Angel Rock Staffordshire Bull Terriers

Angel Rock Staffords Facts about Breeding Dogs
by Cheryl Ellicott

I got a letter from a young man once, asking me for help learning to breed dogs for a living. I had a good laugh, and then told him to go to college and get a real job. I understand how it appears possible, when you’re on the other side of the breeder’s door being asked to pay a premium price for your puppy, and you see a number of puppies there waiting to be sold. For that reason, I don’t disregard people when they ask such questions – I attempt to explain. And that takes a lot of time. So, to save time, here’s a little illustration in case you think dog-breeding is a career choice (hint: it's NOT): I’ll use my two litters in the year 2005 for an example. The choices of who to breed to whom began years earlier. Before any puppies were planned or conceived, there was an education to be had. To prepare for any litters I had to learn about the breed, history, standard and proper construction, then learn pedigrees (strengths and weaknesses in different dogs), learn about the health concerns, behavior issues and then to develop friendships and find mentors in the breed. (Call this the educational phase, preparing you for your “career”. To be as educated as other good breeders, you’ll need 5 to 10 years at least.) Once you have the knowledge, you need experience. I spent 10 years raising 4-H bunny rabbits with the kids, so had an agricultural understanding of good and bad breeding programs, care of babies etc. But bunnies aren’t dogs. When it comes time to actually breed your dogs, you need help. If you’ve never been shown how to facilitate a mating, you have maybe a 50/50 chance of getting it successfully done. It’s likely that you’ll get no puppies, and very likely that one of the dogs can injure the other. Contrary to popular belief, the average dogs won’t just go out into the yard together and make a litter. I learned this the hard way and eventually a mentor had to fly to my home, from 1000 miles away, and breed my dogs for me – teaching me how in the process. For the year 2005, I planned a spring litter and a fall litter. In preparing, there are plenty of tests to be done, vet visits and so forth; in other words, a substantial financial investment. And don’t forget, I had to actually BUY my dogs too. In addition, the planning and caring for a litter meant I had to take time off from work. A LOT of time. Why? Before any litters were coming, I wanted to find homes for the babies. To find the BEST homes, I began a daily chore of interviewing people in December of 2004. I averaged 100 inquiries each month, for the entire year. That comes to some 1200 people that I spoke with, trying to find good homes. Some found me through my internet presence; others were referred by those who know me. I wouldn’t want to be limited to the homes “down the street” when choosing families, but having so many inquiries is almost a full time job. In the end, the excellent homes that I found could be counted on my fingers. I cannot begin to measure how many hours I spent emailing or speaking on the phone with each of those 1200 people. It’s too much to think about. But after all that preparation, I had homes for each puppy and could breed the dogs! Right? Well, it didn’t turn out that easy. The spring mating didn’t “take” and no puppies resulted. Many of the families were heartbroken and decided to wait for the fall, so that made it necessary to do both litters at the same time because my females have their seasons together. Not something I had time for or was excited about undertaking, but…… OK, I can do this…. So I bred the dogs – no small feat with Twilight who runs from the male, and is like a super-powered greased pig. It became necessary to let her wear a toddler’s shirt to her date with Obi so she wasn’t impossible to get a hold of. At last, we had success and the two litters were conceived. Then began the countdown to puppy-time. During this time, nearly ALL of the homes who had been waiting and begging me to breed the dogs decided that they wouldn’t have time for a puppy. I was back to square one in interviewing families. I didn’t scream, but I could have. J After many hours and weeks re-interviewing, I found new homes and prepared for the babies. Along about this time, the pregnant mommies became ultra-hormonal and were no longer trustworthy around our 2 kitty-cats or around other dogs; we spent thousands of dollars reinforcing the dividing fences in the yard so they could play inside or outside safely, (no threat to each other) and installing gates on different rooms of the house to keep cats and dogs all whole and happy. When the time came for the births, I literally stayed awake for days waiting and watching. I couldn’t sleep nights, for fear that they’d go into labor and I wouldn’t be there in case of emergency. When Marta finally delivered, she insisted in doing it ON my lap. She began at midnight and finished up around 7 am. She did well and had 5 beautiful babies. A few days later, Twilight went into labor . . . Things didn’t go well with Twilight. She was in labor all day, and despite my serious concerns that she had a puppy stuck, the veterinarians convinced me to let her keep trying. