Reiki Puppy Breeding

If you cannot find a dog you’re looking for at your local animal shelter or rescue, when searching to buy a dog through a breeder, you should do so in hopes of selecting the most healthy, stable option there is from breeders who prioritize health, temperament, and the future of their puppies with their new families.

Good breeders dedicate their lives to their dogs, breed with a purpose, work hard in preserving their breed, and “prove” their dogs. They carefully and purposefully raise their litter through each developmental stage; they take responsibility for the pups they produced for their entire lifetime, and place puppies based on personality and lifestyle matches that are a best fit.

Some people may know the basic signs of a reputable breeder but there is much more to it than just selecting the healthiest parents and great representatives of the breed. A puppy’s predisposition to form positive, meaningful relationships begins even before they are born. Likewise, the more care, attention, and affection their mom gives her pups, the more confident and well-adjusted puppies will grow to be. Without this nurturing, puppies will be under-confident, over-reactive and slow learners.

During the small window of the first 12 weeks of age, a breeder has the power to change the outcome of a puppy’s life by what is taught to them through each stage of development. Research has proven that it is important to do certain things at certain times with a puppy. Thus, it is important to be able to identify and distinguish good breeders from those who are not so good by first understanding the “types” of breeders there are. The main types are puppy mills, commercial breeders, backyard breeders, and ethical breeders.

Puppy Mills

Puppy mills are the most inhumane, unethical, detrimental and careless kind of breeding operation there is. These breeders care more about the profits, and less about the animal’s health and well-being or the owners who will have to take on the aftermath of poor breeding. The conditions in which the dogs live are horrifying. Some red flags are they often attempt to hide their identity and location. They will sell to third parties like a broker or pet store, or individuals without regard for the puppy. As pet stores have become less popular or altogether banned from selling puppies in certain places, they will post dogs online through websites like Craigstlist, Hoobly, Ebay, or even have them for sale on the side of the road. The pricing ranges widely from very cheap to highly exuberant, at times costing more than an ethically bred dog from a reputable breeder. Sometimes puppy mills will have a fancy website that not only conceals the truth of what actually happens behind the scenes but which may even pass themselves off as a reputable breeder. Unfortunately, lay people who do not know any better continue to support this vicious cycle and their awful treatment of the puppies they breed. Sadly, Amish breeders fall within this category.

Furthermore, Puppy Mills do not "health test" the parents to be sure they are fit for reproduction. They often breed females on every single heat cycle. They typically do not share photos of their dogs on social media. They don't know or will not share the puppy's parents’ information. The Puppy Mill breeders won't let buyers see their home, kennel or whelping space. They will sell multiple breeds instead of specializing in one or two. They supply puppies directly to pet stores or auctions. They don’t require that you sign a contract to get them vaccinated or participate in training. They don't inquire into your lifestyle. They wean puppies too early from their mothers and will sell a puppy to you before the veterinarian recommended 8 weeks of age. The Puppy Mill puppies do not receive a veterinary exam or vaccinations. They do not teach, prepare, or supply their buyers with information on what to expect when raising the puppy or how to make sure the puppy they are adopting can stay safe from infectious diseases prior to the puppy receiving their 3-4 rounds of shots.

“Commercial” or Volume Breeders

High volume breeders are large operations that are inspected by the USDA, state, and local authorities. These regulations typically require that the animals are treated humanely with appropriate housing, exercise, proper nutrition, and veterinary care. These operations often have full time staff for the care and training of their breeding animals. This care is the primary difference between commercial kennels and puppy mills. However, selling puppies is a business for them and the bottom-line matters. They generally only ensure they meet the minimum requirements to remain a legal business. The definition is different among the states for regulation but generally these breeders have many litters a year and numerous breeding females. They probably also don’t care whether you get the right puppy for your family or even the right breed for your lifestyle. It’s still a for profit business, and you are just a customer.

Backyard Breeders (BYB)

The term “backyard” breeder doesn’t actually refer to breeding in their backyard. BYBs can be Home-Based or outdoor/kennel raised. This is where a majority of the purebred dog population has come from as of late. There are both honest and deceptive backyard breeders. Honest BYBs do not know better, for example, about health clearance and genetic testing, while deceptive BYBs intentionally do not do the “right thing” despite knowing what they are supposed to do and take advantage of their buyers for a profit. These breeders often acquire their breeding dogs from puppy mills, commercial breeders, or other BYBs. Risks for health and temperamental issues are much, much higher than if you purchased from an ethical, responsible, hobby breeder.

