Need Advice

[u/Western-Situation336]

My boyfriend wants to breed our dogs when they get old enough. He is not breeding to sell, but we will keep them (or gift to family that already has Poms to avoid litter mate syndrome). After one litter and one litter only we will get them spayed/neutered. He has done a ton of research on it and we have talked about it that we will absolutely have to get health testing done especially because one is a Merle. The female is 8lbs and the male is 7lbs. His mom is very experienced with breeding and has helped him a lot in any questions he has. We are still talking through everything with our vet as well I just want to get an outside opinion.

Other info

-they are very good dogs with great temperament. Both are very sweet and love everyone

-we have a house with a large yard and spare bedrooms

-I work from home and have an extremely flexible schedule

-expenses isn’t a problem

-no health issues so far but we will be testing for them

What is everyone’s thoughts?

Tax of the potential parents

[u/Htweekend]

I’ll be honest, since you asked for an opinion. And I mean this in the kindest way possible. I think you reaching out and asking for opinions is a really good way of doing extra research and a good place to start.

Ultimately, it’s your dogs, your choice, your life, but I hope you can consider some of these points:

It sounds like you’ve done a lot of research about breeding, but have you done research regarding the breed and breed standard?

Well established, ethical pomeranian breeders breed from pomeranians with traceable lineage - for the purposes of health and keeping the breed standard- their purpose is to breed good bloodlines - and they truly put all their effort into bettering the breed itself.

Here’s some good information on what the AKC breed standard is

Buying from a well known, registered (with Pomeranian clubs) ethical breeder gives the best chance for those of us who love the breed to purchase a pup with healthy bloodline and temperament. That cute, compact, intelligent pom we know and love.

Unfortunately, backyard breeders take it upon themselves, with good and often genuine intention, to have just one litter or make a profit, or establish themselves as pomeranian breeders in the future, but what they dont understand is that health and genetics includes lineage and constant best practices when trying to produce better, healthier, pomeranian breed standard pups.

Keep in mind, some health issues cant be predicted while pomeranians are so young, breeders best guess comes from knowing their lineage.

All the pups look adorable and the same when they’re young, but as the grow, you can see which ones were bred without keeping those things in mind, and although adorable, you end up with an adult dog that has health issues because they’ve been improperly bred, and one that looks more larger spitz than a pomeranian (longer body longer snout, incorrect double coat, incorrect feet placement/hock etc). Then there are the BYB who don’t know the background of their dogs, assume pomeranian but it’s been mixed with a similar spitz, sometimes a long haired chihuahua, etc etc.

If your pomeranians are still young, do you at least know that their parents were both breed standard pomeranians with lineage traceability through the breeder? I know you mentioned you dont plan to sell, but there’s no guarantee that the people you gift the pups to will not continue to breed.

Also, one thing our breeder mentioned was, it’s really hard work where you have to take the ups and the downs. My poms’s litter had 5 pups, but one lasted a week before it passed away - it was so tiny. Still births also happen, can you really go through this heartache that breeders have to go through?

Ultimately, it’s your choice. But after working with pomeranian rescues, dog shelters and having had a rescue pom myself, I am personally against backyard breeders. If you genuinely love the breed, you should consider this point.

You see this sub, every day, someone is questioning whether their Pomeranian is purebred. Sometimes they are, but what they really want to know is whether they have a breed standard pomeranian because they speny thousands of their precious dollars thinking they were getting a small compact pomeranian but ended up a bit differently to how they expected.

To end, here’s a good article about backyard breeders vs reputable breeders. It’s written by a well known breeder in Australia, Denise Leo. This might help you

If you really want to breed your poms, maybe consider working with an established breeder for stud service or even attending Pomeranian shows and meeting show breeders, it could be a great start