Dogs All-in-One For Dummies by Consumer Dummies

Author:Consumer Dummies
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2010-04-20T16:00:00+00:00

You now face the small-breeder’s dilemma: deciding which to keep — the females who have proven they can produce for you or the females who have been produced and are one step farther along in your quest for improvement?

One solution is partnership. Working closely with a partner, even the most limited breeder can create miracles. Naturally, the partners must have basically similar goals in mind and agree on what constitutes the essence of the breed. Both partners must also be dedicated to setting type and maintaining it. And neither should be unduly influenced by win records or fads and fancies. The partnership is a marriage of sorts. Be sure to pick someone with whom you’re compatible.

A good many, if not most of Great Britain’s great show-winning dog exports to America were dogs whelped in the most modest of homes — in the kitchen behind the stove, so to speak. The dogs shared living quarters with their owners, and their exercise came from being put out in the garden several times a day and from taking walks around the block with dad or the kids.

It’s not how elaborately the dogs are kept — it’s how good they are that counts.

Establishing and maintaining type in this day and age isn’t easy. But then, it never really was, except perhaps for the few breeders blessed with the means to maintain those super kennels of the past. Can it be done today? Of course it can.

Small hobby breeders all over the world limit themselves to one litter a year or less. These small but important breeders are counted among the most influential in their respective breeds. Their influence didn’t come about in a day, a week, or a year. It took time.

So You Have Puppies: Now What?

If you want to increase the chances of raising your puppies right — and be reassured that your puppies are “normal” — knowing how puppies mature is helpful. As with children, growth stages each have their wonders and their challenges. The stages pass too quickly, so to get the most out of the puppy experience, clear your calendar of nondog activities and keep your eyes open.

All puppies look much the same when they’re born. You find size and marking differences, but they each come into this world looking something like a sausage, with tiny ears, tiny legs, and tightly closed eyes. Things start to change before long.

Although people have raised puppies for thousands of years, most of what we know about how people can influence a puppy’s development — and about developmental stages in puppies — goes back only around 50 years, starting with the work of John Paul Scott and John L. Fuller in the 1950s. From their “school for dogs” in Bar Harbor, Maine, came the basis of what trainers and breeders have been using to get the most out of dogs ever since. Animal Behavior (John Paul Scott, University of Chicago Press) is a fascinating, if dated, place to start a study of dog behavior.

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