Ethical Hobby Breeders (Professional, home-based, fully health tested and kennel club titled)

Some key aspects of responsible, ethical breeders are that they:

• Keep puppies for a minimum of 8 weeks
• House the dogs in their home with plenty of space and enrichment
• Welcome visitors
• Are clean, transparent, and communicative
• Have done health clearances on the breeding parents - both orthopedically (OFA eyes, hips, elbows, and heart) and genetically (DNA disease panels) according to their national breed club recommendations
• Do not breed parents until they are at least 24 months old
• Compete in dog events, sports, working jobs, trials, and earn titles
• Offer a health guarantee
• Do not over breed (generally 3-4 litters maximum for a mother)
• Specialize in only one or two breeds
• Don’t always have puppies available
• Keep individual records of veterinary visits for your puppy and the parents
• Thoroughly investigate the applications of potential buyers
• Require a contract and will ask you to return the puppy to them if you aren’t able to keep them
• Generally they do not sell puppies to people they have met in person—and will never sell to pet stores
• Socialize their puppies with dogs and people before leaving
• Assist in matching puppies to families

What sets an ethical breeder apart from the home-based backyard breeder?

The best, ethical breeders study and follow a proven program curriculum like Puppy Culture, AVIDOG, and/or Badass Breeder.

What is Puppy Culture?

Puppy Culture is a program developed by Jane Killion, professional dog trainer and breeder. It is a comprehensive, organized program for breeders to follow during the first weeks of a puppy’s life. Puppy culture has specific tasks and goals through prenatal period, neonatal period, transitional period, and the critical socialization period such as puppy parties, manding, conditioned emotional responses, markers such as click-and-treat training,

AVIDOG Transformation Breeding Program

AVIDOG has a breeder college with components to cover genetics and health testing, epigenetics, effects of maternal stress and positive feelings and emotions, training and fostering skills for communication and reduce and prevent behavioral issues, and how to match dogs with families.

Badass Breeder (BAB)

Jeannette Forrey created a program and community aiming to empower breeders to be able to stand in their own space and run their programs as a professional and change the face of breeding and highlight the breeder’s powerful ability of creating well-adjusted, loving companions. BAB program aligns breeders by a common code of ethics such as:

Badass Breeder Oath

1. Plan litters - have a goal/focus/mission
2. Breed from only healthy, good tempered parents that have been health tested. Choose breeding pairs that accentuate each other in health and temperament.
3. Honor and respect your dam - before and after whelping - keep her happy and healthy. The same for your sires (vet care, high quality food, living quarters, etc.).
4. Ensure all puppies learn the world is safe, people are kind, and dogs are friendly.
5. Guide, shape and mold puppies based upon critical periods, constantly evaluating and adjusting. Work on confidence, nerve strength and startle recovery.
6. Evaluate puppies and provide information to buyers. Have the puppies seen by a vet and then and only then let clients choose their puppy that is healthy and best suits their needs, as well as the puppy’s needs.
7. Take 100% responsibility for every puppy you produce for the entirety of their life 2 year contract - most genetic issues are not seen in one year, so be fair.
8. Educate your new clients. Keep in touch with them and create a community.
9. Love your dogs, love your puppies, love your clients and be on a mission to change breeding from bad to badass.

Reiki Puppy Breeding

While Puppy Culture, AVIDOG, and Badass Breeder cover the physical and mental components to raising an incredible puppy, Karma Dog Training strives to go above-and-beyond what’s already above-and-beyond and has created a program for conscious breeders to also address the spirit of the puppy for which you will be bonding with in life’s journey.

The translation of the word Reiki is made up of two Japanese words put together. Rei, which means spirit, and Ki, which means energy, so it directly translates to “spiritual energy”. Animals are intuitive beings and the system of Reiki Puppy Breeding that Karma Dog Training developed utilizes a meditative space provided by the healer throughout the whelping process that helps put a dam (the female parent of the puppies) more at ease prior to giving birth and one that connects and calms her puppies afterwards.

Can Reiki Puppy Breeding help behavior?

Reiki is an effective stress reliever for all of the puppies in the litter but can be especially important for those who are considered to be the runts of the litter who may experience high anxiety when denied access to the mother's nipples for feeding; a common occurrence which contributes to the origins of the survival instinct behavior specialists refer to as "resource guarding."

Our all-encompassing reiki raised puppies receive energy healing protocols that channel universal life energy through a practitioner’s hands along energetic pathways, thereby comforting and calming the puppies on physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels.

In short, Reiki Puppy Breeding is a safe and a gentle “complementary” therapy that activates the parasympathetic nervous system of the dam (the female parent of the puppies) and her entire litter of puppies throughout the whelping process and during the first 8 weeks of a puppy's life.

So, who do you want to buy your next puppy from?

• A puppy mill which has no care for or relationship with their animals or their new owners
• A commercial or volume breeder who pays no attention to puppy development or continued support beyond the transaction
• A backyard breeder who knows nothing about raising puppies, but just wants to make a few bucks, get a puppy for themselves out of their pet, or give their children an “experience” of birth
• A home-based breeder who does health testing and may try to use programs such as Puppy Culture, Avidog, and/or Badass Breeder but has no real training experience which aren’t effective

OR

• An ethical, professional home-based breeder and profession dog trainer/behaviorist with decades of extensive experience with referrals and reviews of support pursuing an all-encompassing rearing with spiritual enrichment