Several months ago my husband and I decided we wanted to become small time breeders. We have had several breeds over the years and love many different ones. We decided to choose one we had not had but had admired. We did a lot of research and talked to several breeders. We found a breeder who was very knowledgeable about the breed and explained to her we wanted to start out with adults instead of puppies. She had a ruby male for us and a ruby female. She had already breed the female and we were excited. The day before we picked them up the female had complications and they took her to the vet. She had to be put to sleep. We had already paid for them and the owner felt so bad she called several other breeders to find us an adult female. She did find us an adult female and we did pay a little more but she had already been breed also and we figured we would benifit by keeping a girl from the litter. When we picket them up. The female is a blenheim and very tiny. My Ruby male who we had already seen is taller then the standard but we had seen several of his puppies who were all very small so we were not very concerned at his slightly larger build. We had a litter of 4 about 2 weeks after picking up the dogs. One was still born. we lost one to an injury at birth. One was very weak and I had to suppliment feed and the last one was of course the hog. The weak puppy is my new female and the hog is the male I have available to sale. This is a summary of my story. So here are my questions and concerns.
How important is it to not breed a ruby and a blenheim? I have seen that the standards say rubies should have no white. However, I have seen several litters offered that are just that.
There are several tests that many breeders have done on the heart and eyes. The nearest place that does it to me is about 2hrs away. I spoke to my vet about the test and the necessity of them. He tells me if he looks at my adults and puppies and has a concern he would recommend that I take them. Are these tests so imperative? Should I have them tested anyway?
Vet costs are very high when you take all your dogs for shots and wormings etc. I have spoke to several breeders that use different medicines that are designed for other animals as wormers and flea solutions. I questioned my vet about them and of course he said no no dont use them but like I said there are several I have spoke to that use these other medications. How harmful do you think they are if they are distrubuted on a scale equivalent to the dogs weight?
What about flea control?
How important is it to not breed a ruby and a blenheim? I have seen that the standards say rubies should have no white. However, I have seen several litters offered that are just that.
There are several tests that many breeders have done on the heart and eyes. The nearest place that does it to me is about 2hrs away. I spoke to my vet about the test and the necessity of them. He tells me if he looks at my adults and puppies and has a concern he would recommend that I take them. Are these tests so imperative? Should I have them tested anyway?
Vet costs are very high when you take all your dogs for shots and wormings etc. I have spoke to several breeders that use different medicines that are designed for other animals as wormers and flea solutions. I questioned my vet about them and of course he said no no dont use them but like I said there are several I have spoke to that use these other medications. How harmful do you think they are if they are distrubuted on a scale equivalent to the dogs weight?
What about flea control?