When I breed a litter, my main goal is to hopefully produce the next generation of Eis Haus Rottweilers.  With this in mind, I focus on breeding very high quality dogs who have proven themselves worthy of breeding.  Some of the ways I determine if a dog is worthy are by their achievements (a Championship, working titles, etc.), as well as their health clearances, temperament and pedigree. Since I am breeding for myself, and not just to produce puppies, I am only interested in producing the very best puppies I can.  But I can't keep them all!  So the rest of the litter is placed with suitable, prescreened homes. All Eis Haus puppies are raised in the home, and are handled often, starting at birth.  They are given lots of love and attention and are socialized from a very early age.  I encourage visitors (especially those with children) to come and play with the puppies so they learn to interact with strangers and children.  My puppies are also socialized with other dogs, cats and "Tootie" (the Chihuahua!). I also use the bio-sensor method of early neurological stimulation.   To learn more about these methods, please visit http://www.breedingbetterdogs.com Puppies are evaluated on a weekly basis to measure food and toy drives, energy level, working potential, conformation potential, and individual strengths and weaknesses. My final evaluation is done between 7 and 8 weeks of age.  This evaluation takes into consideration all of the previous evaluations, and also includes puppy aptitude testing, temperament evaluations, personality traits, and a thorough conformation evaluation. All puppies are matched with the appropriate home.  This matching process is used to ensure that each puppy goes to the right home, and that each home gets the type of puppy they are looking for.   Everyone's idea of the "perfect" dog is different, and it is very important to determine what each home desires in a puppy/dog. The matching process begins with the puppy questionnaire, in which each potential home describes exactly what they are looking for in a dog/puppy.   From that point there is an "interview" process which includes extensive communication that will give me additional information about the home and their goals, etc.   Once I have a good idea of what a home is looking for, I can use that information to find them the right puppy. Some of my breeding philosophies are: Only the best possible quality dogs should be bred&ldots; those who can really contribute something positive to the Rottweiler breed, while also not contributing negatively to the breed. Each litter should be bred with a specific goal in mind.  The right mate has to be found for each male and each female, based on phenotype, genotype, health clearances, temperament and pedigree.  Puppies should not be purchased with a definite plan of breeding to an existing dog.  It is simply not enough to get a male and female and HOPE they compliment each other in all the necessary ways, since most often when all is said and done- they do not. It is every breeder's responsibility to place puppies in appropriate homes and educate those homes in the areas of ownership, training, socialization, breeding, etc., in an effort to promote responsible ownership and positive public relations, and also to prevent indiscriminant breeding. It is every breeder's responsibility to ensure that we preserve the integrity and quality of this wonderful breed, through very selective breeding practices.  The breed is diminishing in quality, and we need to focus our efforts to produce BETTER dogs, not more dogs.  Health has to be a very high priority.  We have seen an increase in some health problems, and we need to screen our breeding stock thoroughly.  One example is the incidence of SAS (SubAortic Stenosis - a genetic heart defect) in our breed.  For this reason, several very conscious breeders, including myself, have adopted the policy to only breed dogs that have had an Echocardiogram performed.  This is the only way to definitively determine if a dog has SAS.  Therefore, this is the best way (and in my opinion, the only way) to evaluate a potential breeding animal.   © 2007 Eis Haus Rottweilers | Valerie McGraw ~ All Rights Reserved Site Designed & Maintained by:  Felske-Jackman Web Design Eis Haus Rottweilers ~ Valerie McGraw | Rome, New York |  Rottweiler Breeder ~ Professional Dog Show Handler