As you contemplate embarking on a career of breeding and exhibiting quality dogs, you must take into account all the aspects of your non-doggy lifestyle which will change.  I have seen many people approach the breeding of dogs in a very nonchalant manner, as though it were nothing more than a mere hobby along the lines of stamp collecting.  The changes are profound and the sooner you realize them, the better you will be able to make the necessary decisions you need to make.

Many dog people come into the fancy of dog breeding after their families are well established.  It is a common occurrence, people usually prioritize their life’s existence so that they first complete their schooling, obtain a solid type of professional position, get married and eventually have children.  Often when these pieces are put into place the individual will have the time and money to pursue outside interests.  For whatever reason, you learned about a local dog show and you attended it and found it interesting.  Or perhaps you decided to look for a house pet and began by researching different dog breeds.  You bought your first dog, you loved him or her and this idea of showing your dog became interesting.  Perhaps you were encouraged to show your new puppy by your breeder.  However it happened, you have somehow come to the decision that you want to begin showing more earnestly; you want to breed your bitch.  You are on your way.

It is very helpful to take stock of your situation.  Look around you and determine if your lifestyle is conducive to your new found passion.  Does your spouse hold a similar passion?  Or is your spouse allergic to dogs?  Is your home set up for you to house a few dogs?  Do you have room for more dogs?  Today a very large consideration must be if you can legally have dogs where you are located.  Year after year the laws become more stringent and difficult on dog people.  

If you are happy with your home but you are not situated for more than three or four dogs then ensure you only have the very best stock.  Plan to breed a carefully thought through litter only once every two or three years.  Don’t just obtain another new puppy because someone was nice enough to say you could buy one.  

Ensure your home is the correct environment for your breed of choice.  If you live in the suburbs, it might be that owning Great Danes is not the wisest choice.  If your spouse is non-doggy, a shedding breed may be very problematic.  If you can choose your breed to fit your situation or change your situation to fit your breed you are indeed very fortunate.  Unfortunately, some people may live many years with an unhappy spouse and unhappy neighbors before they are forced to make some changes.  It isn’t a pleasant route and certainly you should take steps to ensure it doesn’t happen to you.  

Evaluate your disposable income.  What can you spend on a monthly basis?  Very often the more dogs you have the higher your cost per dog to keep because you may begin to experience problems of a dynamic nature.  Vet expenses can be a very high percentage of monthly maintenance.  Where will the dogs be housed?  It is very expensive to run a separate facility such as a kennel building – you will have high heating bills in the winter and high cooling bills in the summer.  Traveling, even a few weekends each month (and quite a few people travel every weekend), is costly.  Do you have a suitable vehicle or will you have to buy one?  Gas prices are now a significant factor that once was a non-issue.  You will have food, motel, entry fees and wear and tear on your car or van.  If you plan to use a handler anticipate bills of approximately $1500 or so per month.

Do not fool yourself into thinking dog breeding is “an investment.”  You will never recover the larger proportion of what you spend.  The few people I have known who have tried to make breeding show dogs “pay for itself” (not make a living) have had to run such large scale operations they require full time help.  In other words, they have chosen a full time career to just try to make ends meet.  Such arrangements are never well advised.  So ensure that what you spend on dogs is what you can comfortably afford.  If you want to make "dog money" from dogs, consider buying a boarding kennel and/or grooming business.  Very hard work, I assure you!

A commitment everyone makes when keeping dogs is to husband the dogs correctly.  For any person who keeps live animals, you will either pay up front through vigilant care or you will pay at the vet’s office with sick animals.  If you are a lazy person, someone who isn’t necessarily “clean” and “tidy” you should take your steps into the dog world very, very slowly.  The routine will go something like this: first thing in the morning you will let the dogs outside.  You will pick up the water bowls, empty the dirty water and wash them and set them down to dry.  You will inspect the bedding area to ensure it is clean and dry; you will get some washing solution to scrub out any soiled areas.  You will need to go outside and pick up any stools.  If the dogs exercise on cement, you will need to scrub and rinse the exercise area.  When the dogs come in, you will give them any necessary medications.  If they are long haired, you will inspect their coats for any tangles or mats which will need immediate attention if you are not to lose unnecessary coat – this means a “butt” wash in most cases.  You will replace the water bowls and fix morning breakfast.  Now you can begin to get yourself ready for work!  If you normally rise at let’s say 6:30 AM for work, you will need to rise, depending on the breed and how many dogs you have, at 5:00 to 5:30 AM.  Every day.  For the rest of your life.  

If you have no help, you may find your lunch hour is a mad dash for home to let the dogs out once again.  In the evening, you will repeat your morning routine.  Any training underway will need to occur.  Coated dogs will require grooming.  Nails will need to be filed.  Baths will need to occur and if the breed is trimmed, you will need to spend an evening trimming one or two nights a week.  Any dogs requiring roadwork will need their attention.  You will invariably have email lists to review or emails or calls to return.  This will be life, your every day.  If you are lazy both you and your dogs will be miserable!  I dare say, this is no hobby!


