I have a 3 month old boxer. He is brindle with a little white marking on his chest , nose , and toes, with a black mask. He's a very good looking dog as well as very smart and good tempered. I was just wondering how to get him ready and how to get him to be a good stud. Do I have to send him to training classes or have him be a show dog? Or can i just have him as a house pet? Will people still want to breed with him?

hi tracy,
i dont know what health checks a boxer would need before being used as a stud dog,but i am sure they would need some,so make sure these are done before you did consider using him.
i would think that you would need to show him to make him more desirable to people who own dams they wish to breed from.
but please think very,very carefully before you use him as a stud dog,one of my dogs was sired by a dog who is now permanantly in boarding kennels as a result of being studded,he became very frustrated and too unruly for his owners to keep in the house,and this was a result of there not being enough stud work for him,which i am sure you will agree is very cruel on the dog.
so please belive me when i say once he has experienced "pleasures of the flesh" he WILL want more,and could you cope with him wanting more when there may be no work for him?
if you brought him as a pet,and a pet only,why not leave him the way he is?as what he has never had he will never miss.and if he is only 3 months old hes too young to even be thinking about using him as a stud dog.
i am sorry i cant be of more help to you,but good luck in whatever you decide to do.

Tracy,

Your dog is only 12 weeks, I personally don't think you should be thinking about this at all just now. Why would you want to stud him? They can change in personality also. If he is a pet let him be a pet.

Unfortunalty for you, even if you still wanted to, the UK is full of top quality boxers that are stud proven, all tests done and clear and top top show winners for a fraction cost. Boxer stud is not very high in cost compared to some of the other breeds. I think that some of the top winners can be used for £200

If you still wanted to and I have to say you may attract the wrong kind of people ( sorry) you should have his heart tested, grade 1 or below preferably clear and I think Boxers eyes are tested, this must also be clear. You may want to show him to see who well he is compared to the breed standard. When I say you may attract the wrong type I mean in all honesty and not personally to you at all but any person serious about breeding properly has the pick of good proven goods at their feet so unless it is for convience or a cheaper stud there is no reason they would or should use any dog except the cream of the crop.

Some may disagree but that is my thoughts.

Pam

Hi Tracy,
I have a nearly 3 month boxer male.I was just wondering why you would want to stud yours.I am not looking for an argument just your reasoning behind it?Thanks,
Hazel

I don't want to breed him as a show dog or anything. I just wanted to breed him for people who want good pets. I know it's to early now, But i just wanted to know what i would have to do to do it right.

But surely all good breeders should do the same sort of preparation, as in health scores, compatible blood lines, etc, regardless of if they want to breed show dogs, or "just" pet dogs? I didn't think you could breed specifically to produce show lines??? Or am I being thick? :) Isn't it just a bit of luck, after doing your best of course, to have show-quality pups in the litter? Or do pet breeders do it differently? Isn't it a case of good breeders sometimes breeding for a pup for themselves, and then selling the rest of the litter, or breeding to improve or add to their already good line, and then selling the pups that make "pet" pups available? Or do some breeders solely breed to provide pets? I don't mean the puppy farmers,etc.Sorry to go off the point a bit.

I think you're right, bobo. Even if you're trying to breed yourself the perfect show pup, it doesn't follow that all the litter will be show quality - in fact with most breeds I know if you have a litter of 8 pups, having 2 of show quality is a good result! The rest are the 'pet' pups, not because there's anything intrinsically wrong with them just that they don't come up to the breed standard in some way.

If you're going to breed a litter, you simply must be trying to produce the very best, healthiest pups that you possibly can. The 'purely pets' are the litter brothers and sisters of the Champions.

The small-time breeders who only aim to produce 'pets' are, in my opinion, not much better than the commercial puppy farmers.

Just my opinion.

As far as most responsible breeders are concerned all the dogs they breed are Pets, but they must also be bred with the purpose of being bred to the breed standard. those who say they just breed Pets without much thought to the correct type, temperament, and are ignorant of Health Issues are the breeders that along with the puppy farmers give pedigree dog breeding a bad name.

Sorry if my stance offends.

hi tracy,
please take on board what people have said on this subject,you breed him and his whole character will change and that is a fact.you need to beable to get regualar stud work for him because if you cant you may not beable to cope with his needs.
if people want quality pets (i am not saying that your dog is not) they will go to an established breeder who has bred for years who has plenty of experience to hand should perspective new owners need help.
enjoy him as he is,and that is a very young puppy who you purchased as a pet.
if you are that determined speak to his breeder and gather every source of information you can,he will still need all the relevent health checks done though,that is a must.
as i have said i am sorry i cant be of more help to you,but to me the reasons you have given for breeding him are not a valid enough reason for doing so anyway.

Thanks for all your help. I probably won't breed him. I just wanted to know because somebody brought it up to me, because he is a very good looking dog. And his parents were also good looking and had a good tempermant. When i got him i planned on getting him neutered and i probably will still will. If i do decide to breed him it will be after a lot of thinking about it!!
Thank for all your point of views.

