As I was preparing the submission documents for Chase’s Register of Merit – Bronze designation, I realized that since the first of January, five of his children have completed their Championships and we added an HT, a High in All Breed Trial, and two RNs, a BN, and a CGC to the list of the children’s accomplishments. THAT is pretty astonishing. I am so happy that the people who decided to breed their girls to Chase were rewarded with puppies that are lovely and very smart. (Most of them have a huge dose of the baddog gene as well, but in my opinion that just makes them more fun.) Three of his children have been x-rayed for OFA and all three were rated GOOD. As the puppies turn two, I hope we’ll see more wonderful results from their health testing.
I cannot wait to see what the rest of the year will bring for us. Chase and I will go about our training business. His agility class has been pushed back to June 28th, but we are tracking and brushing up on his obedience commands. On weekends we keep a phone handy so people can report in on all the grandpuppies. It’s a lot of fun!
Now, something serious: STUD FEES. Even though Chase is a Grand Champion and has his Bronze Register of Merit designation, I don’t intend to raise his stud fee. It seems to me that Cardigans are difficult to breed — lots of stuff can go wrong with our little dwarf dogs. Just to accomplish the breeding costs the breeder in the neighborhood of $1300 to $1400. To me, that is a lot of money. Then they have the x-rays when the girl is 8+ weeks along, possibly a C-Section, then feeding and giving appropriate medical care to the brood. I don’t think that breeding a litter of nice Cardigans should be beyond the means of all but the wealthy. I also think greed is ugly. I am personally appalled by the stud fees that people demand for unproven (albeit very nice) young dogs with only adequate health test results. There’s not much I can do about what other owners decide to do, but I can hold my ground. I never want money to be the factor that determines whether someone is able to use my dog. I also reserve the right to just say no if I feel a breeding is not right. I don’t make my living breeding and raising dogs. In fact, I have a job so I can afford my dog habit. Help me stick to my guns.