Grooming must occur on a regular basis for a majority of breeds.  Even short-haired breeds benefit from frequent and regular bathing.  Flat faced breeds such as Pekingese, Pugs, Bulldogs, French Bulldogs, etc. require daily attention to their face folds to ensure they do not become infected or smelly, as well as attention to eyes to ensure they are kept clean.  Drop coated breeds, such as Maltese, Shih Tzu, Lhasa Apsos, and Yorkshire Terriers required extensive daily maintenance.  Maltese and Yorkshire Terrier show dogs are typically kept in wrappers which must be checked daily and usually rewrapped every 2nd to 3rd day.  Afghan Hounds in addition to the above "coated" breeds require a full bath about every four days.  Even open coated breeds such as Samoyeds, Keeshonden, Corgis and Labradors will benefit from weekly or semi-weekly bathing.  Nails should be filed every 3 or 4 days to keep the feet tight and avoid injury.  If you ever experience matting with your dogs this is a very obvious sign you are failing at your job.  You must keep your dogs clean and healthy and cleanliness of the pores encourages coat growth which is essential to have lush coats, shiny coats, and healthy coats. You must check teeth and ideally clean teeth in some fashion at least once a week.  Hairless breeds, such as the Chinese Crested, must be bathed very regularly to avoid unsightly blackheads in the skin.  Every breed requires some kind of vigilant attention.  

You will require good equipment which will allow you to condition your dogs professionally and make them competitive.  You will need a sturdy grooming table and most likely a grooming arm; a portable bathing tub for dogs is very useful and a high powered dryer is essential for almost every breed.   For trimmed breeds, high quality scissors are essential.  For hard coated terriers, you must research to find the best quality stripping knives (which must never cut the coat, by the way).  

Allowing a coated dog to mat spells disaster as the resolution not only compromises the coat (read “your dogs will lose in the ring on condition”) but painful de-matting sessions can very seriously derail your dog’s happy attitude (read, “your dogs will lose on attitude”).  I once had a splendidly coated dog who required vigilant daily care and he was put out on lease as a special.  Instead of being shipped directly to the handler, the woman who leased the dog wanted him at her house for approximately the first week.  Despite my inquiries to ensure she knew how to care for the coat, she delivered the dog to the handler a matted mess.  I learned this when I picked the dog up a year later and expressed surprise at his lack of condition; the handler spent 13 hours dematting the dog.  The dog, once a super showman, refused to show for the handler and little question why!

White faced dogs often tear stain and this takes daily attention to avoid.  Hint: A special powder may need to be applied daily to kill the bacteria which grows in the tear excretion under the eye which causes the staining.   This is a mixture of boric acid, corn starch and two or three powdered antibiotics.  Applied under the eye, never in the eye! Daily maintenance!

My point here – know what you are getting yourself into.  If a beautifully turned out specimen of whatever breed is what turns you on – go for it!  But go for it with eyes wide open!  The commitment does not stop when you lose interest or become busy with other responsibilities!


Quite a few years ago I stopped at Keeshond breeder’s house to view a dog they had for sale.  When I came into the house my eyes almost watered the stench of urine was so strong.  Although the house looked well kept and the dogs were housed in the walk-out basement, this person might as well have had all her obviously un-housebroken dogs running loose through the house.  Contrast this to a visit to a handler who specialized in toy dogs.  She lived in a regular suburb in an average sized ranch house.  You would never have known she had nearly twenty dogs in the house.  

The housing of your dogs is a critical element of successful animal husbandry.  Intolerance by society of keeping dogs is ever increasing and so it must be a key goal of yours to ensure your dogs do not disturb the neighbors.  Dog barking can carry for a very long distance so just because you don’t have close neighbors doesn’t mean you can allow your dogs to bark unchecked.  As our country seems to increasingly limit the concept of “freedom” one must be vigilant that you do not incite stricter restrictions.

The area that the dogs are kept should be easily disinfected.  This means smooth surfaces such as linoleum or tile flooring, smooth finished walls, bedding which can be washed or laundered, and any furniture or structures must be easily moved around for cleaning.  You should include a properly diluted chlorine bleach stage in your cleaning routine – which must be daily!  Hint: Do not mix liquid soap and bleach because the soap contains chemicals which form dangerous gases when mixed with bleach.  Use a cleaning solution, allow it to get near dry then go over the area with the bleach solution.  You will have no odors and germs and bacteria will be kept to a minimal level ensuring you do not have sick dogs.

