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The Seven Stages
The seven stage apprenticeship for breeders.
Author Unknown
The Beginner:....Doing everything wrong. Buying wrong. Feeding wrong.
The Learner:.....Who now realise they have started badly and while still keeping their original mistake, have now learned better and are doing their best to set out on the right path.
The Novice:......Who have corrected their mistakes and are starting to win and are beginning to be known and recognised by other breeders and exhibitors.
The Everlasting Novice:These are always nice people with an equally charming dog. To them, dogs are a pleasant and interesting hobby.
The Middle-Range Breeder:This is the largest section of all. This is the average breeder who is definitely one of us. Recognised as reliable, breeding decent litters, rearing the puppies properly, with a good eye for a dog and the facilities to keep the odd stud dog and a nice bitch or two. These are the backbone of any breed and are indispensable because they supply the majority of the average puppies for sale; serve their own area with a decent stud dog and form the mass of ringsiders. These breeders are members of various breed clubs and support all activities. Being dead keen exhibitors they try their best to be an asset and a credit to their breed.
The Good Breeder:This is a rarer category because these breeders have realised something the middle rangers have not. That is that there is a definite thing called a good dog and that a decent dog is not quite good enough.The good breeder is always ready to learn and has taken the trouble to find out most of the advanced points, such as what constitutes a good lay of shoulder or a good length of hock and where other virtues may be found. The good breeder knows what a good head feels and looks like; what constitutes good expression and understands structure with an eye to the dog's use as a herding animal. The good breeder has nice stock and has learned how to use it to best advantage. He may still depend on other people's studs to try and improve each litter, but has learned that the title of 'Champion' does not automatically mean the dog carrying this title is necessarily the best for his purpose. The good breeder is trying to improve all the time and will sell a bitch or dog that the middle ranger would have stuck to, realising that either he has better in his kennel or that these good dogs are not quite good enough. These are the breeders that supply the middle rangers with better stock when they themselves wish to raise their standards. The good breeder has nearly always had ten years or more experience with dogs and is recognised as such
The Top Breeder:...This is a very difficult category to define, although we all know them. There will be about 20 of them at any given time. They go on, seemingly forever, always able to produce a good one, always with quality finished dogs, these usually having failings rather than faults, and give nothing away in type, style, make and shape. Usually they have been at the top for many years and have a strain of their own, readily recognised as being of a distinct and individual type. They never seem to disappear and very few breeders join their ranks. They are often than not internationally known names and if we get two new top breeders in ten years who are really going to last and have an influence on the breed, than we are lucky.
To reach the level of "good ordinary middle range breeders" you must have done your homework, been breeding at least three years, have bred your first three litters and have discovered and recovered from any initial mistakes you made. Now you are in that vast reservoir of breeders that go to make the breed. This reservoir is fed from below by the novices. It is easy to get into, almost inevitable, if you are seriously interested in dogs and have the opportunity to make it a major hobby. It is very difficult to get out of the middle-range and many never do.
The first question is, can you keep on with it? You have to able to keep at least five or six dogs to be able to breed two or three litters a year and run on a couple of puppies from each litter, at least until you can see which is the best for you to keep. You have to have the room, a fair area of land and good neighbours. A keen and compatible mate is useful and you must somehow contrive never to forget your children.
How to get out of the middle-range and move to becoming a good breeder is the next question. Many never succeed. There are many reasons why they fail.
