1. Don't do indiscriminate outcrosses. A judicious outcross can be of great value; an injudicious one can produce an aggregation of every imaginable fault in the breed.
2. Don't linebreed just for the sake of linebreeding. Linebreeding with complimentary types can bring great rewards; with unsuitable ones, it will lead to immediate disaster.
3. Don't take advice from those 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 cliche about the brother or sister of the great champion being just as good to breed from; for everyone that is, there are hundreds that are not. It depends on the animal concerned.
5. Don't credit your dog with virtues they do not possess. Self deceit is a stepping stone to failure.
6. Don't breed from mediocrity; the absence of a fault does not in any way signify the presence of it's corresponding virtue.
7. Don't try to linebreed two dogs at the same time; you will end of linebreeding to neither.
8. Don't assess the worth of a stud dog by it's inferior progeny. All stud dogs sire some animals of lesser quality; 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, regardless of who owns it.
10. Don't allow admiration of a stud dog to blind you to his faults.
11. Don't mate animals that share the same fault. You are asking for trouble if you do.
12. Don't forget 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 as a mate for your bitch. The perfect dog (or bitch) doesn't exist - it never has, 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 a virtue is by far the greatest fault of all.
15. Don't mate 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. (The writer defines non-complementary types as ones that possess the same faults and lack the same virtues).
16. Don't forget the necessity to preserve the quality head. It will vanish like a dream if you do.
17. Don't forget that substance plus quality should be another one of your aims. Any fool can breed one without the other!
18. Don't forget that a great head plus soundness should be another one of your aims. Many people can never breed either!
19. Don't ever try to decry a great Bulldog. A thing of beauty is not only a joy forever, but a great Bulldog should be a source of asthetic pride and pleasure to all true lovers of the breed.
20. Don't be satisfied with anything but the best. Second best is never good enough.
Whether you agree with all of this or not, I hope that some of the passages stop and make you think. I know I read this regularly and get something from it each time. I do not know the author of this piece I just recall reading it off a bulldog list sometime ago and saving it and reading it often.
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