Why Nigerian dog breeders should specialize

I once met a man who desperately wanted to breed dogs. The passion I saw in his eyes was relentless and the willingness to pay for a good bitch and/or dog was high. I helped him get a German shepherd in those days. I lost touch with him but we spoke occasionally when he calls to advertise his puppies. From his call he started breeding Rotweilers, Lhasa Apso, Boerboel Etc. He called me occasionally to inform me that he has puppies for sale but that they were not pure. He went ahead to tell me how it all happened and he promised to sell for good, giveaway prices. We were both on facebook and I belonged to many dog groups on facebook like him. Still on facebook, I started to see that he abandoned those numerous breeds and specialized in breeding Cane Corsos only. I thought it was a joke but on asking people that knew him I discovered it was true. One day I had a client who needed to buy a Cane Corso and decided to take the opportunity to finally visit and see for myself. Lo and behold, lovely dogs of the same breed almost same marking and colors with great stamina in good health. I decide to asking why he dumped the idea of plenty breeds; he simply said he just wanted to breed only one breed for now.

Most dog owners that know me in person will always remember my constant warning on the need to just get one breed of dog and maintain the breeding of such dog. I am also a serious advocate of “Sell all puppies and keep none” to avoid inbreeding.

I once took a Caucasian bitch for crossing in a house with two males, one Caucasian and one German shepherd. It happened that the German shepherd was the prime male. I left the owner of the dog with the owner of the males to arrange. Two months later, I was called to check on the bitch when she littered three puppies. It turned out that the puppies were bearing the markings of the German shepherd and not the Caucasian. I called the boy that looks after the dogs to find out what happened. He told me that the Caucasian male was not allowed by the German shepherd to get close to the bitch that the German shepherd did the job. My face changed immediately. I quickly asked him if he was aware and he said that he actually approved that the mating should proceed with instruction from his boss.

The point I am trying to bring out here is that keeping different breeds usually ruins the intention of a serious breeder and possibly ruins his business because puppies coming from his kennel will be doubtful no matter how pure they are. Breeders in Nigeria today surprise me when they call themselves breeders. I want to make it clear that owning dogs that mate and give birth to puppies for sale does not make you a breeder. Many dog owners in Nigeria who I will want to call dog “lusters” because many lust for different breed of dogs and want to have puppies from them without considering the possibility of a cross breed.

If you want to become a breeder, a trusted breeder, you need to breed only one breed of dog in the same location. If you must breed multiple breeds make sure each breed is kept in a different location far away from others.

It is so disappointing to hear about accidental breeding where two different breeds of dogs were allowed to mate and have puppies. Let us adopt ethical breeding to eliminate accidental mating and unnecessary results.

The need for specialization has come now that many Nigerians are beginning to pay for pure breed dogs. The internet has made many of us aware of the existence of different breeds and hence growing demand for such breeds.