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[neolihia]

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-SgPetsLover does not condone irresponsible breeding.-

There is more to breeding than just putting a male and female together to get puppies.
Before a breeder even starts responsible breeding, he has a lot of work to do.

1) Have the dog properly checked and tested. And tested doesn't mean bringing the dog to a vet and asking them "my dog healthy or not?" They have to do DNA tests on the dog to see if there is any genetic problem which may be inherited by the pups.

Pedigree dogs always have breed related problems and in the case of your shih tzu, these are some of the congenital diseases that it can be a carrier of:

(You can google for more information on each of these health problems)
- Patellar Luxation
- Stenotic Nares
- Cleft Palate
- Umbilical Hernia
- Bleeding Disorders
- Renal Cortical Hypoplasia
- Harderian Gland Prolapse (Cherry eye)
- Hypothyroidism
- General Respiratory Problems
- Intervertebral Disk Disease - Back Problem

Even if the dog does not physically seem to exhibit any health problems yet, they could be carriers of the problem gene and pass the disease down to their litters. You wouldn't want to see your puppies being unable to run because of loose kneecaps or unable to breathe properly because their noses are too short would you?

For stud dogs, optimum breeding age is at least 2 years old. This is to allow time for any congenital diseases to make itself known. Annual eye checks should be made. He should be clear of any abnormalities known to his breed meaning he should not have any of the above problems. No heart problems, no seizures, no thyroidism.

2) Pedigree. Meaning where your dog came from, who are its parents, grandparents and great-grandparents? You have to go back at least 3 generations for both the male and female to ensure there won't be any possibility of inbreeding occurring. If your dog came from a pet shop or a pet farm, then its parents were very likely from puppy mills. No good breeder would ever sell their dogs to pet shops/farms so if the shop told you the parents were from a taiwanese breeder or something, they very likely mean a backyard breeder who churns puppies out from exhausted parents by the dozens.

3) Temperament tests. A surprising percentage of the parents' temperament is passed on to their puppies. Just because your dog hasn't yet shown any kind of aggression or behavioural problem to you doesn't mean he doesn't have one. Breeders test their dogs for how their reactions are to all sorts of strangers (noisy people, quiet people, people(especially kids) who come up to them and hug them, how they react to certain situations and objects. Many of the working breeds have a temperament test (for example, the Doberman's WAC test) for their breed.

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The above info is not meant to lecture anyone, but to inform on some of the basics involved in breeding. Of course this is only the tip of the iceberg, there is so much more to breeding than what is mentioned here. Care for the mother before, during and after labour, what to do when birth problems arise, how to raise newborns by hand if the mother dies or is unable to produce milk, how to properly place puppies with responsible owners who wont use your dog like a breeding machine so they can earn money out of the future pups. And you can't imagine the amount of money you need to cover the costs of the DNA, blood and physical tests which can run into the thousands and a c-section if the mother experiences birth troubles.

A lot of people ask why must breeding be so difficult? Why do we have to do so many silly tests? For humans we just marry someone else and produce kids also got no problem what.

The answer and fault lies with the people who created these pedigree dogs. Pedigree dogs were created through massive inbreeding in the past by people who only wanted dogs that looked a certain way and didn't care much about the dog's health or temperament. For every generation that was inbred, small things like bad boning is compounded until the gene causing this is present in almost every future puppy making it almost impossible not to inherit. This is why pedigree dogs nowadays are afflicted with so many breed-related problems. You don't see many mongrels going blind, having heart murmurs, brain problems, hip and joint problems at just 2 years old do you? Because of the problems created in the past, we have to take steps to try and solve it. By breeding responsibly we ensure that future generations of dogs are healthier and happier than they are today.

Good Breeders do thorough research and put in immense effort to improve the breed and if possible stamp out the associated health problems that cause so many dogs to suffer. However their efforts are being greatly impeded by the people who breed ignorantly, not knowing what they are really doing.

It is indescribably heartbreaking to have to find out that the dog/puppy you love has a disease that causes him/her to suffer for the rest of their life. I speak from experience. My vet once warned me that my puppy might have Grade 2 Patella Luxation because he found that her kneecaps were a little loose in their sockets. He said it could also be because she was still young and her joints are still a little soft. But he said I'd have to be mentally prepared if it does turn out otherwise. Thankfully it was a false alarm. But you can't imagine how terrible I felt during the weeks before he diagnosed her disease free. I thought of how young she was and how for the rest of her life she would never be able to run and jump to her heart's content like other healthy dogs. How she would always feel the pain if she exerted herself too much and caused her kneecap to slip out and lock her leg up.

I thought why she of all dogs had to end up with this problem. When I did more research, I found that patella luxation is hereditary and detectable if the breeder had cared enough to test for it. I then wondered how many other puppies in the litter inherited the problem and if the people who bought them would breed them and pass the problem on to more innocent puppies. The quality of my puppy's life would have been so much better if someone had made the simple effort of testing his dogs before breeding them.

Therefore, please do not become part of the problem by breeding your dogs without being equipped with the proper knowledge and research. You would do better by adopting an unwanted dog who was most probably thrown out because he was part of a litter that wasn't properly planned for and deemed valueless when he turned out imperfect.