Your outdoor arrangement must include plenty of room for free exercise.  The days of 4’ X 10’ dog runs are hopefully a thing of the past.  Your dogs must be allowed plenty of room to trot around.  These highly intelligent creatures cannot be kept in dull, unimaginative areas and expected to thrive.  The flooring of the outdoor area must be something that can be disinfected on a regular basis.  You should pick up stools at least twice a day – nothing is more appalling than to see a dog in a run littered with stools or soaked with urine.  Whether it be gravel of a sort, brick, stone, rubber matting or cement, your setup must allow you to hose out the run preferably once a day.  You should again use a chlorine bleach solution to kill germs.  In addition, it is critical your dogs have free access to plenty of fresh, clean water the entirety of their outdoor stay.  You must provide some areas of shade for all times of day so ensure that as the sun moves across the sky there is always ample shade in the run itself.  Hint: I have found the netting used by horticulturists a very good solution as it allows for the rain to pass through it but protects from the sun.  Tarps can be used but they will become weighed down with rain or snow and you must devise a way to empty them.  You can also have shelter areas built but be sure they don’t drain right into the dog run itself.

The runs should also be protected from neighbor views.  I prefer privacy fencing around the kennel yard.  You must ensure you are protecting your dogs from dangerous protruders who may tease, torture, release or kill your dogs.  Although I sound like an alarmist every neighborhood is accessible to strangers of evil intent and you must thoughtfully protect your dogs.  I have heard of more than one occasion when obnoxious people have entered a kennel and murdered dogs.  Be on the alert and do not invite problems!  In fact, I have used online security services to guard the kennel (as well as monitor for smoke) and felt much better for the protection.

I have spoken in passing of barking dogs.  Some breeds bark more than others and you must account for this.  Many of the spitz and herding breeds enjoy barking.  Planting evergreen trees and other obstructions may help in controlling sound.  I believe barking collars are cruel and do not prefer them.  Personally, I have found a very experienced veterinarian who can perform a partial debark procedure as done with military dogs and this has proven very effective in my experience.  Although ignorant people think of debarking as cruel, when done by someone of experience it causes no problems.  I have never observed any behavioral differences in my debarked dogs – they bark just as happily but the sound does not carry to the neighbors.  I found this the most favorable solution over constant scolding or having to keep dogs locked up most of the day.   In some countries debarking is illegal and I only hope such countries are fully accepting of excessive dog barking.  Unfortunately, most people in the United States are not.  Be considerate and do not put your dogs outside at times your neighbors will be normally sleeping.  Always consider your dogs a privilege and do not mistakenly assume you have a right to have barking dogs.  Many terrible situations occur when people are foolhardy enough to believe they do not have to ensure their neighbors are not impacted by their raising of dogs.  Save yourself significant grief and develop a solution before you have a problem.


Obviously, if you are wanting to breed show dogs you will need to travel on weekends.  Ensure your kennel does not become so difficult to handle that someone coming in on the weekend to help has difficulties.  Most of us rely on family members to help out.  It is definitely a good idea to ensure whomever you plan on helping on the weekends agrees to do so.  Many spouses are ‘expected’ to manage the dogs when they have neither the interest nor time to do so.  If no family member is willing to assume the task you will need to hire help.  Sometimes you will find help from your local veterinarian’s office or possibly college students.  You need to be creative in finding these resources and they must be responsible adults, not children or teenagers!

Make no mistake that managing a kennel is a large responsibility.  Don’t misinform your help it is just feeding the dogs and letting them out twice a day.  Ensure the person to be left in charge has the ability to identify any sickness that might occur in your absence and how to handle the problem.  Ensure they will keep the dogs in the custom you keep them, namely, that they will be kept on routine and kept clean.  You will develop all manner of work arounds and special procedures; ensure these are documented and your care taker is trained.   Do the dogs need to be let out in a certain order?  Do certain dogs get along and certain dogs definitely not?  Are there medications to be given?  Are the runs and/or crates clearly marked with dog’s names?  Is there a way for the helper to know which dog is which?  

Traveling to shows today, like seemingly everything, has become more difficult over time.   Airlines, after many lawsuits, have become much stricter regarding pet travel when the dog is shipped cargo.  In most cases these are sound and warranted restrictions such as temperature requirements.  You must remember the tarmac at an airport heats up to a higher degree than open areas and dogs can easily be endangered in the time it takes to load or unload them off a plane.  Except for very special dog shows, I personally think flying dogs on weekends is an absurd and selfish endeavor, unless the dog is small enough to ride in the cabin under the seat.  Putting dogs through the stress and discomfort of flying is nonsensical not to mention the significant risks they endure being handled by untrained and mindless baggage handlers.    Although some professional handlers or even owner handlers feel their exhibits cannot reach high national rankings unless they pick their judges all over the country, I find this a deplorable excuse considering the very real risks involved.  

A significant consideration when exhibiting is your vehicle.  With gas prices constantly on the rise, this is even more a concern than in previous years.  You will want a highly reliable, efficient automobile which will have the ability to transport your dogs safely.  If you have a large breed or wish to carry several dogs, you may need to look into a van.  Some people like to set up at the show site the day before and prefer to travel in motor homes.  Some thought must go into what is the best choice for your traveling requirements.  There are some excellent smaller, gas efficient cars with back seats that fold completely flat allowing the cargo space to be significant.  As climate warming continues to be an issue, it is imperative the exhibitor be a thoughtful and contributing member of the world society and choose as wisely as possible.