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have listened to them. But I called around and spoke to FOUR different vets and they all gave me the same advice – leave her be. Finally, in the early evening, I loaded her up and took her to the emergency clinic and she spent the night being poked and prodded, injected etc. and in the end was given a caesarean. She had four puppies, and three of them lived. The one who was stuck in the birth canal did not live. She was spayed, I paid the $2000.00 vet bill and I took her and the babies home. I should have taken her earlier in the day and insisted upon a c-section, but I made the mistake of believing the “experts” knew best. In the stress of it all, I momentarily forgot that the veterinarians I was dealing with don’t believe in dogs reproducing and therefore are not experts, as they convince most people to have their dogs spayed and neutered. Things went well with the puppies, and then, when the litters were two weeks old, our house sold. It had been on the market, yet I’d been hoping nothing would happen until the babies were raised. But real life doesn’t stop when you have puppies. The housing market peaked, we received an offer more than double what the house would have gone for a year earlier, and so we had to move. As I write this, we’re now settling in the new house. I’ve just invested a few hundred dollars in fencing materials for the BASICS that I’ll need to for the dogs to be able to play in and out without injuries. Twilight has weaned her pups and is doing well around the dogs and cats again, but Marta is still nursing, still very hormonal and protective and needs to be separated from the other dogs and the kitties. On numerous occasions, she’s torn her way out of the new yard to go after the neighbor’s cats. I’ve given the neighbors a good look at my pajamas, racing after her. So far, the new neighbors are still speaking to me . . . and none have mentioned my style of dress yet. The pups have one more week before they can be shipped to their new homes. The airport is 60 miles away, and this airline will take just two animals per flight - not two of mine, but two animals total - so I'll be doing a lot of driving back and forth. For those who’re still thinking to make a career of dog raising, here’s a brief conclusion of the finances involving these two litters. I won’t factor in the thousands spent remodeling the homes so that I can keep multiple “bull & terrier breed” dogs living in harmony. I won’t add in the thousands of dollars spent to purchase my dogs, and more to have them shipped to me. I won’t mention how expensive it is to enter and travel to dog-shows, though an obsession with purebred dogs leads to this. I won’t consider all of the income I’ve lost because I haven’t had time to work my real job. Caring for, playing with and cleaning up after pups takes almost all my time, aside from talking with and educating families. I won’t count the money spent on holistic foods, regular health care and tests to be sure the dogs have health worthy of breeding from. Aside from all that, it looks like this: Marta had 5 babies. One is extremely tiny and will be going (for free) to live with friends. Marta’s breeder (per the contract I’m under) will be taking (for free) two of the puppies. Twilight had three live babies. I’m keeping one because Twilight was spayed and I believe her too special to completely lose her genetic influence in the future. So this leaves 4 babies who are sold. The sale of 2 of these puppies will pay off Twilight’s late-night vet visit. The sales of the other two puppies will pay off PART of the holistic puppy foods, extra vet visits, routine puppy medicines and wormers, puppy-playpens and toys etc. In the end, our budget will only be damaged a little from my desire to produce two litters of extra special dogs. My husband is very understanding of my desire to do this and the kids will wait for me to finish raising the pups so I can get back to work and make money for winter clothes. J But yes, I will definitely come out in the red. I’m not one bit sorry for having produced these puppies, and I look forward to seeing them mature into dogs I can be proud of having a hand in. I anticipate that they’re going to make their new families extremely happy for years to come. I hope that they will, through their special-ness, convert many into lovers and protectors of this breed. But when someone says they make money selling puppies, I’m thoroughly confused. I’m sure I don’t want to know how someone could make a living at this. J

Oasis staffordshire bull terrier rescue and rehoming assistance in spokane Washington Breeder of quality Staffordshire Bull Terriers Bred selectively for soundness of body, mind and soul. Staffordshire Bull Terrier breeder with emphasis on stable temperaments, affection and athletic health. Staffords for home and hearth. Breeding quality English StaffyBull puppies conforming to grand champion ancestors type with special attention to breed preservation. Striving to produce a dog superior in agility and athletic ability who is a loyal, loving pet. Staffordshire bull terrier is the nanny dog, hearth terrier children child’s pet and ultimate family pet. Puppies available only occasionally and only by prior reservation to approved homes only - maintaining the sound stable strong muscular agile athletic affectionate gentle loving loyal protector who is intelligent beautiful and of solid build. The English StaffyBull, or sometime knowns as staffy or staffies are the ultimate nanny dog of the UK.

Angel Rock - Classic British Staffords

STAFFORDSHIRE BULL TERRIERS

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