Just wondering what is the oldest stud dog you would use.............if you have used an older dog what was the mating like, did the bitch take and how many in the litter

i used an old dog for the breed(7) and had 12 in one litter and three in the other!!!

We have just used a 7 year old stud dog, bitch is pregnant so are waiting on numbers. The older dogs tend to be gentler as they are more experienced especially good for a maiden bitch. For the right dog age isnt a concern so long as the contract is good and he had produced or had a sperm count recently.

In our breed often a good dog may not have a compatible mate until his half sisters and cousins have daughters.

A friends champion dog born in February mated his first bitch during Crufts week and she is due this week.

If a dog had not sired within the last year I would be loathe to try a dog over 9 years of age, unless I really wanted that combination and it was a young bitch where I had time to wait another year.

Probably the finest stud dog in boxers has just died at 14 and was fathering litters up until a couple of years ago.

One of my boys is now 10 and has recently sired a gorgeous litter of 7

My last litter of nine was by an eleven year old boy ;-)

Just used a nearly 8 year old dog on my girl, repeat mating as I liked the look of the last litter but couldn't keep boys!

My current litter is by an 8 year old.

I used my 10 year old male, just 1 female pup (luckily natural birth) & she is now 13.5 now have her daughter, grand daughter & gt. granddaughter).

I have a toy breed that is sexually mature very young, so they often get used at just over a year old.  I have a 5 year old that hasn't mated a bitch in a couple of years.  He was recently used on a bitch - just once.  And she is definitely pregnant.  So, as long as the sperm count is up, I would use him again.

I used a 10 year old who hadnt been used for years. Got a litter of 8.

Diane

Saw that Tooolz, very sad for the breed.    Our breed will sire till their 12 ish also.

My BT sired a litter of 6 aged 11.

I note that some of the successful litters with older dogs are from breeds who tend to have very large litters.

Do most of you find that litter size goes down with older males?  Judging by some of the replies this would seem to be the case.

In these breeds with huge litters I would think it a positive advantage, not to get such huge litters.

I'm very happy that my breed these days seems to average 4 - 7 pups.  We do get the odd large litter, but thankfully not too often.  The largest I have had was 9 from my smallest brood bitch.

I have had 3 litters all to young dogs. A 6, a 7 and an 8. I have just used an 8 year old dog on one of my girls and she is due in 2 weeks. Looking at her size already she may have a few in there so will be interesting to see how many we get this time!

Mel.x

Hi tooolz, l've been out of the breed for a number of years now, so am not up to speed much with what is going on in the Boxer world now, but do you mean  the Winuwuk dog? Because if so, how sad for his owners  and the Breed - he was a beautiful dog. By the way, the pup you use for your avatar, doesn't look too bad either. In my day, Famous Grouse was a very prepotent Stud who was very widely used.

In my breed I am keen to get longevity as too many die young from cancer so I would be more inclined to use an older dog.  One dog I know of sired his last litter at the age of 10.

BARBARA, Thats why i put both litters in my reply, there was only a couple of months between them in birth and the sire hadnt been used in 6 years, one litter was normal size (13) and the other very abnormal (3)....odd!

Generally the numbers of pups are down to the bitch, but there definitely seems to be a stage at which males start to produce singletons and low numbers, and even though still fertile this means breeders are less keen to use them, especially if bitches start to miss.

Yes Jaycee,

The dog was Ch Winuwuk Lust in the Dust, sire of countless CC and RCC winners, the top working dog (2nd overall I think) and yes the pup in the avatar is one of his daughters from a litter of 6 bitches - sired when he was around 9 years.

Oz was a special dog indeed.

Used a SWD male at the age of 11 and he sired a normal litter size for the breed.

I've just mated a maiden bitch to an 8 year old.  This is my '2nd' breed and my first litter from her, so all a bit different.  The stud is still siring good sized litters for the breed, fingers crossed for a litter with my girl.

I used my own dog for my first litter, he'd never sired a thing before and I didn't let him afterwards.  A litter of 14 born on his 7th birthday.

One of our most successful stud dogs - Sh.Ch. Gorsebank Lord Magnum - was still siring litters aged 12 and he died aged 14!

I used a 9 year old dog and had a litter of 8, a good sized litter for my breed. I'm another who likes the idea of using older dogs who are still in good health, use those good genes!

M.

Ditto Lily, the dog I used is one short of the breed record and nobody uses him any more because they all want the up and coming youngsters!

I think if your breeding from an unproven young bitch (two to three years) then using a mature dog of 7 plus is a very good idea.

Your stacking the odds re any late onset conditions, that should have become apparent in the male by then, and hopefully will not emerge in your bitch, but knowing at least one half of the mating and what they have produced (health type and quality wise) helps.

If I want to use a promising young male it will be on a bitch over 5 years old or one having her last litter at 6 1/2 to 7 years old, so the same applies as above.