I never aspired to be a "breeder", I bred to get a specific pup from my dogs for myself, something I could never get anywhere else. Inevitably there will be other pups in the litter. Monetary gain is a way secondary consideration for me. If you've bred a large breed dogs, and you have a decent paying job, you know it's simply not worth the work involved. And more so when considering the possibility of complications, sick pups etc. Unless you're the kind of person that's at ease letting nature take its course without intervening. I can't. In my litter of 9 there was only one female. At one point she got in trouble, must've missed a feeding or two without me noticing. When they're so young if they miss one feeding, that makes it more likely that they will not have the strength to fight for position and get a teat, they fall behind and that would be the end. By the time I became aware of the situation the pup was too weak to suck on a teat or a bottle. I had to scramble for a stomach feeding tube. Two feedings over a few hours brought her back to the point where she could suck again. At 9 weeks she went to a really nice older couple who fell in love with her on sight. Should I have let nature take it's course? As long as I had the will and time to dedicate to this puppy I think not.
The pups that I don't choose for myself will need homes. The fact that I did not choose them doesn't make them poor quality pups that grow up to be poor quality dogs. Everybody wants something different, some simply a pet. I'm happy to say that in my last litter all the pups had good temperament. Some a little feistier than others, some bigger than others, but all are stable manageable dogs. And as fortune had it the majority went to owners that appeared to be perfect for them. The others buyers that I couldn't or didn't have enough time to figure out, paid a good price for the pups, and that's really the only solid indication you'll get that the new owner has intentions of taking care of the dog.
I would be a hypocrite if I said that I care so much about who the pups I bred are going to, to the point I would deny someone a pup if they demonstrated blatant lack of knowledge, or intent to raise a dog in a way that I don't see as ideal. Really it's impossible to control what people will do with a dog that now belongs to them. If that were not the case I would insist they all feed my pups natural food, but this is simply impossible. I will draw the line at some point though, for example with this last litter I told someone I will not sell them a pup when they said they wanted to buy two.
That said, when the pups are growing and and it's becoming more and more time consuming to care for them. And when they're reaching an important stage in their development where more socialization than can be done at home is needed. And when you can see that caring for the other pups doesn't allow you to isolate and focus on the pup you chose to keep, the pups going to new homes becomes a priority. At this point if the emphasis was not yet on selling it will become so. And I found a few things I can do to make the sale happen.
I have to say that I agree with you on the choice that you made to do what you could to save the pup. When you're dealing with such a large number of pups, and only a limited amount of teats, even some of the tougher pups that seem more able can miss feedings. Like you said, only one missed feeding can really affect a pup at such a young age, and can really decrease the odds of being fed pretty rapidly. There may be some out there that would let nature take it's course, but I don't think I would in that case.
How many more pups do you have available? I hope to see that you are able to find homes for them all soon, because I know how time-consuming it is to give them all the attention they require!
Thanks George. Actually I'm speaking in retrospect, all the pups are sold. That is, all but two which I couldn't make up my mind on which to keep for myself. But I did make the final choice yesterday, and started the newspaper ad again. Looks like I have someone coming tomorrow for the last pup. This will be an easy sell because this pup was from the beginning and continues to be the biggest in the litter, and is just a nice pup.
One thing that can't be underestimated is the effect my male has on the people that come to see the pups. He is an impressive dog, and coupled with the videos they've seen of him doing bitework, and obedience that I demonstrate on the spot, they pretty much imagine that is what they're buying. Which brings me to a point I was going to touch on later, about making a mistake which may be particular to selling rottweiler pups.
I like to keep my dogs slim. A slim rottweiler has a normal dog's physical type, obviously with more bone but nothing like what the majority of people expect from a rott. On top of that I shave my dogs 4 times year, I find it takes about 3 months for the hair to get so long that shedding around the house becomes annoying. Couple the slim dog and me foolishly deciding to shave him a few days before the pups turned 8 weeks, and I have a rott that makes half the impression. So I learned it's a good idea to fatten up daddy for right when the pups reach the age they can go to new homes. In Florida the law is no less than 8 weeks which is consistent with my idea of what the minimum age should be. With all but two of the pups gone there's been lots of meat to spare, and daddy has gotten too chunky for my liking within two weeks, and along with the hair growing back some his looks are perfect for the prospective buyers of the last pup.
For the most part this litter was a success. It looks like I achieved what I set out to do and got a copy of my male, and the opportunity to raise/mold him correctly. But also included was a period of time which was the worst I've experienced in my life. One of the male pups had problems moving on to solid food at weaning. Followed two terrible months of him progressively rejecting different types of food, to the point that he would eat nothing. In the last two weeks I kept him alive by feeding with a syringe, goat's milk with a little meat, rice, sugar, and dash of salt mixed in a blender. Everything in my life was on hold and I couldn't do it any more. I also couldn't let him starve to death, so I put him down. I never had anyone close to me die, these were the worst feelings I've experienced ever. He was a good pup, never complained, and stood his ground against the other pups who toward the end were 3 times his size. He always trusted me and I am a traitor having killed him. I never had an intention to write about this, I want to forget, but here it is. So people who are considering breeding know what can happen and the choices that need to be made. A friend of mine said you can have one litter in a lifetime and everything will be fine. But if you start doing it more often it's inevitable you run into these kinds of problems. Again I'm not a person that can sit back and let nature take its course, so right now I feel like I'll leave breeding to the breeders.
a dog like that would need a pretty special owner to deal with all the health problems that he would likely have in his life... also, with eating issues like that, what sort of quality would he have had in the long run...
the little guy was lucky to have had you to take care of him, and then to do the right thing and not put him through a lifetime of problems!
breeding is hard, and it's a gamble... you can do all your homework, put the healthiest dogs together from the best lines, and still end up with a whole litter of puppies with health and/or temperment issues :/
it's far less likely to happen if you've done your research, but you just never know what's going to crop up :(
it shits me no end when people breed dogs simply because "they would make cute pups", or for the money they think they will make from selling the litter, or various other crap reasons... there are enough lovely pet animals and some that would make awesome workers in shelters as it is, with hundreds of thousands being put down every year, without more people adding to the problem and selling indiscrimninately to anyone who can come up with the money.... >_<
glad you've found homes for all your little ones, awesome job for screening all the potential new owners, and good luck with your boy that you're keeping, hope he's everything you want :)
Sorry to hear about the pup Dan, but like Jake and Peter said, it does seem like you did your best. It is definately tough losing a part of the family, whether it be man or dog. Hope to see pics and videos of the pups progression through time.
Thoughts about breeding and sellng pups
Linear Mode
