The Hard Decisions of Ethical Breeding

And cartwheels over our new arrivals

I mentioned on Instagram that we were expecting a new arrival (cryptic, I know). I have found that it’s best not to give all the details of a thing on Instagram, as I otherwise get inundated with questions and inquiries. So with something like this, a slower release of information is wiser.

So before we get to who the new arrival is, a little backstory. Breeding is an incredibly complicated endeavor. I have a massive pinboard in my office and on it are 3x5 cards with every dog who is currently part of the Nicholberry program, as well as those who I call “hopefuls.” 

The hopefuls are those who are not yet two years old and have thus not passed all of their clearances. They also have not reached emotional maturity, so we are still evaluating their temperament. I run coefficiencies of inbreeding on all hopefuls, verifying that the offspring of contemplated pairings will share a low percentage of shared genetics (thereby reducing the incidence of a lurking double recessive and creating healthier puppies). Obviously, this all gets planned years before puppies from a pairing actually arrive.

I have never done a statistical analysis on what percentage of puppies pass all of their health clearances and possess the temperament we desire for our Nicholberry parents, but it isn’t great. We basically have a massive party when a dog officially becomes part of our Nicholberry program.

So you can only imagine how devastating it was to remove four - FOUR! - girls in 2023. Four girls who were all older than two years of age, who had great temperaments, and who had all passed their health clearances. It was a tough year.

All four of those girls were 3x5 cards on the pinboard, intended to be the foundation of our 2024/2025/2026 program. I have quite a few deposits for puppies and I’ve had to tell all of those families that, sorry, we won’t have puppies as planned. You won’t be bringing home that new family member, that service dog, that therapy dog. It’s time to simply wait.

Welcome to ethical breeding. 

Thus, I have been putting feelers out with every breeder I trust. It isn’t uncommon for females of breeding age to become available, especially since the post-Covid market has tanked the interest in puppies (which is why so many rescues are inundated with puppies and parents from fly-by-night breeders). But we are laser-focused on raising healthy, resilient puppies and that starts with healthy, resilient parents. It’s difficult to raise a litter of puppies who could all be candidates for therapy work when mom is nervous, anxious, reactive, or aggressive. Mama’s temperament and health are non-negotiables.

After months of looking, two things happened.