Badass Breeder

As we enter our second class, we use this episode to broach the subject of health testing. You can expect to learn all about what testing is and what to do when it comes to testing your parents and puppies, in order to create better standards for us all. An important note to always keep in mind when it comes to this area of breeding is that there are no foolproof answers from tests, and the recommendations laid out here are a way to stimulate some thought and give you a means to work with the many variables we constantly encounter when it comes to the health of our dogs. There are many limitations to the power of testing, but it does provide a very strong resource for improving our breeding and the gene pool, and should not be underestimated! In part one, we speak about important areas such as eyes and hips, follow-up tests on the patella, elbows, and heart, and much more. Listeners will also come away with some useful starting points for where to go for certain tests, why it is vital to test for temperament and the part that brain development plays in the later life of any dog. So to get it all make sure to join us and stay tuned for part two!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Staying realistic about the amount of certainty with which we can approach health testing. 
• The two-fold nature of health testing: prenatal practices and following up with records. 
• Using the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals and the certifications they offer. 
• Different tests for DNA, eyes, and heart, and when and how to do these.
• Delaying health tests for females in heat in order to preserve reliable results. 
• The important statistics available on the OFA website around preliminary tests. 
• What sort of veterinary professional to seek out for testing an animal's heart.
• The importance of the coefficient of inbreeding (COI) and why to track it.
• The topic of temperament and why to not neglect this area of testing. 
• Including brain development in the nature versus nurture conversation. 
• Using testing, record collection, and in-pregnancy care for the mother to promote healthy development.  
• When to breed? The simple yet highly contentious question!
• What to do with back-to-back litters and encouraging set schedules. 
• The mandatory difficulties that we encounter at all stages of breeding!

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Jeanette Forrey

The Ultimate Badass Breeder's Guide

Jeanette Forrey Email

OFA

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Jeanette Forrey

Webinars (classes and training)

Badass Breeder

Badass Breeder on Facebook

Badass Breeder on Instagram

Empowered Breeder Software

The Ultimate Badass Breeder's Guide

Raising the Empowered Puppy Guide for Clients

YouTube Playlist

Jeanette Forrey Email

Welcome back to part two of the first class in our Badass Breeder Mentorship! 

In this segment of the course, we will be covering everything you need to know when it comes to choosing breeding stock. One of the main takeaways from this session is that when choosing breeding stock, it is important to use a holistic approach based on the goals you have in your specific program. What this means is that before you pick a mare or sire, you need to assess all the different features of the candidate using the purpose you have in mind for your puppies as a reference point. 

In Jeanette’s case, she is breeding therapy, facility, and service dogs, so we learn about how she has tailored her choices to this goal. Jeanette takes us through a list of the most important considerations relating to coat, size, health, pedigree, intelligence and trainability, structure and confirmation, and more. We also take a deep dive into what to look for when doing a temperament test of an older breeding dog you intend to bring into your facility. 

Be sure to join us for this installment of the Badass Breeder Mentorship today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• What a good breeder needs to consider when choosing breeding stock.
• The value of having a plan relating to choosing stock and picking a sire that supports your program.
• The mistake of focusing on one aspect of breeding and the need for a holistic approach.
• Remembering that every good program has a varied pedigree.
• Knowing the dogs that display the desirable breed traits.
• Whether it is wrong to buy a puppy that doesn’t meet show standard colors.
• Pros and cons of three different ways to get your breeding stock: keeping a puppy, buying a puppy, and buying an adult.
• Whether Jeanette uses AKC standards to determine the pedigree of her dogs.
• How to find quality puppies and breeders to work with you when starting out.
• Avoiding breeders who are over-eager to sell and use overused lines.
• Guidelines for assessing breeding stock based on Jeanette’s goals.
• Looking at temperament holistically and remembering there is no perfect dog.
• The standards for health testing that Jeanette uses.
• Why intelligence and trainability, as well as pedigree, are important to Jeanette based on her goals.
• Learning to assess structure and confirmation as well as color and coat holistically.
• The ethical journey Jeanette made when thinking about breeding smaller sizes.
• What to do if a dog fails the purpose you intended for it.
• Looking at cost versus risk when assessing choices for breeding stock.
• The difficult process of considering where a guardian will live.
• What to look for when do

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Jeanette Forrey

Webinars (classes and training)

