The Truth About the Need to Breed: Inspiring Breeders to Become More Active

I’m in “breeder mode.” My focus is on wanting more people to breed their dogs and breed more often. My goal is to cultivate and inspire a new audience to become more active as AKC breeders. I’m reminded that what keeps the American Kennel Club viable is the birth of dogs. The integrity of the stud book is paramount, of course, but the actual production of dogs and registration of all those dogs with the AKC is what keeps that entity viable. And so, as a person who breeds under the banner of the American Kennel Club, it’s important to me that its integrity stays intact, and with that comes a responsibility to breed. And the responsibility to breed is what brings us all together. We are all obligated to understand the urgent need to breed.

I’ve started to think about why we breed dogs. What is the whole point here? Breeders know that breeding dogs is an intensive exercise. It’s not something to do lightly and it requires a great deal of energy and resources and devotion, and yet it’s a practice that’s been happening since the beginning of the canine experience. Since dogs have existed, they’ve fulfilled a need in the world. Originally it was a functional situation, that we needed an animal to do certain things. Those core purposes included hunting, herding, guarding, and pest control, for example. But some of those needs have been diminished through technology. We don’t need some animals as desperately as we did “back in the day.” With the advent of the gun and locks and alarms, we don’t need them as much for guarding, and so, dogs evolved to becoming an integral part of the family. This was the advent of the family companion animal. People in the 1950s and ‘60s were often breeding dogs as a kind of family experiment, to basically show the kids how life is created. There was some feel-good need to breeding; two kids and a dog is what it evolved into, and the dog became a source of great comfort as well as part of the very definition of the modern nuclear family, where adding a dog completed the classic mid-20th-century suburban American ideal. Now we understand that people are breeding dogs today out of compassion and a devotion to your breed, and the continued need for unconditional companionship.

Knowing that registration numbers with the AKC have significantly dropped over the last 20- 30 years, we can no longer assume that most families share their lives with a dog. This is troubling to me and it should be to each and every one of us in the sport. The canine companion animal is perhaps once again being replaced in the family by technology. Today’s “typical” family doesn’t necessarily include a dog, but it likely includes a laptop or iPad. Which begs the questions: Has the pet been replaced by the Internet? Has it been replaced by an app to play a game? Have we turned to a more computerized activity to replace the interactions that a child would otherwise have with a pet? Are kids falling asleep with a computer in their bed instead of a puppy? Well, I think they are, and so that’s yet another hurdle for today’s breeder to overcome. After all, having a pet is a lot of work for families when both parents have full-time jobs, and maybe a job and a half. For some, it’s become harder and harder to incorporate a dog into family life.

However, now more than ever, today’s breeders are obligated to understand the need to breed, and the need to inspire a child or a newcomer to the advantages of a purebred dog. We can forget how we came to the art form that is breeding dogs. As breeders, we can forget, as we climb up the ladder as breeders, that spark of interest that happens when you see a purebred dog on the street corner, in a newspaper article, or in a fashion ad where someone sees an Afghan Hound with all that glorious coat and the exotic eye and asks, “What is that and how can I get one?” That was what happened with the Chinese Shar-Pei when it appeared on the cover of LIFE magazine, and three-quarters of the population said they needed one—and then breeders became active. Or when a rare breed wins an award at a televised dog show and a segment of the population says, “I’ve got to get one of those.” We often forget that that inspiration is what moves breeds forward, and we have to breed in order to fill that want. We need breeders to breed! We need people to continually harken back on those memories of what it meant to find your breed of choice. Ask yourself how you came across your breed. What did that circumstance evoke in you and make you say, “Hey, I’ve got to have one of those?” And from there, what made you decide to breed it, market it, show it, and find others who are equally inspired by the look, by the temperament, by the conformation, and by purpose of your breed? This is what we all must do to reinvest in the future of the AKC and the sport. This is our obligation to our sport and our dog breeds.

Some longtime breeders may think it’s too late, that we’ve lost the current generation, but I would question that and here’s why: Most people don’t come to the sport as young people. I do think that while many people have been influenced by the “adopt don’t shop” movement, they will go through the lifespan of their pitbull or mongrel mix, deal with things like a hypersensitivity to shampoo or unpredictable behaviors, and turn to a more educated purchase, which is something that happens with age and experience, and realize, “Oh, wait a minute. I wanted a guard dog that was loyal and that would protect me and be an alarm for me and my family, not one that would be trigger sensitive and noise sensitive, and has some inherent genetic disorder with allergies from who knows where.” Then they’ll do some research and realize what they really wanted was an Anatolian Shepherd Dog or a Kuvasz or a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. Those are better fits than the “adopt don’t shop” dog that was simply available at the time. And that is why we continue to breed, so they can buy from an established breeder who has put time and effort into cultivating generation after generation of quality purebred dogs; breeders who are there for you, even though you didn’t know where to find them.

