​Breeding Better Than…
 
The mindset of every dog breeder should be to produce offspring that is better than the sire and dam. You should evaluate the sire and dam, what are you attempting to improve upon. What do each bring to the table that compliment each other. To accomplish this, you must be willing to pour over pedigrees, search old and new photographs, you also need to seek out people that can advise you of dogs' past. You have to build relationships with the old-time breeders who know the dogs in the pedigrees.

You must first start with a quality bitch. You cannot breed an out of standard (inferior) bitch to an exceptional stud and get Specialty winners. You MUST start with a Quality Bitch. The only way to determine quality is to show your dogs at breed specialties. Study the Standard and apply it to your dogs and what you see at specialties. There are some who just naturally have an eye, others can train their eye and sadly there are others who will never see the differences.

There is no instant gratification when it comes to breeding quality dogs (or any animals). You need to put in the time and effort to seek out those with the knowledge of days gone by.
 
 
Jeanie Pitzenberger
September 13, 2023


​"Honesty is often very hard. The truth is often painful. But the freedom it can bring is worth the trying." Fred Rogers

Although no standardized legal definition for “puppy mill” exists, a definition was established in the Minnesota case Avenson v. Zegart in 1984 as “a dog breeding operation in which the health of the dogs is disregarded in order to maintain a low overhead and maximize profits”.
 
Let’s examine what would constitute “health of the dogs is disregarded”.
 

1. Breeding the bitch before the age of 2 years. This is very much like a 12-year girl having a baby. Not letting the Bitch mature before you breed her is putting profit over the health and welfare of your bitch. All puppy mills breed the bitch on her first heat cycle which is anywhere from 12 to 14 months.

 

1. In addition to breeding at a young age, they forego all recommended health testing at 2 years of age.  Hips, Elbows, Heart and Eyes. These tests will run anywhere from $500.00 to $1000.00 depending on the region of the country you are from.

 
 

1. So now the puppy mill has bred their 14-month-old bitch, the next step to maximize their profit, is to sell all of them at between 6 and 8 weeks old. Food, vaccines, de-wormers, bedding, toys, all of it starts becoming very expensive to properly raise a litter of Irish Wolfhound puppies. The cost alone to feed a quality food a litter from 8 weeks to 12 weeks is costly. So, the puppy mill sells them young, to lower their overhead and maximize their profits.

 

1. One of the most irresponsible ways that the puppy mills lower their overhead, is to not Liver Shunt Test their puppies. They claim Veterinarians state it is a waste of money and stressful to the puppy. The cost once again depending on the region of the country can be anywhere from $100.00 to $175.00 per puppy.

 
This is an important test and not stressful at all. I Liver Shunt test at between 10 and 11 weeks. I fast them the night before (12 hours) the test, we load up all the puppies and go to the clinic, where they get a simple blood draw. They are then fed a yummy breakfast; we wait 2 hours. During that 2 hours they play, get loved on by the staff, and my Vet does a complete exam of each puppy. Sounds pretty stressful, right? They then get another blood draw and that’s it.
 
The puppy mills have not provided any names of all the veterinarians who claim it is stressful and a waste of money. One puppy mill even claims she has spoken to 7 Veterinarians. Another claims that the Kansas State University made this claim. If the person tells you they will Liver Shunt for an additional fee, run from them.
 
Quality responsible breeders' health test Sire and Dam, Liver Shunt test the puppies, keep all the puppies until at least 10 weeks and many keep the puppies until 12 weeks because our concern is the health and welfare of the puppies and dogs. It is not because we just want to waste a lot of money performing unnecessary testing.  
 
If you are looking for an Irish Wolfhound puppy, arm yourself with some simple to the point questions for the breeder.
 

1. Is this her first litter, and how old is she?
2. What health testing has the Sire and Dam had completed? Can I have their Registered names so I can look up the testing on the Irish Wolfhound Database and OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) websites.
3. At what age do you release your puppies to go to their new homes?
4. What is your vaccine, de-wormer schedule and can I see the paperwork?
5. What are you feeding the puppies and how much?
6.  Do you Liver Shunt test the puppies?

 
Please do not purchase a puppy from this type of person, you are condemning the bitch to a miserable life of pumping out puppies and you just financed another litter to be born under these horrible conditions. Where the importance is placed on profits and not the health and welfare of the bitch and puppies.

#boondocksirishwolfhounds
#AisA
#qualityoverquantity
#youcantmassproducequality