I just wanted to share our experience of having a litter from our cocker spaniel on behalf of her breeder. I had read some very negative comments on entering into this type of agreement on other forums and wanted to share our very psoitive expeience. When we were looking for our second cocker we went back to the breeder who by then we had known for a couple of years and had regular contact with. The breeder did not have a puppy but had an older female they had kept to show but hadn't quite made the grade so were intending to have a litter from in order to keep that particular line going. We were offered the opportunity to take her providing she could go back to the breeder in the furture to have a litter. We fell in love, as you do, with the big brown eyes and Niamh joined our family.
Although the breeder was quite happy to have Niamh back to have her puppies I asked if we could have them at our house with her support. I have long thought that this might be something I would do once circumstances permitted and thought it would be an excellant opportunity to have expert advice and support. The breeder has more than lived up to their promise of help and mentoring with regular visits, frequent calls, practical demonstrations etc. It helps that we know them well by now and they are only a short drive away.
I would however like to reiterate advice that has been given before and say that it's a massive commitment. I was fortunate in being able to arrange a job break so I could be off for the last few weeks on pregnancy and until the puppies go. I only work part time and am home based but still would have found it very difficult to combine work with puppy duties. I think it's impossible to describe the size of the task without experiencing it and although I had memorised whole tracts from the "Book of the Bitch" and other publications and discussed it at length I have still had several surprises and no doubt there are more ahead over the next few weeks.
I would say however that should anyone one be interested in starting to breed this type of arrangement could be a good opportunity although the relationship you have with the breeder obviously has to be very good and all the what if's, financial stuff etc agreed in advance. I would be interested to know if anyone else has entered into or has experience of similar arrangements.
Liz