Hi Tracy, just wanted to say don't give up on the idea of breeding yet, you still have alot of time to read, learn and get advice on breeding yet. I too am interested in breeding and learning new things each day so if anyone here can offer any advice I would be very gratefull. I own two boxers, one male and one female. Thanx, louise.

:(

You can find out about ringcraft (show traiining) classes in your area asap and take him along. Once all his jabs are done you should take him every week - its really important that he is "socialised" - gets used to - other dogs and people at a young age. Even if you dont show him these sort of classes are often the best ones to start with as the majority of the dogs there will be well behaved and good natured (show dogs) - rather than go to obedience classes where many are not, which can be frightening for a baby puppy. You'll meet other dog owners and make friends and get lots of advice. Enjoy your puppy. If he is good looking, bitch owner smay approach you for stud work but sadly these will almost certainly be back yard breeders who want to make a fast buck and if they were responsible breeders they would be using big winning dogs who have had good results at all the health tests - hip scoring and heart/eye testing etc is very expensive.

I know its got nothing to do with the poster but just a little query,lets say you wish to breed and you do all the necessary health checks,lets say at 2 yrs old and then you wish to breed again at 4 yrs old would not getting them checked again be more assuring and accurate than staying with the scores when they were 2 yrs old?
Or am i being silly? cos their health conditions could change in 2 yrs!!
Gary

Hi Gary,
Some hereditary conditions are only checked once in an animal's life (hip-scores, BAER etc), and others need to be repeated every year (such as the eye-tests). So it depends on which checks you are referring to in particular.
:)

thanx jeanjenie,say for instance,hearts and eyes would have to be checked every year?
Gary

if you read don weidens bit in the dog press this week, hes now breeding such quality he doesnt ever get a pet in his litter :)
as for breeding from your boxer, as you obviously know so very little then you are aiming at "A LITTER" and going to attract only pet buyers, as you appear not to understand construction- genetics etc, what are you hoping to do for the breed, as in my opinion no-one should breed unless they are doing there best to improve the breed,
breeders of quality, sound and tested dogs have pups that will go to pet homes too, ???? so theres never going to be a shortage of well bred boxer pups, bought from breeders who can offer advice learnt through all theyve learnt in there many years in the breed,
so again, why do you feel the need to add to the breed when you have no understanding of the genetics-type-construction of it,

we all have to start somewhere:) and i think that gary/louise are trying their best to ifind out about the gentics of their breed. just because they will be first timers doesn't mean that they shouldnt be able to breed eventually providing theyve done all the necessary reasearch and work to ensure a good healthy litter- which is what i assume they are trying to do already by posting on this board. :p

Eyes, yes, but I don't know which conditions affect boxers. I'm not sure about hearts (boxers aren't my breed) but I'm sure someone who does know about them will be along sometime.
:)

yes, have to be heart tested-----liz of course we all had to start somewhere, -----i only started breeding around 6 years ago, but ive been showing dogs just over 20,
i think the right way is to learn as much as you can, join clubs, sit exams etc, get an eye in, also along the way find out which lines produce what, see which line you like best, then if youre thinking about breeding put your name down for one of the best you can find.
not!!! go out and by a dog/bitch from anywhere , then decide it must be bred /mated. "studded", as so many like to call it.
you do your homework BEFORE you start,

I'm a bit confused here, Dizzy - was your reply addressed to Gary, or to Tracy, the original poster at the top of the thread?

jeanie :D you asked about hearts, i said yes they need heart checks------the rest ive addressed to liz!!!! it says so :p

It's your age JG :D :D :D

Lucy
xx

:o :o And it's only going to get worse.....
:)

I am past it, too...I meant the post added at 12.51, not the one to Liz.....
:)

do you mean mine ?????? at 11-51 :D

Yes - 12.51 BST - the one mentioning Don Weiden.
:D

If you go to the website http://www.boxerunderground.com/uk
you should see some information about aortic stenosis.
OR if you just do the boxerunderground.com bit and then go
down the health issues, you should see the reports given to the
ABC by Dr B Cattanach.
However Cardiomyopathy another heart disease has had cases within the UK but it is more predominant in the US.
So this is currently under investigation by the breed genetics advisor Dr Cattanach.
In the US they do yearly holtor checks with their stock to see if any cardiomyopathy issues arise.
Again Boxer underground is a good site to read up about health issues.
As for eye testing only a minority of Boxer breeders test for eyes, not sure if it has to be done yearly.
However I'm sure if you'd ask the KC they may be able to help you.
Also may be worth checking for vWD (Von Willebrands Disease) and thyroid function.

thanks,you've mentioned this site before and went on it last night and its a good one,there's lots to take in,but i've learned quite abit from it,not yet gone through it all so i've saved it to my 'favourites'.
thanks for that
Gary

Can find out information [link http://www.vet.cam.ac.uk:591/FMPro?-db=breeddb&-lay=alldata&-format=search.html&-view] here [/link] - quite a useful site for research.
Lara x