breeding dogs

doryfish · 11-27-2005, 08:17 PM

I have a 11 m.o. black lab that is papered. He is a great dog and is one of the cleanest looking black labs I have seen. I was thinking of studding him out, but don't know a thing about it. How old should they be? How often can you breed? Are there any risks? Any and all info would be appreciated! Thanks

Yeti · 11-27-2005, 08:41 PM

If you want to "stud him out" you should start working on getting him his titles. They are alot of exceptional stud dogs available to breed so competition is stiff. Most serious breeders are looking for proven dogs with titles ranging from Master Hunter to Field Champion.

Also, you won't be able to do anything outside of back yard breading without all of his health certificates. These are very important because we don't want to pass on recessive genes. I'll repeat the, we don't want to pass on recessive gene. That includes dogs that are good retreivers but not exceptional retreivers. You normally get health certificates @ 2 years of age. If you have an exceptional dog you may find someone willing to breed him at @ 2 1/2 years.

My $.02 as the owner of two "great" dogs.... I won't breed either. There are so many exceptional pups available on the market I would rather buy one.

Good luck.

Yeti

Limbhanger · 11-27-2005, 09:04 PM

I have to agree with Yeti, there are a lot of serious breeders that take pride in producing great bird dogs. There are even more backyard breeders that pump out litters that are not. According the AKC, Labs are routinely the #1 Registered Bird Dog. There are a lot of choices so doing homework is essential in both choosing a dog and one to breed with.
There is a lot to achieving really good dogs. What does the pedigree of your dog look like? Are there FCH's weighing down the paper? If the answer is no, it doesnt mean you dont have a good dog, but it could have a bearing on the potential it might have with hunting tests, field trials etc. These credentials along with the health certificates show that your dog has what it takes to produce healthy, instinctive, trainable hunters.
Good Luck,
Limbhanger

snit · 11-27-2005, 09:05 PM

Yeti...great advice!!!!

I was a "back yard" breeder, AND I did lots of research on the whole process too. We had our female's hips certified (excellent)at 2yrs old, eyes done (good), no elbows (vet didn't recommend it) and she was from a very famous long term kennel that we had 25 years of first hand knowledge from, as well as breeding advice. Lots of in depth genetic comparisons to studs....ended up going with a master hunter yellow from Spokane. Awesome sire who also had all his health tests done!!!!

And we still had problems :depressed: !!! Ever heard of parrot mouth? The lower jaw is shorter than the upper jaw. Not normally life threatening, but still genetically inferior (both parents must have the recessive gene, apparently ours did, but there were no obvious symptoms). We found out on the second litter, as we had none in the first litter. On the second litter, we never registered the pups and we gave them away to good homes and we made sure that they were all fixed to end this gentic anomaly. We also contacted the first litter owners, but all had already had their dogs fixed. This was a big relief, as I was so proud of "MY" pups, but I learned that the professionals know alot more than I do!!!! I wanted to build a good pup, using my fantastic specimen (my momma dog) to benefit my hunting friends who were equally impressed with her ability as well as her conformation.

Little did I know, that there's WAY more involved than I knew. I doubt I'll ever pull off another set of pups...just WAY too much time,effort,and pain involved! I'll let the pro's do it!

Chromaflage · 11-27-2005, 10:50 PM

Also, once you get to that point, don't allow your dog to mate with just any dog that'll flag for him. Do your home work on the female prospects as well. Further, insist on a negative brucelosis test from the female. Also have your dog tested for dcumentation.

Good luck.

CrF

doryfish · 11-28-2005, 07:06 AM

Thanks for the advice. I will do some homework. You are probably right though, great dog, but let the pro's breed em'

Gettin' Birdy · 11-28-2005, 08:48 AM

It's a crazy world out there....When I was looking for a yellow female I called around to a bunch of the yellow breeders statewide who either didn't have a litter planned anytime soon or there were "first" litters for their bitches which, IMHO, is a little scary for the amount of money we're talking about.

I looked in the paper for backyard breeders and was AMAZED how young some of the bitches were and TOTALLY AMAZED about how reckless some of them were about not having health certificates on either parent, etc...They were just rolling the dice.

Ended up getting mine from Montana of all places. Anyways, I'm glad to see you're asking the questions you need to ask. Labs in general have lots of "genetic time bombs" and it's best to know about your dogs lines by calling other owners to see what, if anything, is out there waiting to poke it's ugly head out.

Paper is nice and most good dogs have some sort of paper trail. Proven dogs are better. What I mean by that is a hunting dog that comes from other hunting dogs, etc. Drive, bidability, and natural birdiness is what I'll be looking for the next time around, a litter of pups from a couple of real hunters with sound health. It's nice to say, yeah this pups grandfather on his dad's side was Lean Mac, etc...but paper is paper, but a hunter from great hunters is better :smile:

Good Luck,

Gettin' Birdy