Vision
People sometimes ask me why I’m not a member of the Breeding Club, but I am. Now this isn’t easy to translate and I’ve seen it being translated wrongly many times, so I’ll try to give it a shot: our breeding club also knows the so called ‘erecode’ breeders, which means something like breeders who work with a ‘scouts honour’. They are not ‘honorary breeders’ like some people translated it. That means something totally different. Anyway, those ‘erecode’ breeders work according to the rules of the breeding club. The most important rules are: using the health protocol (which isn’t strict enough to my opinion) and taking your dogs to a show where it has to get the qualification ‘very good’ twice.
The health examinations of the Breeding Club are quite simple. The ones I do for my dogs are quite extensive and with many different x-rays and DNA tests. The ‘code of honour’ says I sould do a much less extensive examination.
I do take my dogs to a show once in a while, but I have to admit that I feel more and more resistance. The extremely flatfaced and short dogs win the prizes and the dogs who can breathe freely with a tiny bit of a nose are written off. I don’t mean to say that a dog with somewhat of a nose is healthier than one without it. I just don’t like the fact that the judges are the ones who think what our breed should look like and therefore, breeders select their breeding stock on their looks. I’m afraid that, as breeders, we cannot afford this. The most important thing is health and after that you can see if a dogs meets the breeding standard.
So I am a member of the Breeding club, but not an ‘erecode’ breeder. For puppy buyers, this means that I might be a little harder to fiend (Google is my friend) and my dogs might sometimes have somewhat of a nose, a longer back of they simply don’t like shows, just like me. In all cases, my breeding animals are in a very good condition and all puppy buyers get the results of the health examinations. They can also be found on this website. I have no secrets.
I don’t pretend I breed nothing but healthy dogs. I strive for healthy dogs that can just take a nice long walk without gasping for air. I certainly don’t have all the answers. Many health problems are inherited in a very difficult way and a few health examinations don’t always shed a light on everything.
I’m just a rookie when it comes to breeding French Bulldogs, but as a former cat breeder, I do know that certain things just aren’t that easy and I’m really quite worried about the French Buldogs’ future.
In order to get as much knowledge as possible, I visit workshop and courses. Strangely enough, I hardly ever see my fellow French Bulldog breeders there.
I hope people will ask for healthy bulldogs more and more and that other breeders will acknowledge the importance of medical screening of their breeding stock. Puppy buyers have the power to turn the tide. Those who really want it and don’t want a puppy on their lap the same day, know perfectly well how to find me. I don’t need the breeding Club for that and they don’t either.
With the price I’m asking for my puppies, I’m trying to make the difference between mass production breeders and well bred pups a little smaller. The fact that people who don’t know, still choose puppies from puppy mills has a lot to do with the extremely high prices that are being asked for French Bulldogs. Not only by the ‘erecode’ breeders, but very often also for puppies with an extraordinary colour or even for puppies without a pedigree. Sometimes people think that if they have to pay a lot, the ‘product’ will be good. People who can’t afford it, go look for an alternative. I hope that our government will come with new regulations which will help showing people where to buy a puppy.
