" doesn't mean there is any reason why s/he shouldn't be well bred.

• Can you honestly say that you know the ins and outs of her 5 generation pedigree? You MUST know at least the first 4 generations including health problems, slight flaws in the temperament that may not have been "made public knowledge" slight health problems (and major ones). Do you know of any conformation flaws in the lines that need to be eradicated from the breed as a whole. For instance in my lines we have a weak front end, although my lad shows no signs of this, it is present in his ancestors. There for when a bitch comes to use him, it is my responsibility to make sure that her lines do not have a weak front (despite her having a strong one). The same could be said for my bitch, I HAVE to know her lines inside, out in order to choose the most appropriate stud. Then I have to learn the studs lines inside out.

• Have you got a waiting list of at least twice the amount of the average litter size? What many breeders have experienced is the people who go on a waiting list is that up to half regularly drop out at the last minute due to change in circumstances, wrong sex/ colour of puppy etc. It is not been heard of to be stuck with 7 puppies at 16 week old who all need complete innoculations, thorough socialising, LOTS of food, time apart to prevent separation anxiety, training etc. The older a puppy gets, the harder to sell, so you can be your bottom dollar, the ones you are stuck with at 17 weeks old are the ones who'll stay with you forever.

• Its also important to remember that the pups you breed could come back to you at any time if the owners circumstances change, if the pup develops a health problem, if (heaven forbid) has a temperament issue. Have you the space to take back the puppies, and the knowledge of how to correct the training issues, finances to pay for health treatment?

• Are you financially able to bring up a litter successfully. You need to be able to hand over £2000 at the drop of a hat, PLUS your stud fee. I always recommend at least £3000, that if necessary, I could get in cash without skrimping and scraping, borrowing of family for the need of an emergency c section. Many vets nowadays will not perform a c section (emergency or not) without cash upfront, and will just put the bitch to sleep and allow the pups to die inside. Also, just worth a mention to anyone else reading this the PDSA will not do a c section, but just euthanise.

• Are you in the type of employment that you could take 9 consecutive weeks off to raise the pups? Many people forget about this bit, but at least for a week before expected delivery you need to be with the bitch constantly, you are housebound for most of the 9 weeks, could you cope with this? You are awake (if breeding responsibly) for 4 weeks at 22 hours a day, can you cope with the physical demands. As most people on here will agree: nothing can prepare you for how tired you will be. It is a tired like no one can imagine. You have constant headaches from stress and lack of sleep, can you cope with this?

• Are you emotionally prepared for losing your bitch? Yes, it does happen and yes it happens frequently. Quite often on forums, breed forums, yahoo groups etc for a foster mum, due to the death of a bitch. I ahve lost a bitch myself and I can honestly say I've never felt so much grief and guilt in my life as what I felt when she died. If I hadn't been so selfish as to want a puppy from her she'd still be here. After she died I resented the puppies. I couldn't keep one as it was too painful to have the constant reminder of what I'D done. So not only did I lose my bitch, I lost the puppy I would have kept also.

• Can you cope with a litter of dead puppies? On average 1.5 puppies die from each litter bred, so the chances are extremely high that you could lose at least one puppy if not the whole litter. One here a member, also a first time dog breeder lost 2 puppies, the first two born were born dead, just a week ago. A couple of months ago a rottie bitch lost her only puppy after a difficult pregnancy. The bitch was distraught and so was her owner. She then suffered a terrible infection of the womb as the puppy had been dead inside her.

• Can you imagine leaving the room for 30sec to pick up the post, answer the door etc and coming back to a room full of dead puppies where the mother has killed them all, accidentally or on purpose, it happens, all too often. Then there are problems like having to hand raise a litter because mum has rejected them, or you were lucky enough to see her killing the puppies and you managed to rescue a couple before the inevitable happened. Could you cope with having to take them form mum, who is also distraught about what happened and lock them in a room with yourself and mum outside the room whilst she is screaming in panic because you took her babies away, despite her rejecting them.

• Can you see yourself living in a dump for 8 weeks why you have 8 puppies demanding food constantly, barking at 3am in a high pitched yap, upsetting all your neighbours whilst you are doing all the poo cleaning, all the feed cleaning, your washer is constantly on washing bedding for the pups and your clothing which is covered in tiddle and sh!t all the time. Do you have a garden which the puppies will be able to go on ie grass? Chippings, bark etc are a no no unless you have one human per pup to guard against eating the chippings, bark etc

What people fail to realise that breeding a litter is not for the faint of heart, and is in no way a quick way to make money (I'm not suggesting this is the case with you but all too often it is mentioned, so i thought I'd clear things up for others). It is a very time consuming, expensive way of keeping a pup behind. It is heart breaking thing to do and you really do have to have nerves of steel to do it. You face a huge risk of your bitch dying in just the mating of her, never mind the actual whelping, a long a difficult pregnancy where you are having to force feed her as she has decided she can't carry puppies and eat at the same time. You also risk her character changing. I have lost count of the number of times I have been bitten by a whelping bitch, feeding bitch who is guarding her babies. The trauma for me, getting bitten was unbelievable, despite me knowing in the back of my mind it could happen. But when all said and done, my baby bit me! .
These are a few things to consider. There is also a thread, that I started a few weeks back titles: Steps to take BEFORE mating your bitch. Like I said, I am not being all doom and gloom, but it is only fair on you don't get led into breeding blindly. However, if you have read this and done all the necessary things before choosing to breed, health tests, a few judges going over her etc and then still decide to breed then we WILL be here to help answer all your questions.

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