Breeder Mindset

The way you approach an issue of health wether it be a breeding female, or a sick pup et,  in your breeding program (in regards to your thought process) is one of the biggest challenges you will need to overcome to be a successfull breeder.

The biggest issue I see among breeders is that when we go through an experience, we think the solution is applicable in the same situation for another breeder, but in actuality , a certain treatment may have only worked for you because of the genetics in your line. The longer I do this the more I see that your genetic line is the root of everthing you will experience in your own kennel. What works for you and saved your pups, may not work for someone else. Don’t be so set in your ways that you don’t consider that another breeders lines may need a compoletely different approach to the same problem. Doing that, is called kennel blindness.  We must always look at every situation objectively, because in the end we are just trying to help others. Don’t forget that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING comes down to genetics. Every dogs immune system is like a fingerprint. Every single one is different.

For example : I argued with someone on a facebook group because a lady , (let’s call her Carol), Carol posted saying she dewormed her dog with safeguard and the dog had a seizure. Well another lady (lets call her Karen ( so many Karens today lol )) , well karen got on her post saying that there was no way the seizure was from safeguard.

Karen is an idiot. Karen said that it’s extremely diffficult to overdose on safeguard. Karen is right about that, you could dose a dog with 50 x the dose and it wouldn’t hurt the dog. But here’s why Karen is an idiot. Karen has completely forgotten that any dog could have an allergic to even the smallest amount of safeguard. Allergic reactions are not the same as an overdose because a medication was given in a toxic amount. Everything is toxic in to much quantities. Safeguard is know to be very safe at even 10 times the needed dose for deworming treatment. Keep your mind open at all times.

I myself, have been giving safeguard for years and never had an issue, but last year I had a puppy who I gave safeguard, she was acting hypoglycemic within 6 hours of giving it. I couldn’t get her to come out of it even treating her for hpoglycemia. Well , I decided to go to the vet. In the 15 minutes it took me to get to the vet she was seizing in my arms, and the vet gave her a steriod and  another shot of something akin to benadryl. Pup was fine and never had another issue. The vet concluded that she was simply allergic to safeguard.

Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of not being able to be subjective, look at things outside of your own experiences so that you can be open to all the possibilities. Your dogs will be better off for it. Especially if you buy another line and bring it in. All your knowledge shouldn’t work against you.  Don’t be a karen, ok? Unless you are a cool Karen. Then that’s great. But don’t be an “Ass Hole Karen”.