FOUR CARDINAL POINTS

FOUR CARDINAL POINTS: The Breeder, Marketer, Miller, and Hawker. It's funny how the influence of the pup Miller mentality is persistent in our culture of rearing dogs. We understand the dictionary definition and we find it very easy to assume the positions of breeders when In fact our manner of rearing dogs connotes  that of a Miller. A multitude of questions have risen concerning this subject matter.  Should a breeder have little or no interest in making profit?  Can't a Miller who rears only pure dogs be called a breeder? The real problem isn't the distinction between the breeder and the Miller. The problem is between the Miller and the dog hawker. Many times millers are also hawkers but dog hawking is not a feature of a Miller.  A hawker is someone who can sell of any dog as any breed for any price.  The sole aim is profit and they'll willingly do it to the detriment of the consumers. A good miller would rear good and healthy dogs, at times even go to the extent of having pure dogs even. He would sell them at a fair price, and could even gain a good reputation.  Since the air has been cleared on the difference between a miller and a hawker, the question remains - who is a breeder?  What are his features? The thought that a breeder doesn't look out for profit must be corrected, for if you run any breeding programme that isn't bringing some sought of satisfaction - whether financially or emotionally, then you are at a loss.  A breeder is someone who carefully selects a particular breed, studies everything about it, and rears them for the major purpose of producing a better offspring than the previous generation.  If that 'purpose' which is the major clause is not there then that fellow is a miller. A breeder will study the different lineages of the dog he wants to go into,  observe the useful temperaments and the negative ones and seek to  breed dogs together that will produce offsprings emerging with more of the better temperaments and less of the negative.  To produce what he wants it may take him 3generations but a breeder is patient. This dogs in the breeders care would be sold at prices worth their value and profit would be made from them.  Although in a breeders case, unlike the millers and hawkers, money isn't the drive but the offsprings. Breeders and millers have their clients base, sometimes sufficient, sometimes not, and that's where the marketers come in.  A marketer may be a breeder, miller, vet, etc but what classifies him as a marketer is his ability to reach out to all spheres of the dog world and create the proper link between the consumers and the breeders or millers. He too needs to be grounded in knowledge with everything that pertains to the canine world. Consumers and breeders would then pay a small price to the marketer for establishing the link and creating a more comfortable access of sale. A noble marketer will only charge due costs for establishing that link and will not place a burden on the consumers and breeders or millers..  The purpose of this article is to exalt noble breeders, give due respect to honest millers,  accord honor to marketers with integrity and flush out Dog hawkers from the canine world,  for their very existence is like sin in a believers life. ~~~ IJIN-LOLU KENNELS