23/07/2025
A BREEDER WITHOUT TRAINING KNOWLEDGE IS LIKE A FARMER WHO CAN’T HARVEST.
Let’s get something clear today.
In Nigeria, we have more people calling themselves breeders than we have people who truly understand dogs. That’s our reality.
And this is the painful truth:
A breeder without training knowledge is like a farmer who plants without knowing how to harvest.
What happens? Wasted effort. Missed potential. Bad yield. Confusion. Regret.
Breeding isn’t just about pairing dogs and selling puppies. It’s not about feeding them kibble, deworming them, and calculating profits. That’s not breeding. That’s production.
Real breeding is intentional. Strategic. Deep. Emotional. Mental. Scientific.
Now, Let’s Look at the Consequences of Breeding Without Training Knowledge
Look around Nigeria today. So many puppies being born, but how many of them can truly guard a home, hold ground under pressure, or even cope mentally in public spaces?
You ask someone why they bred their male and female, and they say:
“Ah, the male fine, the female na import.””Na watin dey reign now.”
That’s it.
No mention of the dog’s nerves, confidence levels, fight drive, structure, handler sensitivity, or even reaction to pressure.
They didn’t test the stud, didn’t evaluate the dam, didn’t assess the offspring—because they don’t know how.
And why don’t they know how?
Because they’ve never trained a dog. Not even their own.
One thing Many Don’t Know is This— Training Gives You Eyes
When you understand training, you start to see deeper. You start to recognize the difference between fear aggression and confident drive, between a dog that barks out of anxiety and a dog that means business. You can test puppies for sound sensitivity, prey drive, human focus.
You learn how to build a stable dog—not just one that looks good in pictures.
You also start understanding the dog beyond just the physical. You begin to look at:
How a puppy responds to sudden sound. Whether it recovers quickly or shuts down. Whether it follows scent confidently. If it has the right instincts to protect, alert, or assist.
Without this training insight, your breeding choices will be blind. You’ll be chasing beauty without function. You’ll be producing dogs that may look nice, but can’t hold their ground, can’t do the job, can’t adapt, and can’t cope.
Another Thing is— Training Knowledge Helps You Select Right.
Are you breeding for companionship? For protection? For sport? For security? For therapy?
Every one of these goals requires a different set of traits. And if you don’t know what to look for or how to bring it out through training, then you're just gambling.
Breeding should never be a gamble.
It should be guided by purpose, shaped by experience, and backed by evidence.
Only trainers know what it feels like to work a dog through pressure, to teach commands, to identify learning blocks, to test instincts, and to build resilience.
That insight is what separates the real breeders from the puppy factories.
Nigeria and Africa Must Do Better
Our continent is blessed. We have strong dogs, natural land, diverse genetics, and passion.
But we can’t keep doing shallow breeding based on looks, price, and names.
We need education.
We need training.
We need evaluation.
And this is why, more than ever, breeders must become students of training. Even if you don't become a full-time trainer, you must understand:
— Puppy development stages
— Drive theory
— Environmental imprinting
— Marker training
— Temperament shaping
— Early assessments
Only then can you breed dogs that are useful, reliable, stable, and worthy of their price tags.
Let’s be honest:
If you can’t evaluate what you’re breeding, you shouldn’t be breeding yet.
Let’s raise the bar for breeding in Nigeria and Africa. Let’s produce dogs that look good, work well, behave right, and stand strong.
Let’s train. Let’s learn. Let’s evolve.
Because the goal isn’t just more dogs.
The goal is better dogs.
And it starts with us.
