In my many years of dog breeding I have been a "Paper Breeder".  This may sound strange to many of you, but never the less very true.  Before I breed I chart out the pedigrees of both the sire and dam and the good qualities and bad on both sides of the pedigree.  You will have to do some homework to get these answers but it is well worth the trouble.  Can you luck out without them, sure, but before long the whimsies of nature catch you and you are in trouble.  You can also get into trouble by thinking that one stud dog is good for all bitches.  How wrong you are and how you can breed yourself into a corner and yourself short on a gene pool.

Breeding dogs as I have said over the years is a great gamble and if one cannot gamble, then you should not breed dogs.  Now for those of you who are a might religious I am not referring to throwing dice or playing cards.  The gamble I am referring to includes what is the genetic makeup of the two dogs you plan to breed together.  Years ago and even today, it is said until you have bred five generations from your first dog you have not succeeded in becoming a true dog breeder.  Really, I feel it should be a least five generations from your foundation Cardigan, be it male or female.  We all had to start somewhere, as we were not born with the knowledge of dog breeding.  We all approach dog breeding with a different idea and look for different outcomes.  But in the end most breeders look for that" flyer" to go out there and win and win.

My interpretation of "flyer" is an animal that can win and cannot reproduce himself.  Usually these animals come from outcrosses x outcrosses and this is how "flyers" are born.  They are not as asset to a breeding kennel, but to a show kennel they have a record value.  Many people in dogs are record happy and if you are inclined, it is OK.  It will require a heavy pocketbook and a fairly steady dog.  If you are more inclined to breed good type of dogs then you will have to have a fair amount of patience.
Most people are short on the patience end of things and feel you can short cut to success.  They only short cuts are if you take a dog from an established breeder and have the money to campaign it and then breed it with the thought of improving even more.  Winning can make you blind to what is good and what is only average.  Too many people start in dogs and fall because they want success and have no patience.  In all my years I have found that patience and not fooling with the whimsies of nature can get you ahead faster than all the talk and ribbons.

Again, here I refer to "paper breeding".  You must know what you are doing and how to proceed in what you are doing.  You can put two dogs next to each other and say they should produce well, but unless you know the grandparents of those dogs you cannot know what you are dealing with.  One must know the pedigrees and the pros and cons from each side, i.e.: white, fronts, tail sets, top lines etc.  You have to do homework to know what you are doing and the "paper breeding".

You can listen to people tell you how this is done and they know or usually know their lines.  But if you random breed and do not know how to get yourself ahead you can be destroying a line of otherwise good dogs or start a line of inferior dogs.  There are solutions to every problem and these are my solutions for anyone in trouble with a breeding program.

1. Never breed just for winners
2. Breed with tomorrow in mind
3. The proof of a good breeding is that a good part of your litter is of good quality.
4. Notice I did not say, "show quality".  Anyone with time and money can finish a dog.
5. "Paper Breed" and learn from what you can see alive in the pedigree.
6. Never breed just to breed, have a goal in mind.
7. Always consider the reason you breed is to improve your stock.
8. Take off your blinders, all dogs have faults.
9. Find the patience to know when you are doing right and going wrong.
10. Always remember to think for yourself, ask if you are not really sure.