WE LOVE OUR AIREDALE AND WANT TO BREED HER

Dear Jubilee:

As the subject states... "We Love our Ginger!!!".  Ginger is our almost 2 year old Airedale.  She is as much a part of our family as the kids. In fact, she thinks she is one of the kids but don't tell her any different. The reason I am contacting you is that the next time she comes in heat, we would like to have her bred.

I am trying to find a stud for her. Do you know of someone who offers stud service and what the fee normally is? We are not show dog type people.. we just love the breed.  The other issue that I am contacting you about is that I would like to get her AKC registered but am not sure how to go about it. She is a pure breed Airedale but I never received the papers from the breeder. This is really not that important to us it is just that if I went to sell the puppies as "Airedale" I would want the proof. Again your help with my questions would be appreciated. It is a wonderful breed and I would like to share the "Airedale Love" with the rest of the world.

Thank you,
Airedale Lover

Dear Airedale Lover:

Why do you want to breed Ginger? You say that you love her, that she is as much a part of your family as your kids: why would you want to put her life at risk by breeding her?

I had a female that almost died as a result of having puppies. This is not uncommon, but we had the support of vets and the breeder of our dog to help us through our ordeal and to make sure that everything came out all right. Female dogs can develop uterine infections among other infections after giving birth. Unattended by a breeder who knows what to watch for and a vet that knows and understands canine reproduction, these dogs are at a high risk to die a painful death. And, in those cases, the pups may not survive. In our case, we had to tube feed our puppies. That meant, we had to stick a tube down their throats into their stomachs and gently and slowly push the formula into them. If we had chosen the wrong side of the throat, the formula would have gone into the lungs and suffocated the puppy. If the tube had been too long, it would have perforated the stomach and killed the puppy. Since our puppies were not nursing, they were also dehydrated. We had to hydrate them with a needle stuck under their skin to deliver a fluid solution that would keep them hydrated. Since newborn puppies cannot poop or urinate without their mother stimulating them, we had to do this as well. With eight puppies, we had to work around the clock to nourish, clean and relieve them. We saved all of the puppies with a lot of work. The mother, thanks to the prompt action of a reproduction vet and the local emergency clinic (as well as to the breeder who sold her to us and who flew in to help us) also survived. But she had to be spayed at 11:00 p.m.: her medical bills came to well over $2000, and it took her several weeks to recover.

If you are not breeding to improve the breed, why would you put a beloved family pet at risk of her life? I cannot imagine any reason for doing that. And, if you want to improve the breed, you have to be concerned with the proper conformation of the Airedale and the potential recessive genes in the dogs in the litters or the dogs behind her? Is there a history of things like hip dysplasia, juvenile kidney disease, eye problems, inverted eyelashes, neurological problems, elbow dysplasia, temperament problems? To certify her, you need to take her to an experienced radiologist and have her hips x-rayed and then sent to the Orthopedics Foundation for Animals (OFA) to be read and certified. You should not breed any dog that does not pass OFA. Nor should you breed to any dog that has not passed OFA. It is not enough to have a local vet do the x-rays and tell you they are OK: too often these dogs are not OK and would not pass OFA. The cost for doing this correctly is around $250. It must be done before she comes in heat and before she is bred.

If you do not know that the dogs in the pedigree of your desired puppies are not fully healthy with no genetic problems, why would you want to bring puppies into the world that are at risk of developing problems? If your puppies develop problems like hip dysplasia or any of the other 30 or 40 genetic problems that Airedales can have, are you prepared to help the families deal with the grief that they will have? Are you prepared to reimburse them what they paid for their puppy? Or, are you prepared to provide them another puppy later on? 

Are you sure that you can find good homes for all of the puppies? Are you willing to spend approximately six to eight hours interviewing and screening each prospective family? Are you willing to provide them with books, articles, and information on feeding, training, and caring for their puppy? What will you do if you place a puppy in a home and five years down the road, the family has a life change and cannot keep the dog? Are you prepared to take the dog back and find it another home? What if one of your puppies ends up in a shelter? Are you prepared to go to the shelter and rescue it and find it a good home? 

Do you have any idea of what is involved in raising and socializing a litter of Airedale puppies until they are eight weeks old or older? They should not go to their homes any earlier than seven weeks: until then, they need to learn from their mother and their siblings, things that if they do not learn at the appropriate age may prevent them from becoming wonderful dogs like Ginger (It can happen, but not usually). They also need you to provide a lot of new experiences for them so that they are ready to take on the world fearlessly. They need proper socialization so that they do not become fearful of new things which can lead to being fear biters.

