HOW TO BECOME AN AMERICAN BULLY BREEDER PART II: FOUNDATION STOCK
In American Bully Breeding 101: Part I we went over several important factors to consider before making the decision to become an American Bully Breeder. We also covered the various American Bully Classes set by the founding registry- the American Bully Kennel Club, also known as the ABKC. If you haven’t read our previous article, it would be a great place to start before beginning this one.
Read: American Bully Breeding 101: Part I
Now that you’ve read Part I and have a basic understanding of the different classes of the American Bully breed you understand that that it’s the dog’s height (and sometimes build) that determine what class they fall under. Now let’s move on to reviewing some of the important things to consider before deciding to have a litter of puppies or becoming a licensed hobby or professional breeder.
AMERICAN BULLY BREEDING 101 PART II: PURCHASING FOUNDATION STOCK
BEFORE DECIDING TO BECOME AN AMERICAN BULLY BREEDER
Before making the commitment to become a breeder, an honest appraisal of your resources is in order. First, do you have the money and time to invest in this endeavor? A large kennel facility is usually not necessary if you get two or three quality “foundation” bitches to begin with. Do you have cash on hand for progesterone testing, artificial inseminations, emergency c-sections, vet bills, and proper care for the dogs and their puppies?
What if your breeding female becomes ill or develops an infection like pyometra? Are you in a financial position to be able to afford unexpected surgeries? Do you have 3–5K saved in the event of an emergency?
The worst possible thing that you can do is decide to become a breeder and then not being able to afford proper care for your dogs in the event of an emergency.
THE COMMITMENT
Perhaps even more important than space and money is the commitment to the dogs and also the puppies that you’ll be producing. For breeders to know if their breeding program is successful, ongoing evaluation of the pups is essential. Most of us do not have unlimited space, so placing pups in good homes where they will receive adequate care, nutrition, training and evaluation is going to be essential.
Once you’ve done your homework, have your resources in order, and have decided on a class, next is making the decision to have a litter or become an American Bully breeder. If you’re ready to make this decision and feel that you’re willing to commit to everything required to responsibly breed dogs, you’re on your way to a good start. The next step in becoming a breeder is to start out by purchasing quality foundation stock.
PURCHASING “FOUNDATION” DOGS
Once you’ve made the decision to responsibly breed American Bullies, have become familiar with the breed standards and have an understanding of the different American Bully Classes, the next step is to begin purchasing foundation dogs. Take your time and do your own research before making any decision. Remember, these will be the foundation upon which you build your entire program. Be careful to not rush out and buy just any dogs. Nothing that lasts can ever be built on a weak foundation.
“First you will need to the right kennel to purchase from. Personally I started out with two males and a female, but that was not the best move. I wish someone had advised us to start with females!
Unfortunately I had to learn through trial and error, but to anyone reading this, you can save 3–4 years of time by listening to me on this one. If your goal is to become a breeder, you’re going to want to start with quality females. You’ll want to get your foundation females from a kennel that has been around for a while.”
– Venomline’s Matt Siebenthal
GET DETAILED PEDIGREE INFORMATION
Be sure to get detailed pedigree information on the dogs to ensure you are getting a quality linebred dog (meaning that the same ancestors appear more than once in the 4 generation pedigree) Linebred dogs will usually produce more consistent litters. Kennels that have been around for a while, that have quality productions (and knows what they’re doing) will usually linebreed.
There are a ton of overnight breeders hyping up their litters and studs as the best thing since sliced bread, but most don’t have the productions to back up their claims. Has the breeder produced any Champions or Grand Champions? How many? What Studs have they produced? Have any of the females produced went on to become quality breeding stock for other kennels? We all see the top picks, but what do the last picks from their litters look like?
PURCHASING A FOUNDATION FEMALES
The answers to these questions will show a lot about the consistency of a breeding program. Do your research and take your time before deciding on the right kennel or breeder to purchase from. Once you’ve come to a decision and purchased a foundation female or females to build your program with, the next step is to decide on a Stud.
DECIDING ON A STUD
Most breeders offer a stud service. If you are new to breeding dogs, you should take advantage of this.
Many that get started in the dog breeding business usually purchase a stud dog or two along with some female dogs. As Venomline discussed above, the better way of going about this is to start off by purchasing female dogs.
When they are ready to be bred you can contact kennels that offer stud service or contact the kennel you purchased the female from for use of their Studs. Housing, feeding, and taking care of stud dogs is expensive and you’re not always guaranteed to have a great stud dog once they mature.
