@jessicacharlie Unfortunately, lots of breeders gate, keep and can be very standoffish for obvious reasons, because a lot of people do breed dogs for a terrible reasons.
I will say your reason for breeding the dog breed to keep it. Alive is respectable I would still check to make sure medical wise. They are good dogs to breed so no major health issues that can come with the breed. The OFA website should have all of that stuff for you and can really be a life saver. I would even argue if these dogs are good enough because you’re trying to get the population up open selective breeding rights to the right people and puppies.
You, as the breeder should be responsible enough to distinguish, which puppies are good enough for breeding and which ones aren’t because not all puppies from a litter will be. Then you can either keep one of those dogs for your program or sell those dogs to people who are breeding for the right reasons.
What I will say in regards to breed them to just be pets I don’t think that’s a good enough reason. If they have some sort of working purpose, absolutely but just breeding them to be designer. Dogs is not the best course of action. Even if it’s niche, I think there needs to be a reason. Even if it’s a nesh reason like some doodles can be used to be service animals there should be something. What I will say is, in terms of stock if you don’t feel like the female is up to snuff. It’s absolutely worth it to spend more money to get a dog from a neighboring area that meet your requirements for you’re damn.
I’m looking for black German Shepherd right now. My favorite Breeder so far in this hunt for a sire actually lives in Florida. That’s many states away from where I live in the US. So this person does a puppy chauffeur service. Which is a little extra, but if we do decide to go with his puppies would be worth it. Even if we don’t get from him, we are looking in our neighboring states as well because sometimes you just have to make it a road trip or pay a little extra for the perfect stock. If your male is currently healthy as can be, and you don’t have CKC paperwork. Get a embark test this will really help you out to prove your dog is pure bread, which is 80% or more of a certain dog breeds DNA. I would also check if you know a close relative of your dogs like grandma grandpa mother, father that do have CKC. So you can also check their OVA history hopefully while also being able to tell potential buyers hey although I don’t have the CKC paperwork, their grandparents and parents do and they were really healthy. This along with showing that your dogs have a clean bill of health would be perfect.
Regardless, I think you’re doing a terrific job, and I respect you actually taking the time to research what it takes. Keep up the good work. I hope everything turns out well for you.