Tell me about the process if you're considering breeding...

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Cedars

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Hi everyone,

So, Bracken is now 8months, and we're playing the 'balls on/balls off' game. Now normally I would just say balls off, no question about it. But I really feel like he is a serious dog, and one that would be great to breed from.

Clearly (and particularly after my experience) he needs to be unbelievably high scoring in all the health tests. But what else do we need to consider?

Hips/elbows/eyes...any other health tests?

His breeding is complete with everything loads of generations back.

He doesn't compete in anything - he's a family pet basically - although temperament is perfect, does he need to be doing field trials etc?

Basically, what are all the boxes we need to tick before we make our decision? Thanks in advance!

Hx
 
Personally I wouldnt, too many in rescue as it is (seriously think breeding of all types should be curbed somehow) but...... things I would think about are

1) Why? Do you want one for yourself? why do you need to breed from him
2) Homes for pups?
3) Finding bitch
4) surely there are more proven sires out there (gundogs etc)
5) what happens if something goes wrong?
Is 8 months not a bit young?
 
as above ^^


ive just been put on the list for a breeder of shelties.... she hasnt even mated the dogs yet and already has a list.....

that to me is a good breeder (plus the amount of questions to me which was welcomed)...

The dogs in question have been showed, agility and family pets
 
I personally would not put a pet dog at stud. Others may disagree but there are two main reasons why I wouldn't do it, firstly any sensible bitch owner is likely to consider a dog with proven success either in the show ring or as a working dog as a stud. This means that it is more than likely you will get people interested in him who you wouldn't want to use him, if that makes sense. The other reason is that if a dog is used at stud he is quite likely to become more "bitch savvy", which means he will always have an eye (or nose) out for the ladies. We have had the Lancashire Heeler pup castrated, heelers are an at risk breed so we would possibly have had some interest in using him, but as he wasn't going to be shown the reasons above applied.
Why don't you contact his breeder and let her see him. If she thinks he is a really good specimen she may help you enter him in a few shows and depending on how that goes it could help you make your decision.
 
He is only eight months. Puppies at 18 months - two years often look very different to what they do when they are eight months.

At the moment, as much as you love him, he is no better or worse than any other pet labrador.
Without being lightly shown or worked, even to establish he is conformationally correct or has working drive, again, apart from his breeding, he is no better or worse than anyone else's pet labrador.

The most important thing to do is look at your dog coldly if that makes sense.
My older dog, apart from any of his conformational faults :p is not of breeding quality in terms of his CHARACTER.
My young dog might make a working dog, he is a year old and I have no idea what he will be like by the time he is old enough to compete, but he has a coat fault and very long pasterns so I will not be breeding from him.

TBH the way things are at the moment I would not breed unless I had something truly exceptional running around my yard - pet dogs are born from exceptional parents all the time.

I wish people would look more critically at their dogs - we all love them, they are all fab dogs, but it doesn't mean they should be bred from.

I take it you mean low scoring, as opposed to high scoring in health tests?
 
Oh god, we would NEVER breed at 8months! I just mean, if we were having his *******s off, we'd be thinking about doing it fairly soon, so need to make a vague decision about breeding.

The only reason I'm even considering it is because his breeder thinks he's the finest specimen of the litter - she kept a dog to carry on her line, but is not 100% happy with him (he's still amazing, she just prefers Bracken's looks), so suggested we might consider.

We'd breed because his lines are good, hopefully he's healthy etc etc. I wouldn't want a pup as we're having his full sister (next time around - 18months time) so two will be enough for us!!

My worry is, as you say, handling an entire dog once he's got an eye for the ladies. At the moment he's not very ******* orientated, but I can imagine he would be - and at the end of the day he's a pet first and foremost.

Hmmmmmm. Will speak to his breeder again.

(And yes, I mean low scores, good scores!) xx
 
Of course the breeder of your dog will think him a fine speciman - its a hard woman who openly critisises her childs beauty! He may well be stunning, but there are enough proven lab studs doing the rounds. I think responsibilty is needed. Too many dogs being bred without the demand for them. If I bred from my bitches everytime someone had commented on how well made they are, my house would be overrun!:D
 
Wasn't suggesting you were wanting to breed him now - I mean, he may look amazing now but he is nowhere near mature yet. My brother and sister pups were both serious show and breeding prospects at eight months old - now they look like eff-all, squared :o conformationally wise, I mean. One of my earlier posts here was asking whether I should breed them (not together, obviously :p) but to think that I was even thinking about it, now, seems laughable.
 
Well Deb is pretty harsh about the others and her own when she thinks it's warranted so I don't think it's just because he's 'her baby'.

So we think, keep the *******s, hip score etc at appropriate age, see what he turns out like when fully mature, then make a decision?

And would it be awful not to breed but not to have his *******s off anyway? I wouldn't want to alter his temperament in any way, he's trainable and perfect and I wouldn't wanna make him more submissive? Xx
 
Cedars said:
Well Deb is pretty harsh about the others and her own when she thinks it's warranted so I don't think it's just because he's 'her baby'.

So we think, keep the *******s, hip score etc at appropriate age, see what he turns out like when fully mature, then make a decision?

And would it be awful not to breed but not to have his *******s off anyway? I wouldn't want to alter his temperament in any way, he's trainable and perfect and I wouldn't wanna make him more submissive? Xx
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Keep the balls, don't keep the balls, ultimately you have to live with the dog. Having them off won't change his personality, maybe his weight, so exercise upped and food consumption lowered. Keeping them on, increase of testicular cancer. Use as a stud dog, may succeed, may not, may be a nervous wreck when he detects a bitch on heat, may not. May piddle everywhere and anywhere, may not. May be an absolute star with every bitch he meets, may not. Your dog, your choice.
 
Er, my neutered dog is not what you would call submissive :p he was done relatively late and his temperament didn't change that much, better with other dogs but was training alongside that so can't pinpoint which made most change. He is also not fat, quite the opposite :p

I will probably keep my younger one entire if he makes a good work prospect, I am not breeding him but people don't tend to neuter males the sport, we live in an isolated area and he is kept securely, he does not as a rule seem interested in females at all, there was a bitch in season on the field yesterday, he did not look anywhere near her or put his nose on the ground, while some of the others were climbing the walls.
 
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