Hi,

I have two younf GSD's and i am looking to breed from them in the future. (i.e. put them to stud).
I was wanting to know the correct age to start from and if i need to apply for a licence etc to to be able to put them to stud.

Many thanks.
Lesley

First of all you get them hip-scored once they are 12 months old. This involves a general anaesthetic and x-rays taken, which are sent to the Kennel Club to be officially scored. The breed average score is 19, so any score higher than that, and you can forget using them. They will also need to be cleared for haemophilia.

A good idea, to find out if they are good enough to use at stud, is showing. This way you'll get an honest opinion as to whether or not their use would be beneficial to the breed as a whole. If not - well, there are already umpteen poorly bred GSDs out there, and plenty in rescue all the time - so unless they are very close to the breed standard you won't get any bitch owners wanting to use them.

Unfortunately JG someone will use them even if they are not good examples, that is why there are so may poor specimens already, some breeders will use anything if it's ears stick up.

So guest if you love the breed and want the best for it make sure the dogs you have have something to offer, I am sure that to you they are lovely but to make sure they are to standard the very best and easy way is to show them and see if others think they are lovely too.

Hi Lesley

Another way of getting them noticed by other members of your breed apart from showing is Working Trials.  As others have pointed out, "Just because a dog has the tackle to reproduce, does not mean it should use it".

Putting dogs at stud is not a case of bitches lining up to come to you and you raking in money - just in case that is what you have in mind. No doubt if we all have the wrong end of the stick you will register so you can reply and let us know.