Breeding: The Learning Curve
Everyone has to start somewhere.
Where do breeders start?
As a collection of veterans and new breeders, the APKC believes in working together. We welcome new breeders and know that being a successful breeder often involves a big learning curve. I have witnessed long standing breeders and newcomers alike taking on the challenge: pairing their dogs, taking on puppies, rearing them until they are ready for their new homes and repeating the cycle.
This continuity of care is one of the rewarding aspects of being a breeder: You get to know several generations of people and dogs for life.
The Journey
The journey for each breeder is different, but they are also similar in some ways. So what do successful, responsible breeders have in common and sets them apart? How do they become successful?
Doing it for the right reasons
Breeding can be expensive, in any breed. Pomskies generally are quite expensive to breed. You often have to spend $12K minimum just to get started with a singular breeding pair. Breeding dogs should not 'be ‘a side hustle’.
The short term goal should be to create the healthiest puppies possible for the pet trade. The long term goal should be that you are taking the steps you need to as a kennel to progress the breed as a whole.
Your efforts, regardless of the size of your kennel, counts as we are still in the infancy stages of establishing this beautiful breed.
Breeding is normally the easy part of being a breeder. It’s the countless hours spent on the phone, email, and social media sifting through hundreds of applicants and tire kickers to find the one perfect family. It’s getting calls at 1am due to being on a different time zone than the potential buyer, only to lose the sale (and a night of sleep) because you didn’t immediately return the call. It’s the heartbreaking times you lose a puppy due to fading puppy syndrome, regardless of how hard you tried to save it. It’s the constant smell of poo in your home during puppy seasons. It’s the hatred you’ll get from keyboard warriors who tell you that you shouldn’t breed dogs and that you’re a horrible person because you offer to have a puppy flown to someone in another state. It’s losing thousands of dollars invested in a dog because they failed one of their health tests. Or having an entire litter get Parvo, so that you have to literally move homes to get away from it. Money is often lost far more than it’s made. Huge financial risks are normal for dog breeders.
So take the time to seriously ask yourself the question - why do you feel like breeding is the right thing for you?
2. Partnering with an experienced mentor
We understand that new breeders will be coming into the group, more often now as people learn about how awesome Pomskies are. But training new breeders to know how to breed the right way, for the right reasons, and with the right dogs will help the breed overall. And if we don’t offer mentoring, then it will hurt the breed long term.
If you arrive onto the scene with subpar dogs that you purchased at a local pet store and want to make money for cute puppies, chances are you will receive a very cold reception. If nothing else, Pomsky breeders are extremely passionate about what they do. They have poured their blood, sweat, tears, and much of their life savings into their programs.
The best way to succeed is to partnering with a mentor. Partnering with a mentor does not mean you do not have breeding experience. There are many pitfalls along the way that will stump even the most experienced breeder, especially with this crossbreed. Working with a valued and reputable member of the Pomsky breeder community will open doors and help you transition to this breed, will assist in the trust levels with other breeders, especially as you need outside lines. Word of mouth accounts for the general success or failure of your program.
A good mentor will take the time to answer your questions, which can range from anything like “is this puppy I am looking at good for my program?”, to “how do I understand the Embark genetic profile and what is OFA?” to “how do I handle this buyer who just disappeared on the final payment?” and far beyond. We are creating a list of breeders that will mentor new breeders, it will be linked here when created.
3. Creating core values and relationships
In this dog-eat-dog world of breeding, being honest and transparent will go a long way as to the success of your kennel. There are so many dishonest people (and scammers), that for your success you will need to rise above it. Being honest, even if it means you lose a sale, knowing exactly what is in your breeding pair and understanding that undesirable traits should be removed. Or if your breeding pair has another breed of dog in it - don’t breed them. For more info on that, click here.
In designer breeds, relationships with other breeders is very important. It helps to establish your reputation. It helps to show the reasons why you are breeding. We may not always like each other personally, but we are all aware of each other’s programs, dogs, lines, and what they bring to the table.
4. Keeping business & paper documentation trails
Rabies vaccinations, legal requirements and kennel limitations of your state, city, and township must be adhered to. The APKC does not tolerate animal neglect, abuse, unregistered kennels (if required in your jurisdiction). Learn more about animal laws here.
This includes paying your taxes, whether you are registered as a LLC or an individual status. Here’s an article on taxes for a breeder.
Puppy contracts are also a required part of business. Keeping good records of your puppy buyers, the spay/neuter dates of the puppies leaving your kennels. Worming and vaccination schedules. All of these things require paper trails. We are working to create built tools to help you with this portion, since most breeders are focused on their pups, not on the paper.
5. Learning from your mistakes
Many of us breeders started off with subpar dogs. Pomskies have come a long way in the last 3-4 years. Because of the availability of good quality dogs, most kennels should have good quality dogs. Something to be aware of is something called “Kennel Blindness”. There is a free AKC course on Kennel Blindness.
This means that you see your dogs as good, when everyone else looks at your kennel and can see major flaws. No dog is perfect and no kennel is perfect. But if you cannot see the flaws in your dogs, you cannot improve upon them. Pairing decisions are made very carefully, not only for genetics, but also for structure and temperament as equally important facets to breeding. They can be the most beautiful dog in the world, but if they have a terrible disposition, you do not want that to continue in the breed.
If you have puppy parents reporting Luxating Patellas or seizures, then you retire the pairing. If your pairings consistently produce non-standard dogs, then you either change out that pairing or retire the one that is non-standard. Not doing so is part of the dilemma of kennel blindness. There are really, really hard decisions that have to be made regarding your kennel at times, to keep the quality where it should be.
Learning from your mistakes makes your kennel and you as the breeder better.
6. How likely is success?
Success depends on you. Having a thick skin, strong work ethic, deep wallet, lots of patience, a network of fellow breeders with the same goals, and an unwavering ethical stance is what will make you successful. Good luck!