So, by becoming more active as breeders, we are providing availability of animals to those who are searching. Just by being there, we act as agents of change in the market. You want a Westie? Well, they’re available. You want a Bichon? Well, they’re available. You need to have a Russian Toy? We have them waiting! Supplying the demand is important; so too are buyers who don’t turn away from the purebred in favor of the unpredictable, yet easily accessible, fad-bred puppy.

Now we’re showing consumers that conservation breeders exist. Today we have become more accessible with websites and online marketing, Facebook and Instagram, and it’s easy to Google where to find us. And there are even tools online to help determine what kind of dog is right for you. I know the American Kennel Club has a feature where you put in the traits you want in your dog and it narrows the field for you. A “Which Breed is Best for You” questionnaire. I like that and think it’s good, but we can’t forget the visceral reaction to dogs in our AKC system. That emotional spark of interest behind the desire to get “one of those.” And each one of us who is breeding dogs today has been that spark for multiple people. Your work in the whelping box touched something in someone and it resulted in a sale, a partnership, a mentorship, and possibly a lifelong devotee to your breed.

There is a need to breed. It is an answer to the diminishing registration problem, and it will also benefit the diminishing dog show entry problem. Two more reasons to produce another litter!! Breeding MORE will assist with the two downward trajectories plaguing our sport. We need to be more visible and more available, and the only way to be more available is to breed more. It is really that simple. We need those of us already in the sport to become more involved in breeding dogs, and if you are already breeding a litter, we need you to breed a few more. My plea is that you all consider having one additional litter. Those of you who do have one litter, could you have two?? We need you to do this every year so that in five years, you’ll have had six litters or more. That is helping the cause. That is building a breeding program, and that is filling supply which is bringing awareness to your breed. But we can’t do it alone. It requires more of us to breed more. Currently, there aren’t enough of us who are breeding five or more litters a year. The majority in the show arena only produce one litter every two or three years. They’re not having multiple litters year after year after year. Today, in most breeds, we don’t have one kennel that has more than three litters annually.

More than thirty years ago, there were approximately 1.5 million dogs registered with the American Kennel Club, and now we’re down to 400,000. Yet there are still people getting dogs, adopting and shopping, and buying a “rescue dog.” (I hate to even call it a rescue.) They are actually taking in an unwanted dog, likely from an unplanned breeding and maybe out of pity, and providing it with housing for 12 or so years. (Recall that visceral response, the emotional pull to get a dog.) That’s a home that’s been lost to us because that family can probably only afford one, and that dog was found in the Walmart parking lot!

Families will continue to get a dog from someone other than us if we continue to self-limit the numbers of dogs we produce and register each year. And we shouldn’t let proposed anti-breeder legislation intimidate us either. People use that as an excuse for not breeding, meaning, “Well, I can only have so many dogs, so therefore I can’t breed a litter.” That’s just not true. There are only a handful of counties that currently forbid breeding. Typically, there are only limits to the number of dogs you may own. There may be limits to your breeding activity but none that prohibits it. They are only forbidding volume. So, yes, you can have a (another) litter. You might not be able to have six litters, but you can certainly have one or two litters a year and sell or place those puppies successfully. And to be clear, I don’t buy into the fact that our quality puppies are so difficult to find homes for. I totally disagree. Are you trying hard enough to place them? I keep a long waiting list. How can they be hard to place, whatever breed it is, when we know there are breeds that should be hard to place but have thriving companion populations? Look at the successful work of the Cane Corso breeders placing their dogs? I think the issue is a marketing problem, not an over-population issue.

You know, I’ve got Dolly Parton on my mind since she passed away; she inspired generation after generation of people to do better and to be good people. She showed us many acts of kindness and generosity through her life’s work as an artist. Well, we each have that ability as dog breeders to showcase what we’ve done, and to bring in people to the dog community by setting a positive tone for breeders and exhibitors to be more welcoming (which we’ve talked about ad nauseum, but it can’t hurt to reiterate it again). We are the ones standing in the way of our growth. We are the gatekeepers, and what we need to do is open the gate and let the people in, bring them in, show them the way, lead by example, and teach them our best practices. Be less judgmental and more open, and shepherd them in and guide them, teach them and train them. That is how we do it, how we start growing our sport.

The need to breed is real. The time to breed is now. It’s time to start making plans for the next generation.