I have a young bitch, from great bloodlines, is very correct in terms of angulation, movement, mouth and a lovely head- she is looking to be a lovely bitch, however, she is very fine boned- which of course there is not much I can do about.

Would you consider breeding from her (subject to health tests etc). I would like her to be my foundation bitch, but not if she is likely to pass this on to her offspring ( I did think that if I did go ahead I may not keep from her first litter, but if they turn out nice then perhaps a repeat mating or stud with similar lines for a second litter- I'm limited on numbers of dogs I can keep so wouldn't want to 'waste' the space with a dog with the same fault)

Opinions please...

Were her parents and siblings light in bone?

if not there is no reason why with the right stud you should not be able to choose a pup with more substance.

Her dam was a little on the light side, her lines don't generally produce lighter types. Her sire is a quality dog and not light boned. Both of their lines don't generally produce lighter bone.

Could the way the litter was fed/raised influence bone? As there are a few 'old school' things that I didn't agree with and the whole litter were quite on the skinny side rather than chunky full bellied types of pups I prefer.

Certainly rearing can affect bone.

I think the same.  Nurture has definitely got something to do with how the pups turn out.  You can have a pup with the thickest bones in the world but if he doesn't get fed properly, it won't be long till he's lost it.  I feed growing pups little and often and the best I can afford.  A lot of folk will try and cut down feeds but I let the pup tell me when to cut the number of times he gets fed.

TBH, I would give the bitch a litter and see what I got.  I would hold off with thinking she is going to be the 'foundation' bitch till you see what/how she produces.  If she produced any lacking in bone, I would go another direction.

This article in this weeks dog world gives  a view on this very subject but the example is of a more serious fault in my view: http://www.dogworld.co.uk/product.php/102476/1/from_the_archive_by_simon_parsons

Thanks for your replies, she's still young and still needs to be hipscored but at least I don't have to rule out breeding her already.

Is there any examples here or abroad with a similar proposed pedigree to the mating you may want to do and if so what was produced? I try to look all over the place for pedigrees and their similarities then you tend to get a better picture (but not full proof) as to what she may produce.

There are a few dogs who I like the look of, and the breeding tends to go well (producing several sh ch) so certainly worth considering.