Do I Need a Mentor?

Ask any successful breeder this question and undoubtedly they will tell you that they would have never gotten where they are in dogs today without a great mentor!

Breeding mediocre animals is easy...anyone can do it.  Breeding quality animals, generation after generation takes skill and understanding.  It takes commitment, and that means being brutally honest in ones breeding program, and breeders must be their own worst critic!  Personal feelings must be put aside in the decision to breed only the best.  Great breeders, like great mentors, will never criticize a top winning or outstanding dog...they know how hard they are to come by and appreciate the work involved in producing them and in managing them, both as producers and show dogs.

Those breeders that are consistently producing top winning and producing dogs will attest that obtaining a championship on a dog does not always make it breeding quality.  In our breed, it is easy to finish anything on four legs...however, that doesn't mean you should necessarily breed it. 

In the sport of purebred dogs the most sought after mentors are successful, established breeders with many years of experience.  These mentors realize the importance of passing on their valuable gene pool to younger breeders eager to carry on the torch.  These younger breeders have often obtained their foundation stock from the mentors line and have proved themselves worthy of carrying on their mentors line.

So exactly what is a mentor, you ask?  Webster defines a mentor as a wise and faithful counselor.

The choice of a mentor will be as important as understanding your breed standard, learning to apply basic genetic principles to your breeding program and learning to recognize good type within your breed.  Pick wisely!

I personally love the 20 breeding principles of Robert Oppenheimer...these were taught to me by my mentor many, many years ago.  Look at # 3: . Don't take advice from people who have always been unsuccessful breeders. If their opinions were worth having, they would have proved it by their successes.

Here is where most newcomers make their biggest mistake.  Rather than taking the time to find a successful breeder with a proven track record, and convince that breeder that they are truly willing to learn and are worth working with, they get in a hurry and hook up with someone who has been in the breed for a few years, bred a lot, and finished a few champions.

Here is what my mentor told me all those years ago...

1.  Speak only when you are spoken to:  successful breeders aren't really concerned with your opinions about THEIR breeding program.  Apply rule #1 for at least the first 5 years.

2.  If you have questions, feel free to ask me (your mentor) and I will be happy to explain them to you privately so you won't make a fool out of yourself.  No question is too dumb to ask your mentor.

3.  Read, learn and LISTEN...apply this rule the rest of your life in dogs.

4.  Look at and get your hands on as many dogs as you can...in your breed as well as other breeds.

5.  Ask other breeders to point out the merits in their dogs...learn to recognize what is good, as that is what you will want to breed.  Owners love talking about how great their dogs are.

6.  Be smart enough to know what is wrong with those same dogs as well.

7.  Go to as many shows as you can and stay til the very end.

8.  Don't be in a hurry to breed.  Unless you are satisfied with breeding mediocre dogs.

9.  When you do breed, breed ONLY the best to the best.   If you don't have what you consider the best, go buy one.  "Breeding Up" will rarely ever get you where you want to be.

10.  Respect and be loyal to your mentor and never waste their time.

Yes, she was tough...but she was a great mentor and a great breeder of Shetland Sheepdogs, breeding BIS blue merles when it was hard to even finish them.  What was even tougher, was getting her to take me seriously and work with me.  I drove 4 hours each way to go and spend a day with her...whenever she would let me...if she called and said she had a free day, I changed MY plans so I could go spend the day at her kennel.  I helped brush dogs and in return, she helped me learn to "go over" the dog and "feel the structure" on each and every one of them.  She moved the dogs so I could see the different gait on each of them.   She taught me the merits on linebreeding, inbreeding and outcrossing and how to read pedigrees.  She told me all about the old dogs in the pedigree... in return, I helped hold dogs at dog shows for her...cleaned kennels, or anything else I could do to help out...and most importantly, I took her advice!

Prove your worth, and it will be much easier to find a great mentor to work with.  Most established breeders are more than willing to work with a good student...they don't however, have the time to waste on "instant" experts.  They are, after all, busy breeding another generation of great dogs, and furthering their own education.