As I discuss breeding with more and more people with different perspectives in the sheepdog community, it is brought up repeatedly that I don't have a "clear vision" of what it is I want to do is as a breeder, because it is not what most breeders understand. I do not see the value in political games or cliques, or putting "points" on a dog's ability to preen in a show-ring, and believe its structure and attributes should stand on its own merits, not ear-glue and teaching it to stand or move in a way that is innately unnatural to the dog (and thereby covering up its flaws that will come out in its offspring anyway). For me, first and foremost, a dog's purpose is to be an extension of its owner and handler as a partner - not as a prop, not as an accessory, not as a piece of sports-equipment. Its structure is absolutely important, and should move easily and freely - but that should be apparent without the need to make a spectacle of it in a way that has little to nothing to do with a dog's ability to function.
Yes, I have done canine performance events too, but that doesn't mean I want to breed high-energy agility-dogs, either. I got into it because I had to - and don't wish that kind of difficult dog on your average person or family. She's lucky she ended up with a stubborn owner who had a sheepdog before her and wasn't going to give up - because she's the type of dog who ends up in rescue every day, or locked away and neglected until she and everyone around her became a basket-case.
She was a challenge that I don't think most people are up to the task of, and frankly, when I want a dog to go to a forever home, I want it to be forever! I will stand by any puppy I bring into the world and will always take it back, which means I don't want a bunch of maladjusted high-energy nut-dogs any more than my puppy owners will! I just may be better equipped to handle it now because I've now had the experience of dealing with "that dog." So I definitely want to breed for lower-key dogs who will complete the life of the family it joins, not stress it.
So what am I breeding for? As I've said in other places throughout my site, I fell in love with sheepdogs because of their intuitive soul connection and partnership in life.
1) I want to breed dogs that will be the best kind of companion a person could ask for. Versatility in today's world, in my neighborhood means being able to cope with suburbia, people's busy and divided attentions, and being a companion first and foremost, who is capable of obedience, good manners, friendly interactions with humans, animals and dogs, urban dog-jobs such as therapy and service dogs, and creating an all-around positive impact on the families they belong to.
2) I want to better the health of the breed as a whole. I want these breeds to live on for a long time, and not break so many hearts through epilepsy, cancer, and other tragic and premature deaths largely due to tight gene pools and lack of genetic diversity. While line-breeding and in-breeding has traditionally been used to strengthen desired traits, it has come to the point of vanishing returns where so many copies of common ancestors are in a dog's lines as to create massive problems throughout the entire breed and make it difficult to choose suitable mates.
3) I want our dogs to live longer. 12 years has always been a minimum goal... not the goal. It wasn't that long ago that we frequently heard of dogs living to 15 years or longer on a regular basis. Part of this is due to environmental changes - water quality, pesticides, over-vaccinating, processed kibble, and any number of things - but also it is shown that with each degree of inbreeding, the lifespan also suffers a degree shorter as well. By only breeding the healthiest and most robust genetically-diverse specimens we can we hope to improve the lifespan of our lines to what they once were.
Where is the disconnect in understanding this? I think it has to do with the idea that to be considered a serious breeder you have to have conformation titles under your belt or a ranching operation. Yet I see the roles of dogs today as being as different today as Skrillex is to John Wayne - it's a different world, and our dogs can't all live in black and white any more than their human owners can. I want the breeds to survive, and to do that, we have to think long-term in terms of health and genetics, and for the well-being of the dogs, we have to think in terms of how they are most useful in today's society.
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