At AppleGarden, we are committed to developing a strong, recognizable line of chihuahuas, and this process requires dedication and careful planning over multiple generations (especially for a small program like ours). That’s why having keepers from litters is essential to our breeding program.
Building a Line: Developing and maintaining a high standard (physical and mental) for quality dogs is a very demanding task, and with small litters there’s not much variety to select from. We carefully determine keepers from our own litters to move our program forward, improve with every next generation and for years to come.
Collaboration, Not Competition: Many of our fellow breeders work similarly—keeping the best to advance their own lines, therefore having mutual access to quality studs with diverse genetics is vital for the chihuahua breed as a whole.
This is why we choose to build and preserve our lines by keeping and nurturing the best of each generation.
We hope this gives a little insight into the thought process behind keepers in preservation breeding!
To learn more on the keepers that did not make it into the breeding program, check out the blog post: Career Changed and Retired Dogs
