Breeding is not something to be taken lightly. The purpose
of a dog-breeding program should be to maintain the breed of dog one has chosen. We strive to produce Boxers that
fit the Boxer standard as closely as possible, we feel by doing this we are helping to maintain our breed of choice.
For us, health, structure and temperament are all
taken into consideration when planning a litter. We do not feel any one area is more important than the other.
Health screening is a wonderful tool that no breeder
should go without. All of our breeding dogs are appropriately health screened before breeding with the results posted
to each dog's web page. Screening the health of our breeding stock helps us to make informed decisions
for our program.
We often hear health and temperament are most important...it seems many
don't realize structure can affect both. Poor structure that results in limitations for the dog will lower
the dog's quality of life, which can have a negative impact on health and temperament. In our opinion, this
reason alone is enough to consider structure just as important as health and temperament.
Competing with our dogs in conformation events allows us
to gain outside opinions on our dogs' structure and, to a lesser extent, temperament. Just as with the results from health
screening, feedback we receive plays a role in the decisions we make for our program.
Obedience training allows us to evaluate trainability
and temperament. We believe any dog can be trained but the level of training the dog can achieve and how
long it takes the dog to reach that level, says a lot about trainability and temperament (provided
the trainer is a knowledgeable one). The information we gain through obedience training helps us to make
better breeding decisions.
We feel if our program is lacking in any of these
areas it will fail...if we want to succeed, we feel all three of these areas must be kept in balance to one another.