Badass Breeder

Badass Breeder on Facebook

Badass Breeder on Instagram

Empowered Breeder Software

The Ultimate Badass Breeder's Guide

Raising the Empowered Puppy Guide for Clients

YouTube Playlist

Jeanette Forrey Email

Welcome to the first class of the Badass Breeder Mentorship! Being a breeder is filled with unique challenges, from isolation to judgment and feelings of inadequacy. This is why it is so important to get a strong sense of your Why and the approach you use at your breeding practice, which is exactly what this mentorship is designed to help you achieve! Today we start our training by covering Jeanette’s Badass Breeder oath and how its tenets form the backbone of the approach at 4E Kennels as well as this mentorship. We look at how Jeanette thinks about planning litters, parent standards, parent care, puppy curriculum, puppy development, puppy evaluation, lifetime responsibility, client community, and the need to raise puppies using a loving approach. Jeanette takes a deep dive into each of these principles that inform her oath and unpacks the way they play out in her attitude to her clients, business, and of course, her puppies! As Jeanette says, our aim is to heal hearts and change lives through the power of a dog, so be sure to tune in and hear how you can get even better at this within your breeding practice.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Challenges faced by breeders such as loneliness and negative judgment.
• Fighting back against these challenges by creating a community of badass breeders.
• A list of Jeanette’s accomplishments and her credibility as a thought leader on breeding.
• The main goals that Jeanette wants to reach with the participants in her classes: to put the puppy first and find their Why.
• Jeanette’s badass breeder oath that she centers her program around.
• Recommendations for planning litters, parent standards, parent care, puppy curriculum, puppy development, and more.
• Why it is so important to evaluate puppies after day 49 and even day 60.
• How to evaluate puppies and why clients should not choose them before being evaluated.
• The main reasons why puppies are surrendered and how evaluation can help prevent them.
• How evaluating puppies correctly leads to happier clients and more referrals.
• Honoring lifetime responsibility and Jeanette’s policies around reservation fees and customer service.
• Jeanette’s policy around client community and how she makes people feel special and inspired.
• The segment about love in Jeanette’s oath and how rearing puppies helps her to be a better person.
• Staying true to your mission and the reason you breed.
• Jeanette’s feelings about why badass breeders deserve to make money.
• How Jeanette structures her business so that it is profitable.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Jeanette Forrey

Send us a comment, but we cannot reply. Please reach out at [email protected]

Jeanette Forrey

Webinars (classes and training)

Badass Breeder

Badass Breeder on Facebook

Badass Breeder on Instagram

Empowered Breeder Software

The Ultimate Badass Breeder's Guide

Raising the Empowered Puppy Guide for Clients

YouTube Playlist

Jeanette Forrey Email

Jeanette Forrey is the Badass Breeder. She has quickly been recognized as one of the industry-leading dog breeders, trainers, and educators. Through her highly successful breeding program, 4E Kennels, Jeanette has raised and placed over two hundred service, facility, and therapy dogs, as well as numerous loving, reliable family companions. Recently, she launched a renowned non-profit organization, Healing Hearts, which is placing fully-trained working dogs in deserving homes. Additionally, Jeanette has also started her own therapy dog team, bringing the healing comfort of a dog to those who need it most. Jeanette has been featured on many local and national media outlets, including Good Morning America. 

Along with her rich history in dog rearing, Jeanette is also an experienced educator. Having successfully taught regular and at-risk students in the Las Vegas public school system, she combined these diverse worlds to develop the Badass Breeder Mentorship Program. Again, showing her pedigree as an industry disruptor, she has been sharing her secrets related to breeding, puppy curriculum, and evaluation techniques, combined with her business ethics. She is relentlessly focused on promoting ethical and dog-centered breeding practices and educating the public to buy smarter to defund puppy mills and ill-intentioned backyard breeders. Jeanette is not only successful but is truly elevating the way the breeding business is done by not only changing breeding from bad to badass but healing hearts and changing lives through the power of a dog. She is taking hundreds of breeders on this mission and journey with her.

Send us a comment, but we cannot reply. Please reach out at [email protected]

Jeanette Forrey

Webinars (classes and training)

Badass Breeder

Badass Breeder on Facebook

Badass Breeder on Instagram

Empowered Breeder Software

The Ultimate Badass Breeder's Guide

Raising the Empowered Puppy Guide for Clients

YouTube Playlist

Jeanette Forrey Email