Hi I've got 2 pugs and want to mate them together (no there not related) but don't know how. Is there any such thing of an experienced breeder that goes out to people like me for a charge.

Our resident Pug expert would be Gwen.  You need to wait for her to see your post.

Have you tried contacting the breeder of your own dogs for advice?

In the mean time, you may find these posts of some interest..

Should I breed from my pet bitch?

and

Using my dog at stud

Pugs are notoriously one of the most difficult breeds to breed successfully; the pre-breeding health tests (by specialists, not your ordinary vet) are also very expensive. Unless you're very experienced with dogs you'd be better advised to keep your two as much-loved pets.

Smiggy, there is much more to responsible dog breeding than just mating together 2 dogs that aren't related.

Have your dogs had all the appropriate health tests for the breed for a start? And are they of sufficient quality to warrant breeding from them? Are their KC registration documents free of endorsements? Is your bitch a suitable age to be bred from? Is your dog a suitable match for her? It is rare that a responsible dog breeder ends up using one of their own dogs. We often travel the length of the country, or even abroad, to use the best match for our bitches.

If the answer to ALL the above questions is yes, then hopefully the breeder of either your dog or bitch (if they are responsible breeders!) would be more than happy to help you :)

There's a lot to sort out before taking the step of actually mating them.

Thank you for all you good advice.

Just as an aside, for anyone else reading this and wondering what the important things to consider before breeding are, having completely unrelated dogs isn't one of them. Prime concerns for me are health, longevity and temperament, followed with why you want the pup - pet, show, working, and if the parents are good enough examples to breed from.

> no there not related

the pups would then be complete outcrosses so you've no idea the quality you will get and what traits they will exhibit. Of course outcrosses are necessary now and again but you really need to know what is behind each one and then where you go for the next generation. While I admire breeders who go to great lengths to outcross I probably wouldn't buy a pup from such a litter. I like to study lines and choose lines that I like the qualities of, so a linebred pup is a greater guarantee for me of getting what I want :)

I think you were given similar advice in August? :)

And replied they'd never come back here again as everyone adviced against the mating!

Also Pugs can be notoriously bad mothers, and often require a C section..

Are you prepared for possibly hand rearing the puppies.

This would mean feeding them every two hours around the clock, stimulating them to pee and poo etc.

Im a member of 2 french bulldog clubs and with one they have bronze silver and gold scheme for dogs, pugs there unfortunately isnt anything similar. Well not that i know of, so what i thought would be a good thing is to adapt the tests for my frenchies rewording the health forms and doing the same with a Pug: bronze includes non invasive basic temperament test, breathing at rest after exercise, eyes, tears, nose, ears, basic heart and patella manipulation, dna test for HC  (but pugs dont have this, they have DNA test for PDE instead) . Silver is BVA eye test, heart scoring, putnum patella, and finally bronze hipscore hemivertabrae. We have heart testing for them both on sunday at an event. This is pretty costly but its a good thing. Pugs are notoriously bad mothers so i hear but the litter i had here with a bitch in partnership (of whom i own the daughter) she was a fantastic mum self whelped all 7 and was attentive. Why continue a line of bad mothers? But yes research the breed standard go to shows. There is one in snaith either 22nd this or next month, cant find the schedule now. Northern PDC be worth you getting along to see some nice examples, speak to breeders and learn. Thats why im going, missed the entry for my girl but it doesnt matter. Be a sponge

One of my friends has had a Pug litter recently and cost them over £2,000.00 with problems.  I would say they are not the easiest of breeds.

What problems did they encounter PDAE?

Sorry, had busy weekend, just seen this.  Louise's advice is excellent - she had a pretty bad time with her litter last year :(  The Northern Club show is on 3rd November so would be a good chance to see pugs en masse, as would Midland Counties.

Generally, the liklehood of having bought a dog and bitch with little breed knowledge and finding them compatible enough to breed from is low.  Just being unrelated does not make them suitable, but carrying along with this point has a look at Mateselect on the KC website, you can get the inbreeding Coefficient by entering the names, I have seen lots of pugs advertised recently state "Mum is from London, Dad is from Birmingham" (or similar) as if distance between the pug parents guaranteed them being none related!

As said before, if you want to share with us why you want a litter, why you think your pugs will be suitable to breed from, how old they are, then more exact advice can be given.  What area do you live? Perhaps we can suggest a breeder/pug expert you could visit who can give you an worthwhile evaluation of your boy and girl as a starting point.

Yes it was unrelated to breeding but happened to one of the litter whilst I was in hospital bad illness whilst pregnant my doting OH  was caring for the litter our other child and everything else. He managed to damage his eye resulting in a severe ulcer which eventually ruptured :-( severe panic when I came home to see the ulcer and vets asap. After throwing lots of money at the eye it was of no use. But I came to realise with advice from gwen and others hes fine with one eye stayed In the family and is the start of a  pug obsession.  Live and learn. We lost mother to a stroke not long afterwords was a very bad few weeks. A lot of poorly bred pugs about and as you will know not the healthiest so this should be high up on your list.