Breeding a Dog, common guidelines
1. Before you plan breeding, be aware that if things go wrong, the dog can die
2. Common reasons for death or sickness related to breeding are Heat Stroke and exertion. Both these cause internal hemorrhage and permanently damage the dog, resulting to immediate or slow death
3. These days, a lot of uneducated and people in animal farming (those who kept cattle ) are getting into dog breeding, because it is worth the money. Come to think of it, a cattle costs 30 K, a pedigreed pup starts from 30 K. Add to that a cattle gives birth to only 1 calf, whereas dogs have a litter of 7 to 10. Breeding dogs is pure business sense.
4. Here are a few practices that are practiced in the business of breeding, the reason we talk about this is because we have learnt it the hard way (my 4 year old Male St Bernard, died in 2 days)
5. Male dogs, Breeders give drugs, meant to give a high boost to sperm count and energy of the dog
6. Female dogs, Breeders tie them up using ropes so they don’t run away and the time is saved in the dogs acquainting themselves, it’s business so speed matters
7. Female dogs, Breeders don’t feed them, keep them hungry for the entire period, reason, it is essential for breeding
8. The simplest way to ensure the safety and hygiene of your dogs is to go for supervised breeding, never leave your dogs alone, don’t trust, the process is a short one and at best would last couple of hours, so spend those hours if breeding is essential, don’t leave them alone and repent later
9. Beware of
a. Vet’s who say they will take care of the breeding exercise, it’s business and no one has the time
b. Owners who say they will take care of your dog like family, no one does, put yourselves in their shoes, would you go out of the way for someone else’s dog
c. Cattle farmers turned to breeders, you can tell them when you meet them
d. People saying that it is essential to have the dog bred, dogs can stay without breeding and side effects for their entire life
In the end, remember, be careful, this is the time, which means a lot of diseases (STDs), lot of risks and a lot of instances of getting into the ugly side of having a dog, be careful and do consult someone who is a friend and has been involved in breeding their dogs. Better be careful than repent as there are no laws in India which govern these kind of issues and once your dog dies, the only thing you end up doing is cursing yourself for not being careful. Hope this helps, if you’d like to know more about some breeding issues, do write to me at Mandeep@weekendindia.com, it is personal experience which we can share as a family and hope the mistake we made with our most important family member is not repeated by anyone.
