I ask this in good faith because I genuinely don't know, but what is the point of breeding dogs outside of purebred showing? I'm so used to breeding for showing purebred dogs, for profit, or irresponsible owners breeding for fun that any other kind of hobbyist breeding by responsible dog owners is completely foreign to me
Also, are you gonna keep a baby :0
Broadly I would direct you to the Companion Dog Project, although their website isn't great there's a collection of essays/articles that articulate some of the basics of this.
The long and short of it for me is: Purebred dog fancy is using metrics for breeding that I don't think are primarily geared towards producing dogs that are good/easy pets. In a purebred dog fancy world, your two top breeding priorities MUST definitionally be: 1. Registration status and 2. adhering to the Breed Standard.
If you throw that shit out, you're free to make your two top breeding priorities be 1. desired temperament and 2. health. Breeding outside of a closed registry, without having to adhere to a strict breed standard (or worry about spending a ton of money convincing judges that your dog is Worthy in a bunch of hyped up beauty pageants) frees you up to be a LOT pickier about breeding combos. It makes it so much easier to breed away from health or temperament issues; in many breeds, especially small/rare breeds, these things are basically fixed in the entire population.
I'll be open that I fucking hate dog shows and the entire culture around them; I've been there and been burned for being out of step with all of the Secret Rules and what the Allowed Type Of Person and Allowed Opinions are. I think it's pointless at best and it's a farce to pretend that they have anything to do with "selecting breeding stock" at this point, not even getting into the inherent issues with the historically eugenics-based "best to the best" breeding strategies/language used around it. Not even getting into the awful health problems caused in many breeds by closed gene pools and popular sire etc issues, which are hugely exacerbated by a focus on Winning Ribbons.
To me a dog is a friend. I want a dog that is well suited to being a friend. To this end I find that knowing the dog's relatives and how it got its start in life (a thoughtful and enriched environment during crucial developmental periods) set me up for success better than choosing a mystery dog at random. I also like the confidence that knowing the dog's parents and other relatives were health tested gives me. I like having the dog's breeder as a support throughout the dog's life, and I like knowing that if something happens to me or I need help, there is a community of people who have Glimmer's relatives who would step up and immediately assist. I like that my dog has a safety net and is less likely to end up in a shelter because of it. These are the reasons why I personally find that purpose bred dogs currently match my needs better than most randombred/rescue/shelter dogs.
Those are my personal reasons for preferring dogs that are purpose bred for companionship outside of a closed gene pool system. I recognize that many people do not agree with my take on the dog fancy (a fact I know of due to multiple online hate campaigns, which I admit has not warmed my feelings about them) and that's fine. People can do what they want, and I will do what I want, which is to carefully and thoughtfully produce and raise small numbers of nice dogs of a very specific type, bred for a specific purpose, without considering breed registration status. :)👍
ETA: OH YEAH am I gonna keep a baby lol. Well I would like to if she has one that I think is a good match for us. Like, if she has a girl who we like (ideally long coated) I would like to keep her, yeah!
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