The other side of Shar Pei breeding

Imaginations

When the average dog owner thinks of a breeder, he certainly has images in his mind of a breeder in the midst of a bustling, happy group of puppies. A smiling breeder who is always ready to answer any questions that may arise, who welcomes visitors and who not only looks after his dogs and puppies, but also has a lot of time for those interested in his puppies.

Others think of all the money that a breeder earns with a litter and that a pedigree dog shouldn't be that expensive, because what has a breeder achieved in the first place.

Vetting

Before we meet with a prospective person, we have already spent numerous hours making a pre-selection of people who meet our demands as future owners. The higher the demands a breeder has on the future owners of one of his puppies, the more time has been invested.

Since the Shar Pei world is quite small compared to other breeds, we also ask other breeders whether they know the interested party and perhaps have information that is important in our decision-making process. Nobody notices anything about this side of our work and hardly anyone knows how much time we spend on this part of our work. For many breeders, this process already takes place in the phase of theoretical litter planning; once the puppies are born, you hardly have time for it, because the breeder has a 24-hour job for two to four months. Because optimal socialization of the puppies takes a lot of time, from the first day after birth. In addition to the time-consuming care of the puppies, the adult dogs naturally also need their normal walks and time. 

Breeding selection

The side of pedigree dog breeding, which is completely unknown to most dog owners, begins many months before the puppies are born.

The choice of parents. In most cases a breeder does not have a suitable male living in his own household, or there has already been a litter with this male. Even if the male dog has already been used with other bitches, he should be excluded if one does not want to work towards a "popular sire syndrome", which is genetically a real problem in pedigree dog breeding.

So the breeder starts looking for compatible males. This process can be very time-consuming because one studies the pedigree to keep the inbreeding coefficient as low as possible, but the ancestor loss coefficient as high as possible. You contact the owners of the potential male dogs, in most cases also breeders, and look not only at the health tests of the male dog, but also those of his parents, siblings of the parents and littermates. It can take a few months of intensive research until you have found the ideal male dog.

Requirement

And here, too, the higher your own standards, the longer and more intensive research you have to do. And especially with "our" breed, the Shar Pei, such intensive preparatory work is so important, because which responsible breeder does not want to do everything possible in order not to contribute to the various diseases typical of the breed. 

It is not only important that the potential males (as well as the own bitch) are tested for CNV and PAOG / Pll and have been X-rayed and professionally evaluated for HD, ED and patella dislocation, the results of these examinations must correspond to your own breeding standard.

The male's appearance also plays a not insignificant role. In terms of breeding standards, there are no perfect dogs and even if we all love our dogs, we have to be very critical of our own dogs. For example, if my dog has a not so nice tail, it should be different for the male. For example, if the male has an incorrect coat, the bitch should have a correct coat.

Months go by and if you are lucky you have found the right male in the end.

But just choosing the dog you want is not enough. In most cases there are hundreds, sometimes even thousands of kilometers between the two dogs. While you are waiting for the bitch to come into heat, you roughly prepare the trip and roughly discuss the next steps with the owner of the dog, because it has to fit on two sides. 

The mating

At some point there will be the day when your own bitch will be in heat and you will be happy and can concretise your plans. After 3-4 days you do a progesterone test at the vet and repeat this every two days to not miss the right time. And in the best case you go to the desired dog, the dogs get to know each other, and when the time is right, the dogs will follow their instincts. A few weeks after the mating date it will be very exciting again, on the day when the first ultrasound is done and you roughly know how many little puppies will soon be scurrying around with the happy breeder and delight their new owners.

Sometimes nature goes its own way

But sometimes things don't always go perfectly. And from now on this post gets a bit personal. And this is another side of breeding that many breeders know, barely talk about, and that most dog owners are unaware of.

Many know how long I have been waiting to get my male dog out of China and that it has not been possible for a long time due to the Covid situation, travel restrictions and many airline restrictions.

Since I have to wait a little longer, I started months ago the very time-consuming process of looking for a male in Europe who would meet my requirements. And yes, the higher your own standards, the smaller the choice. I was looking for a male that visually meets my requirements, has been tested CNV 2 and is PAOG / Pll free. Fortunately, his breeder and owner is a dear friend who lives only 330 km away and we are only separated by one border.

And when Diting got into heat, we both waited excitedly for every progesterone test result. Diting was very slow in this regard and a lot of testing was necessary. In addition, the travel restrictions required a negative Covid test. When we finally arrived at our destination, the tension was great, will the dogs even like each other? And yes, they liked each other right away and immediately started playing. On site we did another progesterone test every day to know when the time would really be right. And in theory everything was perfect. 

But nature sometimes plays its own game. And apart from playing, our dogs have only made half-hearted attempts of mating. Yes, there are certainly breeders who force a mating, but neither of us would have done that to our dogs.

Sadness and hope

And of course you feel sad on the long drive home. But not because in the next few weeks you will not be the happily smiling breeder in the midst of a bustling, happy group of puppies, but because you have chosen really great people who have been cheering for weeks and so dearly want a puppy from me. And now I have to tell these great people that unfortunately it didn't work out in this heat cycle.

I know that 5-6 months is not that long until the next heat, but in the moment I will make some great people feel sad. Something that I don't like to do, because as a breeder you actually want to make people happy with a healthy little puppy that has the optimal conditions for a great, long dog's life.