Thought It would be nice....

[winniecnm]

In light of the seemingly endless posts in this forum about irresponsible breeding, I thought it would be a nice change to ask all the WONDERFUL, RESPONSIBLE breeders on our forums a few questions.....;)

How long have you been breeding??

How did you start your kennel??

What lines did you start with??

What is your greatest achievement as a breeder??

And most importantly - What are your goals for the future of your breeding program??

I know that there are some aspiring breeders - myself included- out there who would love to hear about how some of the great breeders on this forum got it all started so please do tell.:)

[rottweiler_fancier]

Excellent topic - I hope maybe there will be a few good replies :)

[JFred]

I've always been interested in animals. As a kid I raised 2 ducks in the basement had turtles ,a large bunny who used a litter box The list could go on and on.I started out breeding dogs with absolutely no knowledge of linebreeding, out crossing or even confirmation. I learned because I was so determined and found good mentors. I started as "BYB".That was over 30 yrs ago.

I had no idea how to work with a pedigree and evaluate lines. I bought a couple of females out of the local newspaper, found a male that I liked and bred them. I bred very few litters so I didn't do too much damage.

Some of my greatest achievements were achieved when I was working with Whippets. I learned how to access every individual as far as confirmation and then to test that dog to see if he could perform the task that he was originally bred to do.We finished several racing champions and also confirmation champions. I was able to finish a beautiful male both in the ring as well as on the track. He was the 6th dog in the history of the breed to do so.I think the thing I'm most proud of is the fact that I maintained a reputation for having some of the finest working Whippets in the USA and for being honest.My father taught me very early that if a man/woman's word is not good, then he has nothing.

My goals with the Rottweilers are unclear as yet. I bought them to breed but there's just so much going on out there now with this breed ..I don't know if I that will ever happen. Should I ever decide to breed I certainly will be well informed.In the meantime we're enjoying them and they have it pretty cushy here. I've never put an obedience title on a dog. That's something I'm considering. Not a very exciting career but it's been great fun.

Bennie Sue

Bennie Sue

[JFred]

Hey guys, am I the only idiot out here who wants to fess up to how I got started? It certainly wouldn't take much to top my pathtic past. OR, is there something about this thread that I don't know? PM me if I'm clueless.

Bennie Sue

[alexav]

Thank you for the reply, Jfred! That was informative, interesting, and more than encouraging.

I am waiting for more and I am a little disappointed that others have not posted yet...

I may just return and post the reasons why I stopped after one painstakingly researched, brilliantly excecuted, responsibly bred, pre-homed litter.;)

[MARYDVM]

I guess I could reply here, although I am no longer a breeder. My foundation bitch was Radio Ranch (double Axel grand daughter) and Donnaj (Yankee grandaughter) - doesn't that date me! I got her as a show prospect with a puppy due back to her breeder. So after her hips came back excellent, and she earned her CDXTDX we had some puppies. I bred four litters, 3 from Val, and one from her daughter Brick that produced a total of fifteen living puppies. Brick won WB and BOS at the Canadian national specialty, and Bred-by at the Colonial specialty. She also produced my fourth litter, the "disaster" litter with 4 out of 5 puppies developing OCD of the hocks. That was the end of breeding for me. I'm not tough enough to be the breeder and the vet when things go wrong with the babies. My first litter produced the best for uniform quality and temperament, but all but Brick ended up as pets in my friend's homes. As I think back, the most pleasure I got was from my own dog's training and achievements(nothing will top that TDX) so I guess I wasn't cut out to be a breeder after all.

[JFred]

This will date me as well. My interest in Rottweilers began many yrs ago when a Dog World cover page was 2 incredibly beautiful Rottweilers. I knew that someday I would have one. Thanks for sharing that. Fortunately for the world of dogs, not everyone was as uninformed as I was.

Bennie Sue

[Homerhomer]

With a number of members of this forum breeding I am surprised how litle response this got.

[roscoe]

It should be no suprise at all.

