Our Breeding Program And Philosophy here at COUNTRY DACHSHUN
Philosophy
We want our puppies to be loveable, worry-free and forever family members for you so we strive to breed well-tempered and healthy pups for years to come. The less problems you will have to integrate one of our babies into your life the more they will be adored. To ensure that, we put continued health and an easy-going temperament first and foremost. We love those little critters as if they are our own children and we want them to have a long and happy life in a loving home. And we do my utmost as a breeder to set them on this path.
Breeding Program
Good breeding starts with the parents. Ours are carefully selected for a nice and even temperament first. We do not tolerate aggression in our breeding lines, nor dogs that are high-strung, difficult or have health problems. All our dogs will meet people in a friendly manner and many are very out-going and will hog your attention while a few are a little bit more reserved at the beginning. Regular vet exams and vaccinations together with recurring nail clipping and teeth cleaning guarantee their well-being. Our dogs are our family members and some of them sleep in our bed. They are not breeding machines meant to pump out puppies for profit. Instead they are loved pets who have a high quality of life on our farm, enjoying daily long walks off leash on our trails even after they are retired from breeding.
Second most important point in the selection process is health. Not only have our breeding dogs to be healthy on the "outside" but we also have them DNA-tested to rule out hidden health risks. The DNA-tests cover defects like PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy turning the pup blind at a young age), Osteogenesis Imperfecta (Brittle Bone Disease), Narcolepsy, Mucopolysaccharidosis, Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis 1 and 2 which are dangerous hereditary diseases because they can stay hidden in the parents as they are recessive genes. Recessive means that the dog can be a carrier having one mutated gene and one normal gene never showing any systems. If breeding two carriers together a quarter of the resulting puppies will inherit the mutated gene from both parents and will therefore be affected by the defect, while 50% of the pups will be carriers themselves. We have heard many professional breeders claim that their bloodlines are e.g. PRA-free without testing but without continued testing nobody can rule out that mutation did no occur at some point so I rather have the proof than a guess.
Moms are bred only once a year depending on cycle and rarely on back-to-back cycles. Newest research claims that breeding back-to-back helps prevent infections of the uterus (pyometra), however we have never had to deal with pyometra and we personally find that having a litter is a lot of work for these little dogs so we prefer to give them a year off in between to recover and enjoy life before they have to carry and care for their puppies again. Our reward is healthy puppies and good sized litters every single time.