Breeding is the process of mating dogs resulting in puppies. Dogs breeding are not an off-the-cuff activity and needs to be taken seriously. Some grounding needs to be done and choices need to be made before one elects to raise puppies. Pet dogs can be bred at home by the owners if one goes for a bit of research beforehand.
The owner will be called a breeder if they go for deliberate breeding of their dog but one should be highly trained at first and should only breed if they are able to provide loving homes for the pups. If these considerations are not taken care of owners may give rise to numerous stray dogs and the best preventive measure for this is neutering.
Reasons for Dog Breeding
Before breeding, the owner should make sure that, what is their true reason so that they can select the Dam (The Bitch in Reproductive Phase) and the Stud (Male Dog) according to the sought after qualities. There are various reasons for breeding:
Working Dogs
These include, guard, hunting or search dogs and dogs with high intelligence levels and strength are bred for these purposes e.g. German Shepherd, Rottweiler or Alsatian breeds.
Show Dogs
Show dogs are created by breeding, raising and training dogs in order to get out the best superlative qualities from a bloodline. This might take account of color, shape, size, nature, obedience, and general form.
Pet Dogs
Pet Raising is a treasured activity for some owners and they do breeding shear out of love. They breed to get more dogs to raise as pets.
Dogs for Sale
Some people go for breeding in order to make money by selling the puppies and going on a road to riches.
Breeding Age
Mostly Dams start coming into heat or start having their estrus cycles at six to nine months of age and then come into heat after every six months subsequently. Rarely though some dams come into their first heat at four months while some at twelve months even. Heat cycle of all dams vary, so one should keep trail of what the dam is doing and when.
It is best to breed the dams on the third or fourth heat or say after one and a half or two years of age, after getting proper and complete genetic and assuring that the dam is now an adult and ready for breeding. The dog should also physically be able to bear the strain of carrying and delivering puppies.
Types of Breeding
Next, determine the type of breeding that needs to be done. There are mainly three types of dogs breeding, used for different reasons, one needs to plan on any one of inbreeding, line breeding or out-crossing.
Inbreeding
Inbreeding refers to breeding dogs that are diligently related to each other, such as full brother and sister, or it can be half-brother and half-sister or sometimes even the parent and offspring.
Line Breeding
Line breeding makes use of a bitch and the male dog that have a common ancestor but cannot be termed as otherwise closely related.
Out-crossing
Out-crossing is when the dam and the stud do not share any common ancestor and are totally not related to each other.
Mostly practiced breeding is Inbreeding and line breeding where the intention of the owner is to conserve the physiognomies and characteristics of the line, while , in case when correction of any flaws in the line is desired, out-crossing is the best option.
