[storminthenight]

I am thinking of breeding a litter next year, and DO plan to do everything responsibly. My male has been tested to have "Good" hips, he has his CGC, is a pet therapy dog and has his RN title.
Its not for sure yet, since my girl is only a year and a half and I wont know for sure If I will breed until she's two years old and has at least Good hips. She also has her CGC and is in agility training.
They are border collies, and I believe they compliment each other well, although border collies are ment to be bred on working ability before looks, neither have any huge conformation flaws that I can see hinder them or their pups.
I grew up with an aunt that raised dalmations, and so I do have knowledge of the process from breeding, to raising the pups and I do know that things can go wrong. I'm not doing this for money or because I want "cute" puppies but because I beleive my dogs would have amazing puppies that would contribute to the breed, and not take away from it. I do plan to keep one of the pups for my future, rally/obedience/agility/pet therapy dog, whatever the pup may be talented at.

My main concern is when I get to the process of finding the puppies homes. The parents are family to me so it will be hard to begin with to see them go, I know I can deal with it, but I am extra concerned about how to make sure they go to the right homes.
I am decided that I am not going to offer shipping, I want to meet each potential new owner in person, see them with the puppies, let them meet the parents, talk to them about the pup and what they want it for. I already have a rough draft contract, for things like what happens if they ever need to find a home for the dog, or if they breed it in the future there are stipulations.
I realize as the breeder I should be able to listen to what the potential family wants in their pup and be able to match them up with the one that suits them best.
I am more than willing to stay in touch with each and every owner for the dogs entire life and give help/advice whenever needed. I keep in contact with my male and females breeder. I would absolutly love to be kept updated on them and see pictures as they grow, but know not everyone is that computer savy, lol.

If there are any experienced breeders on here that have any advice for me it would be greatly appreciated. This will be my personal first litter, but you have to start somewhere, I REALLY want to do it right though.

[Petunia]

More importantly, if you are not able to find good homes for your litter, are you able to provide a home for all of the litter mates, forever? Whether there be 3 or 13 puppies? I'm not a breeder, I'm also a green-horn dog owner compared to most on this board. I don't have 20 years of dog ownership, as I only have 21 years of life under my belt. However, I've done enough work at shelters where the "left overs" were left to chance life. (Not to imply that you'd do such a thing)

Hope this helps in a small way, and hope that I didn't come off sounding like a no-nothing-noob.