Sorry if this question seems a bit naive, but that's what this forum is for after all :)

I'm wondering at what point you experienced breeder folk announce a specific mating?  What do you consider to be an indication of enough commitment from the stud dog owner to advertise the planned litter?

For example:  Let's say that you intend to breed your bitch later this year.  You have narrowed it down to 2 studs - both equally suitable (and both involving travel to other countries).  You ask the owner of Stud 1, who seems willing in principle - but the mating still seems quite far off, so you are reluctant to start telling people who are enquiring exactly who the stud dog will be, in case they start getting attached to the idea of that stud, when you might need to switch for some reason.  (Could be any reason - perhaps they're out of the country at the time, perhaps they suddenly go silent and won't reply to emails for no apparent reason and so on.)

I'm not sure I'm expressing this in a very clear way, but essentially...

How far before the earliest possible date for the start of the season, do you start to advertise the specific litter, with both parents (stud and bitch) identified?  And what would you say to a stud dog owner to get some sort of verbal commitment to the mating taking place?  Would you explicitly ask if you can now advertise this litter with both parents mentioned?  Uh, and yes, how far beforehand would you want to be doing that?  (Given that too far before increases the chances of having to tell puppy buyers that you've changed the stud, but it is also easier to advertise a litter which has both halves of it revealed, if you see what I mean!).

I hope that rambling makes some sort of sense.  Thanks.

I have usually planned a specific mating a year or even years ahead, especially those involving overseas participation.

If the stud dog owner wasn't absolutely delighted and on board I wouldn't' be suing their dog, as it will entail quite a bit of commitment on their part.  In both my cases it meant putting me and my bitch up for 8 - 12 days, picking up from airports etc.

I have my own website and usually have my future plans up so that others are aware in case they may fit in with their plans as we have a numerically small breed with shrinking gene pool so you do need to know what others are doing.

For example on one litter I changed the stud I was using as another breeder had used him on a bitch of very similar breeding and i didn't think that would have benefited the gene pool as well as me using an alternative dog.

Of course if plans change then they change.

As far as specific litters the plan would show when the litter was likely, and I would expect to have some bookings before the season.  I then write to all when bitch comes in season to confirm their interest, same when bitch confirmed in whelp, and then once born. 

At this point (some disagree) I charge a £50 deposit to confirm a booking which is non refundable unless I cannot supply the puppy for some reason.  This helps avoid time wasters and speedily sends surplus enquiries to another breeder, in time to get on their waiting list, so avoiding too much uncertainty and disappointment . 

We have a breed with a low of only 33 puppies registered last year, with 98 the year before.

Well I'd announce a planned mating about a year in advance if not more! Yes the risk is you have to change dogs at the last moment -I did have to with my last litter and lost 11 buyers as a result -but then that is a comparatively small risk. I'd never want to wait until pregnancy was confirmed or later to spread the word. But my main breed is notorious for being difficult to sell and you need special owners. :) With my second breed, that easily can go as pets, have very small litters etc, I would not say anything until I had pups and they were a few weeks old. (They also don't go until 14 weeks as opposed to 7 for the other.) So differs  a lot between my two breeds.

I agree with Marianne about the toys that only have a couple of pups.  Many folk don't even know I have a bitch in whelp, and if, like last year, my best bitch was being mated for the last time, I told nobody.  I knew that I would be keeping her pups for myself.  Easy decision when they only have two!  :-)

A few of the larger breeders in my breed advertise which bitch is going to be mated quite a while in advance but don't advertise the stud till after the mating.  They obviously tell whomever is interested in a puppy, who they plan to use but nothing is set in stone till after the bitch is mated.

Thanks everyone.  Seeing it seems to depend so much on the breed and the situation, what would you recommend in my case?

It is a large breed & there are not very many of them in the UK.  The breed desperately needs new blood, as the same couple of studs in the UK are being used repeatedly.  I have a bitch from lines which have not been subject to that in-breeding and I will also be going abroad for the stud who is new lines.  So the stud is actually a major factor in this case and more of a selling-point.

My ideal owners are going to work their dog and preferably compete, and these buyers are very interested in performance and the natural ability of mum and dad.  So they are going to want to know who dad is, at some point beforehand.

The stud dog owners were in contact with me before Xmas, but I send them a friendly 'hi, just to let you know, we still hope to use your dog, how is everything going' sort of email 2 weeks ago and they haven't replied.  So of course then I get concerned that they're just going to go quiet on me and I don't want to be in that situation and have to arrange to use another dog (in a different country) at the last minute.  I wasn't sure if it was too far in advance now to be asking their permission to advertise him as the stud.  (Mating won't be till the summer.)  I don't want to be pushy.  I also get the feeling that they might just be v laid back or perhaps that's a European approach to breeding :)

Probably I am just worrying about nothing.  I am going to be such a worrier in this entire process, you are all going to get tired of me!

In your case I would certainly want to the word put about asap to get the right kind of people that might be interested aware.  That sort of person doesn't just decide to buy a pup now, but plans these things in advance.

The stud dog owners were in contact with me before Xmas, but I send them a friendly 'hi, just to let you know, we still hope to use your dog, how is everything going' sort of email 2 weeks ago and they haven't replied.  So of course then I get concerned that they're just going to go quiet on me and I don't want to be in that situation and have to arrange to use another dog (in a different country) at the last minute.

Phone them and get it sorted once and for all.

Great, thanks.  The only issue with phoning is that I think we might communicate better by email because of the language difficulties - written word gives us time to translate each other's responses. But yes, if I get no response, I probably should phone.  I just worried it would be pushy or too early, but if you guys don't think so, then I will.