Goals are for dogs, too! Let’s have fewer resolutions for us, humans, and perhaps focus this new year on our dogs a lot more. There are so many actions you can take to make your dog’s life better. Dog breeders (and dog lovers) have to make this year their dogs’ year.
Forget the I will make my dog lose weight, or I will get more and better toys for my dog. Instead, do something different and a lot better for your dog(s) and your dog breeding activity.
I Will Health Check All My Dogs, Again
First, check what are the most common medical conditions within your breed. You can find that information on the Kennel Club website and with your vet. There are online databases of common diseases in each breed that are kept up to date on various websites so you have no excuse.
Once you know which conditions your dogs can be the victims of, check your paperworks and every test or health check you did in the past. Reconcile both lists and you will end up with what you need to screen your dogs for. Some can be screen with a simple vet visit, others will require DNA tests, but regardless, make sure your dogs are all cleared!
If any of your pooches carries a condition, you must remove it from your breeding programme and instead, enjoy it as a lovely family pet!
I Will Try A New Activity With My Dogs
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We’re not talking about having long walks every Sunday afternoon. Get your dog(s) involved in a fulfilling activity they will enjoy every second of! Ideally, you also want to challenge yourself so you can both progress together.
You can go participate in dog shows even at a local and amateur level, but it does not have to be public: you can go on monthly hikes and sleep or camp overnight. First, this will create an incredible bond with your pack, but you will also all discover new situations and share them together. You can even try indoor exercising with a dog treadmill.
Some more ideas of activities to do with your dog are:
- have a daily 20mn jog with your dog, or cycling
- enter your bred’s speciality (herding trials for sheepdogs, Schutzhund for German Shepherds, etc.)
- let your dog have a swim in a local pond or in the sea if you have it nearby
- sign up to your local obedience or agility club
You can even come up with your own activity if you have a garden or want to elaborate your own circuit. Think about it, and do it!
I Will Ask More Questions To My Dogs’ Potential Forever Homes
Dog breeders always ask the basic questions but more as a box to tick rather than a real conversation trying to understand the potential owner’s situation. People can lie, people can arrange reality to make it sound more acceptable. This is why you need to talk more, ask more questions, ask them to develop, while still being nice and friendly.
Do not consider this pre-sale conversation just as a quick buddy chat. List what you want for your dogs and make sure the potential future owners can provide it.
I Will Follow-Up With Every Single Owner Of Any My Dogs
Don’t narrow your focus down to the future forever homes you will send your pups to; liaise with every existing person who currently has one of your dogs.
Send a text asking for an update. Email them asking for a couple of pictures. Facebook them and comment on their doggy pictures. Today more than in any other time, we are having so many ways at our fingertips to follow up with people. Use these different channels and catch up with them, ask how the dogs have evolved, their temperament, and many other questions.
See this as a chat with a childhood friend you haven’t seen for years!
I Will Throw In Something Unique In My Puppy Packs
Commit to do something different for your puppy packs. A blanket with the mother’s scent and a chew toy are super cute and lovely but is that the best you can do? Really?
Don’t use the price excuse, with ten or twenty dollars or pounds you can throw new toys, books or special treats for an entire litter. If you are breeding Maltipoos or toy breeds, chances are the new owners are not super into reading books (no offence ha!), so prefer some cute interactive toys or perhaps new healthy organic treats.
If you really are on a tight budget, write a lovely notes and put it in an envelope. It is a wonderful little touch that costs nothing and it will put a smile on your new owners’ face!
Check out our full article about what should be in a puppy pack, there are many great (and cheap) ideas!
I Will Read A Book About Dog Breeding and Canine Genetics
Once you’ve been looking after your dogs and your future owners, you have to educate yourself more and more about your breed and about canine science in general. Especially to start a kennel. There are new discoveries, new experiments, and new breeding techniques so you must remain updated. Breeding Business provides you with the latest highlights, so you can visit the website regularly to stay informed.
More than news, you also want to study deeper the canine genetics and the mechanics behind dog breeding. Here again we have so many articles about it but get a book and get a top-quality education. Check out our article about the books every dog breeder should have read; your future breedings will benefit from this!
I Will Join A Facebook Group Specialised In My Breed
Each dog breed has its community, some of extremely active (designer breeds, french bulldogs, bully breeds) and some are a lot less active (working dogs owned by older people) but all of them have at least one Facebook Group you can join. Look at the various conversations going on in each group you join and participate whenever you feel like you have something to bring on to the table.
Start interest discussions, share your challenges and failures too! Facebook Group are an amazing way to talk, empty your sack, and receive a lot of information and motivation from breed fanciers all over the world. It’s free, it’s on Facebook, so just go and do it.
Type your dog breed on the search box and once on a search results page, click the “Groups” tab. Now you should see a few, pick the one(s) you like the most.
I Will Create A Facebook Page For My Breeding Kennel
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Perhaps 95% of dog breeders have a personal Facebook account for themselves but only a couple of percent have a Facebook Page created for their own kennel. Even if you are just an occasional breeder, you should create and update your own kennel’s Facebook Page.
Visit this Facebook page to create your kennel fan page for free, and fill out the few information required. Add a logo or profile picture, add a cover picture, and that’s it! Now people can find you on Facebook and you can post updates about your kennel and your dogs. You can invite your friends to like your page so you can have an audience very quickly.
Don’t be obsessed with the Likes and so on, it matters more to have 5 likes with people who care than 300 Likes of random people who don’t even know what you do.
You see, you don’t have to be Coca-Cola to have a Facebook Page!
I Will Promote My Breed Actively
Dog breeders from all breeds share one common value: they are loyal to their breed and love it to bits. So guess what? Say it to the world! Explain to people, whether 5 or 5,000, what is so great about your breed, what are the medical conditions affecting it, what should we all be aware of, and anything relevant that you feel like sharing.
Where should you share it? The medium is irrelevant, this is just for you to make the effort to throw your two cents out there. You can do it on a blog, in a local association, on Twitter and social medias, anywhere really.
Just get started with small inputs with the people around you, your own network, and you can then spread the words across boundaries.
I Will Update and Refresh My Kennel’s Website
Anybody and everybody have a website nowadays. If you are not on Google, you are not alive.
Firstly, if you already have a website, make sure it is updated to the latest Internet standards. The main one being mobile-responsiveness, meaning that your website will display correctly on mobile devices and big computer screens. You also want to get an SEO-optimised website so search engines understand better your content and rank it higher on their search results.
Secondly, if you do not have any website yet, you have to absolutely create on. It’s actually easier than update an already-existing website as you will start with the right modern methods and tools such as WordPress.
Two links we recommend:
- Our create your own dog breeder website timeline where we guide you step by step, it takes a few minutes only!
- Our article tells you about what content should absolutely be on your dog breeder website!
Let us know in the comments below what new year resolutions you are taking!