[Roscoe's dad]

It is labor day weekend, come Monday afternoon and Tuesday a lot of people will be back on line. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the holiday;)

[RottnKid1]

This is a good thread with questions that deserve answering. I'll be totally honest. I haven't responded for a several reasons. 1. Although I was a very responsible and caring breeder, I don't feel as though I'm in the category of wonderful breeders. 2. I no longer breed - all my energy goes into rescue these days. 3. Here's the kicker! I didn't want to deal with the flack I'm going to get. But hey, I'm a big girl and you deserve some answers.;)

Rather than answering the question "numerically," it'll be much easier for me to just tell the story - it's a long one, so I hope you're patient.:)

I bought my first Rottweiler pup 7 yrs. ago. Please understand that I've had dogs ALL my life - purebreds, mixed breeds and crosses - and I'm an experienced dog and horse person. I also have people in my family who were experienced breeders. My sister used to breed Dachshunds and my brother-in-law bred GSD's for the police (in CT). (My father bred horses - that's an interesting and inspiring story in itself, but I'll spare you) Anyway, I checked out this breeder and heard nothing negative, so I bought Katawna. By the time Katawna was 6 mos. old, she was so severely dysplastic and in so much pain that we took her to Tufts for bilateral TPO surgery (she's doing fine, BTW). I felt it was my responsibility to notify the breeder. Yes, there was a guarantee, but I didn't want to return my pup - it was just for informational reasons that I notified her. She appeared very caring and even came to visit Katawna often after the surgeries. She even offered to let me keep Katawna and give me another pup. Wow, a decent breeder! WRONG!

In the course of all the visits, this breeder told me she was moving from Royalston, MA to a town in NH which was about 45 minutes away from me. She asked if I would take care of a few dogs for a week or two while she set up proper housing for the dogs in the new place. Of course I would care for the dogs!!! I adore Rottweilers and would totally enjoy having them here. At this point, I should also mention that having a few full grown Rottweilers at my home, was, I thought, a Godsend! My daughter(a young girl at the time) had been sexually assaulted by someone I knew and worked with - his whole "fam damnly" worked where I did and lived in the same town. We were going for a secret grand jury indictment to protect against any attempt to "change our minds" before it was a done deal. BTW, he was terrified of Rottweilers!

Well, I didn't end up with a few dogs, but a truck, bus and trailer load of dogs - Rottweilers, Filas, GSD's, Pit Bulls, Maramas, Dobermans. Even an American Bulldog and a Jack Russell Terrier and a number of Pit/Rottie crosses. These dogs were emaciated, unsocialized - you name it! I had well over 30 dogs here. It turned out that this "breeder" had a partner in CT and that's where most of the dogs had been! The poor souls arrived here in barrels, two to each barrel! As I said, these dogs were emaciated and most were totally unsocialized - hadn't dealt with humans except to be thrown some food every now and then. Our local shelter couldn't have contained this amount of dogs, not to mention that they wouldn't have had the time, manpower or experience to deal with a bunch of unsocialized, unfriendly, powerful dogs. So, I determined that I would rehabilitate these dogs by feeding them well and working with them to at least give them a chance for adoption. I also "befriended" the "breeder" to learn all that I could about the operation/scam. I'd worked for the police dept. for 10 yrs. and had learned a lot.:D I probably shouldn't admit this, but I stole a good deal of dog food to care for these dogs. I certainly couldn't afford to feed them all without some "extra help." At first, I couldn't get near many of them and had to feed and water them in such a way as to prevent any contact. After a bit, they began to trust me. I spent an untold amount of hours working with them! Louie and several of my family members helped me out, so the dogs also got used to other people. And oh boy, did I ever learn a lot about this "breeder" and her partner! They were breeding litter upon litter and many of the dogs were being sold to drug dealers in CT. Most of the AKC papers were bogus - they were even using all different names to register the dogs - and these pups were usually not even from the stated parents. Just as a note, a number of the pups were from Moby lines, but couldn't be registered as such because the whole litter was bought (without the bitch), so this was considered wholesaling. Besides that, the partner who was the actual head of this operation, had his AKC privileges suspended. Oh, and I should tell you that the Moby litter was bought from someone who'd bred their bitch to him - not from the owners of Moby. I should also tell you that the partner had actually started off as an excellent breeder and trainer, but had turned bad. After I got the dogs in decent shape and worked with them extensively, I turned these people in to the authorities. Oh, the authorities put on a good show, but not a d*** thing ended up being done and I put my life, my family's lives and my dog's lives on the line to turn these people in - yes, I heard the stories of what happened to people who crossed them. When I turned them in, we found out that at the previous residence, there were dead dogs still tied to trees - some had died of illness and starvation and some had been shot where they stood. There were dead dogs in crates in the basement of the house, too. So when the so-called sh** hit the fan, I had, here at my house, the NH State Police, Troy Police, Royalston Police, Troy Animal Control, animal investigators from our local shelter and from Royalston and the NH TV news. The dogs ended up being impounded at my house since the shelter didn't have the capacity to house them and also so I could work with them some more. After all that, AND putting everyone here at risk of retaliation, NOTHING was done!!! The "breeder" and her partner were allowed to home the dogs out themselves, there was no jail time and even the $100.00 fine was waived! I sure hope that after my call to AKC, they suspended the privileges of both parties forever. The problem is, they register litters with different names and locations, so AKC has no way of keeping track.

