Me again :D

How soon do I need to speak to a stud owner about terms/fees/expectations etc?

I hope to breed my girl in March, but I am seeing some offspring of my first choice in a couple of weeks. Is it too early to contact his owner to find out his stud terms/fee etc incase there are terms I don't like?

I will be back on the mainland again at a show before my girl is bred, but because I'm at UK shows so rarely, I'd hate to "waste" a show looking at offspring of a dog who might be a no go based on his terms?

Or am I being silly to worry about that?

Have you approached them at all to express interest? Not all breeders with male dogs allow them to be used on outside bitches or have very strict criteria that has to be met re health testing etc. so the sooner you make contact the better you will know what is expected from you and give you time to sort things out.

While I fully appreciate that you may not be happy with terms, please don't forget the other side of the coin.  I turn down an awful lot of requests for my boys.

You would be wise to ask sooner, rather than later. 

I was originally interested in his son (who does still remain on my interested list!) and so I contacted her to see if he would be at the show I was going to. The son will be there, but the breeder, who has seen pics of my girl on FB, has said his dad might be a better fit, and he won't be at the show (but several of his kids will be) and I figure if his stud terms suit me, and I like his kids (from various bitches) then it would be a good opening to going to see him before commiting?

Definitely not too soon, I usually have made contact with the dogs owner around a year in advance.

Is there an acceptable "way" of asking?

Say that you admire their dog and are impressed with his offspring; enclose a copy of your bitch's pedigree and health certificates and ask if they'd consider allowing him to mate your bitch.

Agree with all others that to ask now would be wise, as if it is a negative answer, you still have time to find another male.

We had to have our bitch approved first, I contacted the breed a good eight months before the deed so to speak, he was really helpful and knew I'm a beginner to the breed, gave me tons of advice. I also spoke to other people who've used him and they all said what a gent he was. I asked for the fee price and finer details a couple of months in advance, as I didn't want to sound like price came into my decision, which it certainly did not.

We went along on the right day and it was incredibly nice to be in the hands of someone so experienced, made the whole thing much much easier, then a nice chat about our breed and we got to see some pups of his whilst there, who were lovely and exactly what I was looking for.