Your breeder cares…

THE BREEDER

I love my little puppy, she makes my house a home.
She is my very sweetest little friend, I never feel alone.
She makes me smile, she makes me laugh, she fills my heart with love…
Did some person breed her or did she fall from above?

I’ve never been a breeder, never seen life through their eyes.
I hold my little puppy and just sit and criticize.
I’ve never known their anguish, I’ve never felt their pain.
The caring of their charges, through snow, wind or rain.

I’ve never waited the whole night through for babies to be born.
The stress and trepidation when they’re still not there by morn.
The weight of responsibilty for this body in my hands.

This darling little baby who weighs but 60 grams!

Should you do that instead of this…or maybe that was wrong?

Alone you fight and hope, one day he’ll grow up proud and strong.
You pray he’ll live to bring great joy to someone else’s home.
You know it’s all just up to you…you’ll fight this fight alone.

Fomula, bottles, heating pads, you’ve got to get this right.
Two-hour feedings for this tiny guy, 
throughout the day and night.
Within your heart you dread that you will surely lose this fight.
To save this little baby, but God willing…you just MIGHT!

Day one: he’s in there fighting, you say a silent prayer.
Day two & three: he’s doing well, with lots of love and care.
Day four & five: he’s still alive, your hopes soar to the heavens.
Day six: he slips away and dies in your hands.
Day seven…

 You take this little angel and bury him alone.
With aching heart and burning tears, and an exhausted groan.
You ask yourself, “Why do this?…Why suffer through this pain?”
Yet watch the joy your puppies bring
and everything is explained.

So…when you think of breeders and label them with “Greed”
Think of all that they might have endured to fill another’s need.  
For when you buy your puppy, with your precious dollars part,
you pay with money….while they pay with all their heart.

Author Unknown…

More work

It’s late and I have been doing paperwork for 2 days. Forms to be filled out, fees to be paid, deadlines to be met.

Today I was retrieving forms from the internet for the WDA to get Hips and Elbows submitted to the SV for the ‘a’ stamp. It’s bad enough when the Vet charges $250 for the x-rays but now I have to send $135 for the ‘a’ stamp (not to mention the prelims that were done at 6-7 months as a screening. Then on October 1 I will have 2 young girls that will be 12 months old and I will need to do their x-rays and ‘a’ stamp certification. Somehow I need to find $770 to get that done. This is done so that they can go to Germany to be trained for their Schutzhund titles and breed surveys so I can breed from them…another $5000 per dog.

Now maybe everyone can understand why my puppies are more costly than the back yard breeders dogs!  We just do it right no matter what the cost…we’ll do it for the breed.  I just love to share all my rants and raves with everyone, it’s very cathartic.

Hello,

I thought that I would periodically write about the life of being a German Shepherd Dog breeder.  So here it goes…

It is a 24/7, 365 days a year job!   Being a breeder takes alot of physical energy and hard work on a daily basis. Working with the dogs is fun but cleaning and maintaining the facilities never seems to end.

Keeping educated and updated about current diseases and bloodlines can be mentally challenging and the paperwork is monumental. I am continually working with other breeders from Germany, sending paperwork off to the SV in Germany, the USA in America and finally the AKC for permanent registrations.

When offering a litter to the pubic photos have to be taken, phone calls and emails need to be handled and appointments have to be set up. Years of practice dealing with people makes qualifing them easier. Of course the biggerst concern is getting these pups into forever homes where they will be part of the family.

When the customer arrives for their appointment we spend a few hour answering questions and showing our family of dogs and their credentials. This not only shows the excellent temperament of our dogs buts gets them some extra socialization and fun for the day.

The other big job is working with the new puppiy owners; being available to help them through issues associated with raising a puppy throughout its life into old age.

That’s all for now, later I will get more into the day to day life here with the dogs.

Dyan
http://www.hausmerkel.com