- Using a well known stud can help with litter sales
- You can line breed your dog using the kennel that you purchased your female from. (Line breeding will produce more consistent litters)
- You could end up waiting a year or two only to find out that the male that you purchased didn’t turn out to be a worthy stud dog. (Avoid this all together by using studs from a top breeder)
A lot of breeders end up making the decision to breed their foundation female to a subpar males (usually because that’s what they purchased) The outcome: usually a watered-down version of what was originally intended.
Doing this can set a breeder back several years, whereas “grading up” (the breeding of females on hand to a male of higher quality) can be a shortcut to success.
A STUD VS A “PROVEN” PRODUCER… THERE IS A DIFFERENCE
Any male dog that produces semen has the ability to become a Stud. But, a Stud that is a “Proven Producer” is one that can out produce themselves on a consistent basis. They are the few with the ability to stamp their look with every litter. Top producing dogs are most often inbred or linebred from an outstanding bloodline.
Inbreeding and linebreeding produces a prepotent dog whose genetic material is homozygous. Homozygous is a term that indicates that the gene pairs are the same. Since only one gene is inherited from each parent, if the parents are related, as in inbreeding and line breeding, the chance of doubling up the gene pair is greater than in the case of breeding unrelated dogs, or outcross breeding.
The term prepotent means a dog that can produce offspring with his same characteristics. The reason is that a dog that is homozygous for a certain trait will pass this trait 100% of the time to their offspring.
A dog produced from an outcrossed breeding that is heterozygous (the gene pairs being different) for a certain trait, even though they themselves have the trait will pass the trait on to their offspring only 50% of the time.
A breeding dog needs to be selected based on the dogs bloodline, the method of breeding that produced the dog (inbreeding or line breeding) as well as the individual attributes that the dog will bring to the breeding program.
Understanding these simple principles will help anyone who’s serious about becoming a Top Breeder pass up the competition, sometimes in just a few generations.
SHOW DOGS VS STUD DOGS
One of the biggest mistakes that breeders, novice or veteran, can make is to confuse their show dogs with their breeding dogs. They can be the same. We hope they will be the same. Often they are not.
There are those who say show wins are the indicator of a dog’s value to the breed. In other words, if many judges agree a particular dog is the current ideal in its breed, the dog should be bred to. I agree — but only to a degree.
“A dog can be a truly great show dog and a poor sire. A dog can hate the show ring and never win a point and be an outstanding sire. It is just as simple as that.”
You can get every judge in the country to agree that the dog of the hour is the dog of the hour, but that same dog can be a complete disappointment in the breeding department.
“If a dog’s quality is not realized in the whelping box, all we have is a box full of ribbons and nothing more.”
SHOW DOGS AS PRODUCERS
This is not to say a winning dog cannot also be an outstanding producer. Records prove otherwise. But I cannot stress strongly enough that it is the producing ability that must be looked to and not the show record! Even the outstanding show sire can be misused. Most breeds have had those truly wonderful show dogs who develop records that become the envy of one and all. Unfortunately, they become the envy of too many who feel if a dog is good enough to win every award in sight, it must be good enough to breed every female in sight.
In a way, the popular show dog that produces well only with certain female lines can be very destructive to a breed. A few excellent youngsters emerge from the right combination and the parade begins. Every female that can see lightning and hear thunder is bred to the dog, but the percentage of quality produced is minuscule. The breed takes a big step backward.
TRULY GREAT SIRES
Truly great sires are really few and far between. There’s an old saying I heard somewhere along the way that goes something like, “You can breed that one to a fence post and you’ll still get good pups.”
They are the rare ones, the ones that any breed is lucky to have, but it is highly doubtful that any breed will have such a dog any more than once in any breeder’s lifetime.
— Rick Beauchamp
Richard G. (Rick) Beauchamp is the Best Selling Author of Solving the Mysteries of Breed Type and Breeding Dogs for Dummies. He has judged all breeds throughout the world and was one of the United Kennel Club’s first all breed judges.
ESTABLISHING A BREEDING PLAN
Now that you have a basic understanding of the importance of starting out with quality foundation females as brood stock, as well as the importance of selecting a Stud that’s proven as a Producer, the next step is to establish a breeding plan. Doing this alone will set you apart from the competition. Trust us when we tell you, they’re not doing this.
Breeding a litter of pups is not the same as becoming a breeder and developing a bloodline.
DEVELOPING A BLOODLINE
We have within our breed bloodlines that are known for producing great dogs as well as bloodlines that are known for producing mediocre dogs with certain problems, i.e. conformation faults, health issues, temperament faults etc.
The newcomer that is interested in developing a’ bloodline’ must understand that it is more that having your name carried as a part of the registered name of the dog. It is the development of a family of dogs that breed true for breed characteristics that you deem as essential and desirable, and that have been selectively bred into your family of dogs.
As you begin developing your own bloodline, your dogs should carry their own, distinct look.
