We are often asked how to get started in breeding Cairn Terriers, and though we appreciate the compliment on our website and program we want to say "There is no easy road that leads to success".
Yes, dogs from established breeding programs are worth the investment. We want to see multiple generations of healthy dogs and good temperaments when adding puppies to our program. We want to see health testing. We want to see good management practices.
Beginners often make simple mistakes such as crossing two dogs that share a recessive trait that is undesirable or not de-worming appropriately. We aren't interested in puppies from breeders that raise one litter every few years. Their experience and breadth of knowledge can't compare to a breeder that has multiple dogs that are multiple generations deep in their program.
Aside from the financial commitment and time involved to find stud services or multiple dogs, the next thing to consider is the time commitment. Dogs will cycle in their own timing, and choose when they whelp as well. It could be 2am the day of Christmas, or your ten year wedding anniversary. The dogs need help, more importantly they need YOU or someone they are comfortable with, and that is knowledgeable enough to help them or know when to take them to the vet.
If the sleepless nights, crazy schedule, and financial commitment doesn't deter you, you're off to a great start. Now you must find the puppies homes. If you're not ready to either become heavily involved in local dog/cairn clubs or take on differentiating yourself from the plethora of online scammers than I don't recommend proceeding. You will spend as much time talking about your program as you will actually caring for the dogs. Once you find the puppies homes your job as a breeder has not come to an end as you should be supportive and helpful to those homes for the life of the dog.
Cheers to your success! May you become wise and not grizzled.
PS:
I'm working on a website update that will make finding pictures of current and retired breeding dogs easier as well as pedigrees since many of our dogs are multi-generational at this point. We also have a new logo on our profiles across instagram, Facebook, and Tiktok! (below) T-shirts and mugs available soon for those of you crazy enough to be terrier crazy with us.
