We hope you will enjoy this truly educational article we spotted in the April 1989 COLLIE REVIEW, “Pat’s Corner”. This article was written by Raymond H. Oppenheimer who was legendary in Bull Terriers. Pat Starkweather (Glen Hill), who is legendary in our Collie world shared this article along with her own inspiring thoughts as to how it applies to our breeding practices. It’s a great read and still inspiring in today’s collie world. Enjoy!

Breed Education Committee: Kelly Neeley – Chair
Courtney Dowling, Patti Merrill,
Lori Montero, Michelle Struble, Laurie Jeff Greer

One of the advantages I receive as a multiple-breed judge is the large number of magazines I receive on various breeds. There is no way I could read them all. I feel rather sorry for the numerous advertisers who run advertisements to impress judges. Most of these magazines get tossed away, as I cannot take a throbbing interest in each of the many breeds I judge. I love to study the characteristics of the various breeds, but just have no interest in which dog is number one on which system, etc. In fact, I am not particularly impressed with all the different rating systems, which really only prove which particular dogs are having the greatest amount of money spent on them in whirlwind campaigns. Some of the best dogs I have ever known never have become number one or even in the top ten! If a dog is not pushed with great exposure and advertising, he may never be “rated” but can still be the best dog of his breed!

However, from time to time there are some articles which appear in these various magazines which are very useful and interesting. At present, there is a wonderful list of do’s and don’ts for the breeder, in the Briard magazine, “Le Magazine”. I would find it hard to prove on this list, as a guide for a breeding program, and in particular for the selection of a stud dog for your bitch. Interestingly enough, this article was a re-printed from a Bull Terrier publication! Well, when you’re right, you’re right! So here is the article: I have “starred” the ideas I personally find especially significant.

Twenty Basic Breeding Principles – Or Choice of A Stud

(Raymond Oppenheimer is considered by many to have been one of the most successful and knowledgeable breeders of purebred dogs)

  1. Don’t make use of indiscriminate out-crosses. A judicious out-cross can be of great value: and injudicious one can produce an aggregation of every imaginable fault of the breed.
  2.  Don’t line-breed just for the sake of line-breeding. Line-breeding with complimentary types can bring great rewards: with unsuitable ones, it will lead to immediate disaster.
  3. * Don’t take advice from people who have always been unsuccessful breeders. If their opinions were worth having, they would have proved it by their successes.
  4. Don’t believe the popular cliché about the brother or sister of the great champion being just as good to breed from. For every one that is, hundreds are not. It depends on the animal concerned.
  5. Don’t credit your own dogs with virtues they don’t possess. Self-deceit is a stepping stone to failure.
  6. Don’t breed from mediocrities. The absence of a fault does not in any way signify the presence of its corresponding virtue.
  7. Don’t try to line-breed two dogs at the same time. You will end by line-breeding neither.
  8. Don’t assess the worth of a stud dog by his inferior progeny. All stud dogs sire rubbish at times. What matters is how good their best efforts are.
  9. * Don’t allow personal feelings to influence your choice of a stud dog. The right dog for your bitch is the right dog whoever owns it.
  10. Don’t allow admiration of a stud dog to blind you to his faults. If you do, you will soon be the victim of auto-intoxication.
  11. Don’t mate together animals which share the same fault. You are asking for trouble if you do.
  12. * Don’t forget that it is the whole dog that counts. If you forget one virtue while searching for another, you will pay for it.
  13. Don’t search for the perfect dog for your bitch. The perfect dog or bitch doesn’t exist, never has and never will.
  14. * Don’t be frightened of breeding from animals that have obvious faults so long as they have compensating virtues. A lack of virtues is far the greatest fault of all.
  15. Don’t mate together non-complementary types. An ability to recognize type at a glance is a breeder’s greatest gift. Ask the successful breeders to explain this subject – there is no other way of learning.
  16. * Don’t forget the necessity to preserve head quality. It will vanish like a dream if you do.
  17. * Don’t forget that substance plus quality should be one of your aims. Any fool can breed one without the other.
  18. * Don’t forget that a great head plus soundness should be one of your aims. Many people can never breed either!
  19. Don’t ever try to decry a great Collie. A thing of beauty is not only a joy forever but a great Collie should be a source of aesthetic pride and pleasure to all true lovers of the Collie breed.
  20. Don’t be satisfied with anything but the best. The second best is never good enough.

PICTURE NOTE:
Twenty Basic Breeding Principles by Raymond H. Oppenheimer was originally printed in Ernest Eberhard’s 1957 book, The Complete Bull Terrier. Raymond Oppenheimer is arguably the most respected and influential Bull Terrier man of all time! He once wrote, “Lack of virtue is the greatest fault of all.”