Breeding Requirements for Owners of Female Eurasier Dogs
by Gisela Aach
(Any copies, or excerpts, only with permission from the author)
Our Eurasiers are a young breed and, from the beginning, this breed has been very carefully monitored by a strongly directed breeding programme. And so, of course, every female considered for breeding must pass a special assessment procedure. Also, the house and garden, where the female Eurasier lives, will be inspected, and the owner must prove that he has acquired detailed knowledge about breeding.
1. The female Eurasier must have successfully passed the assessment procedure, called Ankörung or Zuchttauglichkeitsprüfung in Germany (see also Breeders' Corner / Assessment Procedure) and for her first litter she may not have finished her fifth year.
2. You, the owner/breeder, must be able to invest a lot of time: Travelling and visiting the male, especially the very first time, can cost you 8 to 10 days of your holiday. Pregnancy lasts 61 to 65 days, and from the beginning of the birth until the puppies are ready to leave for their new homes (the puppies are then 8 to 9 weeks old), the breeder must care for the Eurasier female and her offspring. This means, e.g. you cannot leave for a short holiday during this time and let strangers or neighbours care for the litter. Such a behaviour would be irresponsible towards new puppy owners and you would certainly be banned from future breeding.
3. The surroundings must fit: An apartment, even with a balcony, is not sufficient. There must be a garden! Emphasis is not so much on the square meters of the garden, but on the various possibilities it offers the puppies to explore and make different experiences. The Eurasier female and her puppies need a whelping box (in a whelping room or a large corner), as a quiet retreat. According to their age, the puppies need more and more space inside and outside for their optimal development. Contact to members of the human family must be possible at all times. It would be ideal, if the outside run could be reached from the whelping room, because transporting lively puppies several times a day, e.g. when they are six weeks old, costs additional time, patience and quite a bit of talent. Stairs can be circumvened by building something around them, or by using a ramp. Also, a nice and clean hobby-room in the cellar can turn out to be a good whelping room, provided that the mother is accustomed to this room, e.g. usually likes to stay there, and provided that this room is not too far away from the rest of the inhabited rooms ("hearing contact" must be possible at all times).
4. All these things can be discussed with your ZG breed inspector, who will visit you to inspect your home (in Germany this is called: Zwingererstbesichtigung). The breed inspector will give you advice and will also have a few tips and hints concerning how to raise a litter. It is worth telling your friends and relatives of your plans to breed as they might have some more linnen and bed sheets for you - or better, for the whelping box. Also, a surplus carpet will be welcome in the whelping room, to protect the original floor or as an insulation, to protect from a cold floor. Carpets also help to prevent slidding and sliding on slippery or tiled floors.
5. Once all these things have been accomplished and checked, and the ZG can be sure that the puppies will be raised in very good conditions, then you can apply for a mating permission from the ZG breeding board for the next heat of your female Eurasier. In this mating permit you will find the names of suitable males for your female. Please discuss all matters now with your breed inspector.
Zuchtgemeinschaft für Eurasier e.V. : http://www.eurasier-online.de