You love your dog so much. And everyone loves puppies. What better way to spread the love is by letting your dog have puppies, right? It can be easy to fantasize about little versions of your dog romping around bringing the world joy. But is it the responsible thing to do? It can be hard to decide if allowing your dog to have puppies is really the responsible thing.
What to consider before bringing puppies into the world:
Can you handle the litter like a responsible breeder?
After all what you are doing is breeding your dog. There is no way you’re going to end up being able to care for all of the puppies even if you didn’t want to do it to sell them. So eventually most of the puppies will need to find a new home.
Do you have a plan?
Because you are definitely going to need a solid plan in place before you let your dog have a litter of puppies.
- Do you know where you plan for your dog to give birth?
- Do you have a place where the puppies will stay?
- Have you considered how long they will need to be in your care before they can be adopted?
- Have you considered all the potential pitfalls to breeding?
- Are you willing and able to guarantee the health of the puppies?
- Are you prepared for the daily care and socialization of puppies?
- Can you deal with the emotional impact of problems and of parting with the puppies?
- Will you carefully screen potential puppy buyers?
- Can your budget withstand the financial expenses that occur if your dog has trouble whelping or a pup gets sick or a buyer can’t keep the pup he bought?
All of these questions need to be answered before you can safely and responsibly let your dog have puppies. Basically, unless you are prepared to do the same things a responsible breeder would do, don’t bother.
While it can seem like a perfect little dream of tiny version of your best canine running round, it’s not as easy as you may think. It’s more than romping and puppy breath. Raising puppies is not as simple as one-two-three. Things can go wrong at any step of the way, so contingencies must be planned and money and time must be available to give the pups the best start at building a bond with a human family, a bond that can last a lifetime.