British Heritage Dog Breeds

I wonder what experience members have of the impact of the current economic situation on their breed.

In my breed we currently had a record quarter of puppy registrations - many from 1st time breeders. But the market for puppies had dried up. I had a litter at this time but I had done a little bit of homework and realised that the market was limited and only breed from one bitch not two as I had considered. I also planned ahead and did a lot of advertising and networking. I successfully found fabulous homes for the two pups that needed homes. But friends were not so lucky and had to keep pups for very much longer than intended.

I had a waiting list for pups before I breed but not one of them went ahead in the end; one wanted a boy (I had all bitches) and the other two had financial problems (job insecurity).

A lot of people in our breed are holding off at the moment even some of the stalwart breeders in the breed.

We no longer have the large kennels backed by wealthy owners to weather periods like this. How are the other breeds seeing this period - am I missing the good news story here?

I would never advocate breeding puppies you were not sure you could get good homes for. That said I hope BHBD breeders don't stop breeding puppies entirely.
I take a more robust approach than some. I'm afraid I think we are in a fight for market share and as the number of good homes reduces we need to fight harder to maintain and increase our share of those homes.
If we throw in the towel at this point we’ll leave our breeds in even more trouble when the economy picks up.