What is a Back Yard Breeder exactly?

[Nikki & Frank]

I started breeding Labradoodles and studding my Poodle to make Labradoodles and Golden doodles.  As many of you will agree, they are amazing dogs.  I keep getting that I'm a back yard breeder.  Both of my dogs are health checked and amazing temperments.  The babies are loved and not even shipped!  I have one litter at a time in my home with our other dogs and our children.  What is it that I may be doing wrong.  I am willing to correct it.  I have wonderful puppies that are well cared for and they make great pets.  I keep feeling like I'm defending myself and I'm not doing anything wrong.  Does anyone else feel that way?  I'm also against "mills", I just want feedback on where people feel it crosses the line.

Thank You So Much,

Have a Doodly Day!

Nikki

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Well, if you have health testing on both parents, that's a different story than someone just breeding their pet dog to get a puppy and make some $.

[Carol Brand]

In the purebred world,  a BYB is someone who breeds dogs without being involved in the fancy.    Testing is an important component of being a good breeder, but certainly not the only one.   A serious breeder has their breeding stock's movement and structure independently evaluated via conformation showing.  They prove the working ability and temperament of their dogs through performance events such as Obedience, Agility, Hunt, Coursing, Earth dog, Tracking or Therapy work.   Being involved in the fancy also means giving back to the breed by doing rescue or belonging to breed specific clubs that benefit your chosen breed.

 

The most distressing issue in my mind, however, is that a BYB rarely knows much about the breed they are breeding:

 

1.  A BYB is rarely well informed about correct structure or movement.  Ask a BYB to stack their breeding dog and point out the dog's structural weakness and strengths based on the breed standard. They usually can't. Ask a BYB to gait their dog and give an accurate evaluation of their dog's movement. They usually can't.   

 

2.  A BYB rarely knows what correct temperament should be for the breed. Often times they only know stereotypes which are often wrong.   Understanding correct temperament comes from spending a good deal of time out in the real world with adult dogs of your breed.  It also means ideally working them to better understand their working style and work ethic.  I've seen plenty of poor temperaments come to the surface at dog shows when dogs are in a strange place, surrounded by strange dogs and when they are expected to be touched all over by a complete stranger.

 

3.  A BYB rarely is well informed about breed specific health issues and how to spot/treat them. 

 

4.  A BYB is rarely informed about their breeding dogs' pedigrees and the various strengths and weakness of the parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.  A good breeder will know specific details about the dogs in a pedigree through at least 3 generations.  They need to have this information because these traits breed through.

 

4.  A BYB rarely knows details about breed specific grooming.  This is especially problematic with coated breeds because BYBs aren't very good grooming mentors to their puppy buyers.  A good breeder does not have to be a Master Groomer, but they should know their way around a slicker brush and a pair of scissors especially if they have a coated breed.

 

5.  A BYB rarely trains dogs and so does not have the background or experience to give puppies in a litter early training that gives them a head start on good manners ( or breed specific training such as retrieve work or getting coated breeds used to bathing and clippers).  

 

6.   A BYB just breeds dogs to produce puppies.  They rarely have long term plans or goals for how they want to improve their lines.   If they do have any plan it all too often hinges on things that increase the marketability of their puppies such as color.  If you ask a good breeder why they are doing a breeding, they will come back with structure, movement or temperament specifics like, "In the next generation I'm hoping to get a longer upper arm and better layback."  or "I want to get better reach and drive." or "I'm hoping for more (or less) sustained focus and work ethic."

 

7.  A BYB will often stud their dogs to any bitch whose owner is willing to pay the stud fee.  They don't know or care if the bitch is a good representation of the breed and they often don't ask for extensive health testing.

 

Hope this helped.  Also... on another note for anyone thinking about breeding... unless your vet is heavily involved with your breed, I would not take any breeding advice from him/her.  In my experience, vets are woefully uninformed about breed specific issues.  The best place to go is your local breed club.  The club members can give you a heads up about required genetic testing, how it is done (rarely done through a local vet) and what constitutes a good example of the breed.

 

 

 

 

[Joyce,David"Mochi,Latte,Popcorn"]

Like :)

[Lorraine Bromley]

Now that is advice!!! :)

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

Id like to add that Back Yard Breeders know nothing about raising puppies and birthing. I work in a pet food and supply store and get people all the time saying their dog is pregnant, what do they need, how much do they feed. Or their dog or cat wont nurse the babies. Just the other day I had a woman with her yorkie looking for something to use for birthing. She bought a soft sided crate to put in her car for when her dog was ready!!!! WTD!

As well as whats already mentioned, id say someone is a BYB if...

They dont know what to do if a pup wont feed or the mom wont feed 

They cant afford the medical bills if something goes wrong during labour (eg c-section)

 

As much as I hate back yard breeders for breeding because they "had an accident" or their "dog is lovely", they do at least care about the dogs somewhat, and the puppies are (usually) raised in a home environment. Puppy mills are so much worse.

[Harper]

Good point.  My doodle puppy was too submissive to fight the other puppies to be fed, so she had to be fed by the bottle.  It's scary to think what would happen to a puppy like her if someone wasn't experienced in dealing with those situations and noticing what was happening.  In retrospect she saved Harper's life.  (She's totally healthy btw, there were 8 other pups in the litter.)

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I haven't read the posts yet so perhaps you have received an answer. My answer is purely a layman's answer.

A hobby breeder - someone who health tests, pays attention to genetics, socialization, and pays close attention to the health and well being of the parents and puppies. They care very much about the homes puppies will go to. A hobby breeder is very small and doesn't have lots of dogs they are constantly breeding.

A back yard breeder is someone who just puts two dogs together to get puppies thinking they could make a buck too or that their dog is so cute everyone would want its puppies.  They do not pay attention to the health and well-being of the parents or puppies - not to say they aren't loved; they may very well be. But the backyard breeder does not breed from any knowledge-base.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

The first labradoodle that I ever saw was at a BYB.  I had called her in response to an add if the paper.  I didn't even have an idea what a BYB was and yet even though I didn't know that term - un-educated as I was - I knew something was very, very wrong.  There was no fenced in yard area, the entire lawn was full of fire ants (biting ants), the puppy looked sickly and was kept in a METAL shed in the Florida heat.  The breeder tried to push me to buy the puppy by telling me that if I didn't take it she had a buyer from Germany and the dog was being shipped (yeah right).  I got outta there as quickly as I could but that poor puppy's eyes still haunt me. 

[Leslie J]

Along with the health testing, breeders select the best of their litters to save for breeding.  They are not only health tested but also monitored as they grow up to make sure that they are outstanding in all ways.  Most puppies don't make the cut.  I think the most important thing is where you received your dogs and if they were selected for breeding (since they are already health-tested). 

I think that hobby breeders are rare because most breeders won't allow others to breed their puppies and it is contractually prohibited at the time of sale.  If the breeder who sold you your dogs allowed you to retain the right to breed them they were most likely the "pick of the litter".  Most puppies who are raised by backyard breeders are from pet shops or other back yard breeders.