hi there,
I'm new here but have lurked for a couple of weeks.
I just wanted to ask those of you who do breed, how did it start for you, what made you decide to go into breeding?
Hope to hear from lots of you.

Shane.

whoops!

I married into it. My hubby was breeding & showing dogs for years before I met him!

Edit to add - we met through the dogs as he worked at the same kennels as me, just a few years before I did. & We were introduced to each other by the owner of the kennels. I then went to crufts with him, bought a pup from him - Married him & all downhill from there.  :-D

For me it was a natural progression. At about 12 or 13 I was breeding and exhibiting fancy mice, then I moved up the scale to guinea pigs - dogs were next on the list!
:)

I went the other way on the size scale - moved from showing (and breeding ) Horses and downsized to dogs!
bye
Gwen

I had a bitch and we wanted another working dog AND a showdog so went back to the breeder for advice. 14 years later I'm still looking for advice :D

Hiya,

I've always had dogs, ranging in size from Chi's to GSD's!
I'd always loved any breed, and then one of my best friends got into showing her Chinese Shar-pei, I always went to shows with her and was there when her first litter was born.
That got me thinking about choosing a breed of my own, and I chose GSD's, as they always amazed me with their intellligence and loyalty.
We bought a male, as a pet, and had lots of comments on how beautiful he was, so we decided to show him, just at local shows, and he did well.  Then we decided to get a bitch, and we went for the best possible.
We hoped to have a litter from these two, but then decided to use a top stud dog with our girl....and that's how it all started!!

Lisa

Thanks to those of you who replyed, its very interesting to read them all.
My plan for the future is to breed.
I've owned dogs for the past 28 years and worked with them too in a boarding and breeding kennel where i also learned how to trim dogs too.
It was the best job I ever had!
As its something that i want to do properly and as responsibly as possible i won't be doing it for some years yet ,as i have a fixed idea in my mind of how i want to do it.
I want my children to be a lot older and to have a decent amount of land before starting.
so i will be spending the next few years researching so i can be as prepared as possible.
I'll satisfy myself by showing my cats in the meantime! <G>

Thanks again to all of you who took the time to reply.

Shane.

I was brought up with showing and breeding dogs mum had westies and my dad had  Labs, my sister has saluki's and afghans, so really never know anything different.

My parents firstly had rough collies and then Pom's and very occ. bred them.  I fell in love with SWD's 12 years ago and have had a few litters.  I can tell you now it doesn't get easier as time goes on.   You still ahve the same worries and think did that happen last time!!