Now, that was just the prelude to the reason that I decided to breed. Told you this would be long!

These horrible people had been putting out unhealthy Rottweilers with bogus papers and questionable temperaments. There was another Rottweiler puppy mill here in NH - a bit north of me. I'd been hearing horror stories of the dogs coming out of there, too. We needed someone in the area who would offer Rottweilers who were as healthy as possible with excellent temperaments, who had legitimate papers and a breeder who would do things right and be responsible for the pups for their entire lives. That's why I decided to breed.

To make this saga a bit shorter, one of the dogs this "breeder" had was my dog, Boss (Basko Vom Sig Sauer Haus). He'd been stolen from his rightful owner in CT. He was microchipped and we found the owner. Boss had been put through h***. He had infections in his eyes, ears and sinuses, he was 25 lbs. underweight, had an awful abcess on his neck from the horrid collar rubbing on him while he was tied out in the woods with no food, water or shelter and he was infested with worms. We got him all fixed and went to CT to meet his owner. Of course, Boss was NOT the same dog as he'd been. He'd also been physically abused. The owner was wary of taking him back because he had two toddlers. Louie and I were thrilled! Boss was turned over to us with all his paperwork from the time he was 8 weeks old. The owner had also begun showing Boss (USRC) and he'd done great! We also were given his critique. We worked with Boss to return him to the dog he once was - and we've succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. He's gone from a very dangerous dog to one who loves everyone he meets and he's also achieved his CGC which was a BREEZE for him. When we were sure there weren't any temperament problems and the behavior had been as a result of abuse, we had all the health screening done and set out to find a worthy bitch. That was our Kim. Same story as far as health clearances. Her temperament couldn't be beat - what an awesome dog she was. She'd also been conformationally evaluated by a qualified judge.

And so began my breeding.

My greatest accomplishment was producing beautiful, healthy, intelligent Rottweilers with correct temperaments who have happy, excellent homes with families who adore them. One pup (sorry, they're dogs now) is my assistance dog, one is a therapy dog and one saved the life of a young girl.

As far as my lines, there are quite a few Rodsdens, there's Beaverbrook, Birch Hill, Graudstark, Srigo, Donnaj, Radio Ranch - great dogs such as Falco, Ives, Dux, Bronco, Bengo, Ferdinand, etc.

I have no future breeding goals since I no longer breed. My priorty is rescue, which my family and I have been doing forever anyway.

Bet you never expect THIS LONG of an answer. Please keep your fingers crossed that this isn't read by the "breeder" or her partner. I don't worry for myself, but I'm really afraid of what they'd do to my dogs. Of course, then I'd end up in jail because harming my dogs WILL NOT be tolerated.

Just one more thing to set the record straight. No, I did not title my dogs. So fire away.

[alexav]

Thanks Rottnkid1,
Awesome story. Wow, what you've been through! Thanks for taking the time to write it all.

So, I guess the thing that is keeping others from replying is that they fear some heavy criticism from others.
Just an idea... Can we make a member "pact" that no'one gets ridiculed or picked on for posting in this thread? I for one will promise not to critique anyone's breeding program and I think it is a GREAT thread for others to learn from.

So please, let's not discourage anyone from telling their stories. Agreed?:)

[RottnKid1]

I'll also definitely agree to that pact! Hey, we all had to start somewhere!!!

[RottnKid1]

Come on breeders! If those of us who posted could bare our souls and reveal our flaws, so can you!:)

[Phoenix]

Originally posted by alexav
Can we make a member "pact" that no'one gets ridiculed or picked on for posting in this thread?

This should not even be an issue. These forums are here for people to ask questions and to learn, not for people to get picked on or ridiculed. There should be NO FEAR for ANY member of these forums that a questions or post that they make will be answered in a manner that will cause them to feel like an idiot for doing what they did or thinking what they thought.

Originally posted by RottnKid1
Come on breeders! If those of us who posted could bare our souls and reveal our flaws, so can you!:)

The original poster asked a question. People will answer if they want to. Please do not make people feel pressured to respond.