People who breed two animals of the opposite sex together are commonly referred to as "breeders". There is no prerequisite, no license, no education or no requirements other than they own at least the female animal being bred. This lack of credentials to be a breeder may be a factor as to why many animals wind up unwanted. Specifically, breeders of dogs can be divided into many categories:

• Backyard Breeders

• Commercial Breeders

• Hobby Breeders

• Professional Breeders

• Puppy mill Breeders

Each of these categories comes with criticisms and people within them only survive by continuing to produce sound, healthy puppies with good human relations (both between the buyers and the dogs and the sellers and the buyers). This is true with the Hobby Breeders and the Professional Breeders. The Backyard Breeders are, typically, a transitory group who only breed dogs for income purposes and have no idea how to test for genetic predisposition or perform a single breeding to show the kids how nature reproduces. Unfortunately, Backyard Breeders also cause many unwanted dogs because they either give them away to anyone or charge a low price to anyone. Commercial Breeders move a lot of puppies and do so with a business purpose. What is missing is the breeding decisions the Hobby or Professional Breeders would demand. Commercial breeding is interested in breeding for a market. So, for example, they may breed a healthy male Golden Retriever to a healthy female Golden Retriever. They would not examine the pedigrees for known issues nor would they examine the breed standards for breed considerations. Commercial Breeders may even breed different breeds together if there was a market to support that kind of dog. In some cases, Commercial Breeders can become puppy mills. Animal Rights (AR) organizations have been successful in some states to push legislatures into writing laws to prohibit the sale of puppies from any pet store being supplied puppies from puppy mill suppliers. These same AR organizations have also attacked anyone breeding dogs as being illegitimate, careless and contributing to the unwanted dog problem. But, over the past 10 years, many concerned breeders and animal welfare organizations have worked hard to change the AR criticism of Hobby/Professional Breeders by proving they do all the right things in canine husbandry and none of the AR organization’s claims of improper breeding.

These categories of dog breeders are historical and provide guides as to why there is a previously unrealized category of dog breeders who perform breed services and protections not commonly discussed. So, let me introduce the Preservational Breeder (PB).

In today’s world of genetic evaluation, breeders are becoming able to determine how to avoid many genetic anomalies by having any number of genetic tests performed on their breeding stock by a growing number of animal genetics laboratories. This puts solid, scientific information in the hands of the breeder to make better decisions. Those same breeders have bred many generations of a breed and know where some untestable genetics reside giving them the ability to avoid certain dogs in certain pedigrees.

These breeders also breed for the type and qualities described in the breed standard for the breed or breeds in their care. The breed standard is a written document maintained by a breed’s national club to describes the unique features that must be controlled to keep the breed a purebred breed. If breeds did not have written documents defining their breeds’ type, the breed would not be preserved. This is key and essential for a Preservational Breeder (PB).

A Canine Preservational Breeder (CPB) is a breeder who preserves breed(s) of dog(s) in terms of breed type, function, genetics, pedigree, health, temperament, socialization, diet, placement, conformation dog shows, obedience training and all phases of canine life to insure the preservation of the breed and the preservation of the best quality of that breed this CPB’s complex breeding decisions can provide. In addition, CPBs establish their pedigrees with the American Kennel Club (AKC) and perform all testing for their breed required by their breed’s parent clubs and submitting applicable test results to the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) Registry to receive a Canine Health Information Center (CHIC) Certificate Program.

CPBs also preserve the history of their breeding. So, a CPB can look at pedigrees containing dogs they have bred (created) and are able to provide valuable information about that dog such as genetic/health testing, breed attributes/faults and temperament. This kind of information is not available from shelter dogs for example. Dogs bred by a CPB have a known history that provides assurance as to the nature, quality and health of a CPB bred dog.

So, a CPB is a canine breeder who performs countless activities to preserve the breed, the history of dogs bred by the CPB, breeds only healthy dogs genetically and health tested, constantly reviews available dog food products, provides adequate exercise, establishes an essential vaccination program, provides the best living quarters and much more all to provide exceptional canine companions that live a long quality life.

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