Are you prepared to have eight or more wood-chewing, pooping, peeing, getting-into-everything, know-it-all, good-sized, energetic puppies chewing and messing up your woodwork, furniture, floors, and more? As one old-time Airedale person said to a breeder of a smaller breed of terriers: "Airedale puppies are house wreckers." They are, and for us, each litter leaves its marks and holes to be repaired after they have left us.

What do you know of the pedigrees behind your dog? Since your dog came without papers, you may not be able to register her or find out anything about the dogs behind her. The breeder has to register the litter with the American Kennel Club in order for you to get an AKC registration for the puppies, and they have to do that within a certain time after the puppies are born. If you do not have this information, you do not know enough to be thinking of breeding your dog.

Do you know anything about how to pick a stud dog? Do you realize that if anyone has a good dog at stud, they will not breed it to just any Airedale. A reputable stud dog owner will require thorough knowledge of your dog's pedigree, AKC registration, health history of the dogs behind your dog, certification of clear hips from OFA or PennHip, clear tests for venereal diseases. Yes, dogs do get venereal disease that can ruin the stud dog. You will want to make sure that you get the same certifications from the stud dog owners, otherwise, Ginger could be at risk and you might not get puppies.

Are you really sure that you want to breed Ginger? It is a lot of work, a lot of money, and a lot of potential heartbreak. There is much more to breeding than having a female that you love. Having a female that you love should make you stop and think long and hard about the dangers to her and the possible heartbreak for you and your children. If you want your children to have the joy of a litter of puppies, go to the humane society and rescue a litter that someone has disposed. If you want your children to understand the value of a dog, do something good for dogs. Help out with Airedale rescue or consider rescuing an Airedale.

Every year, too many Airedales are bred by "back-yard" breeders. Their offspring too often go to homes that are not screened and that do not understand Airedales. Only the real lucky ones end up like Ginger in a home like yours. Many of these puppies end up in the back yard because no one can handle them. When they are a year or two or three, the family throws in the towel, and the dog ends up in Rescue. A few wonderful people across the state search for these dogs, find them, look for homes to foster them while their health needs are met, have them neutered, find wonderful, qualified homes for them, and make whatever kind of arrangements needed to transfer them to their new homes. Their breeders, if they are known, would not take them back, want nothing to do with them, and would not help the owners. I get letters from people who buy these puppies without any knowledge of the Airedale temperament, and they are at their wit's end because they  do not know how to train their dogs; they have let the dogs take over their homes.

If you had an Airedale of breedable quality, you would also have a breeder who would require that you breed the dog to a dog that the breeder knew would work with their lineage. Reputable breeders have worked long and hard to produce a quality dog.  They do not want to see their lineage ending up in the pedigrees of dogs that end up in rescue. A reputable breeder will guide you through the process of the breeding, the whelping, and the raising and socializing of the puppies.

Since you are writing to people like me looking for a stud dog, I can only assume that you do not have a breeder to help you. And that makes me assume that as wonderful and lovable as Ginger is, she is not a dog that you should breed. In fact, you should have her spayed so that she will not develop pyometra (a life-threatening uterine infection) or breast cancer (fairly common in unspayed females -- are you checking for it?). She should be spayed so that she will not be accidentally impregnated by an unknown dog and end up with a litter of lovable cross-breeds that you will be very difficult to place.

I am sorry to have to raise so many tough issues with you. I have seen the results of haphazard breedings. I have transferred dogs that were too ill or too abused to be saved and I have held them and hugged them while they were euthanized, giving them the love they deserved but never got because they never had a family that loved them like you love Ginger. Most of them, I am willing to bet, came from a mother who was as loved as your Ginger.

Please, do not breed Ginger. Spay her and if you want another Airedale, buy one from a reputable ATCA (Airedale Terrier Club of America) breeder or adopt one from an Airedale Rescue Organization. Both the contacts for the breeders and for the Rescue people are on the ATCA web site at www.airedale.org. 

I certainly understand and applaud your desire to share your joy in and love of the breed -- that Airedale Love -- with the rest of the world. There are better ways to do it than by breeding Ginger. With your love of the breed, you could help others rescue those unwanted Airedales that I told you about earlier in this letter. You could become a foster home for Airedales, helping them find wonderful homes like yours. Even help raise money to pay for their medical and transportation expenses. Rescue could sure benefit from someone like you with so much love for Airedales. 

Thank you for contacting me. Please think about the things that I have said.

Jubilee