I would like to breed from my staff before having her spayed.
the only problem is her ears stick up i when we picked her they where mormal as was the other 7 pups, the parents where the same aswell. i have spoken to her breeder and the pup she kept from the litter is normal, just need some advise as to mate her or not.
personally to me it does matter but i want to kept one of her pups to show..
please help x

Hi Hannahsharmony
I would play safe. I dont think you should breed unless you are 100% sure that your dog is a superb example of the breed and you are aware of the responsibilities (you dont mention your experience in breeding here, so forgive me if I'm wrong).
A good alternative for you and a safer one for your bitch, would be to go back to your breeder and get a show quality pup from her? Then you'd have a dog to show without having to put your bitch through breeding? Just an idea, but it'd be a lot easier for you and your bitch.
Good luck whatever you decide
Kathy
xx

Please don't breed a faulty bitch, use the money you will save to buy in a top quality bitch to show, cheaper and better than trying to decide which of the pups has the least faults and hope the ears remain correct.

the prodgeny's ears may or may not stick up, but if they do, well, no matter how great the dog is in other respects, you can forget showing. thats the world of the show dog Im afraid.
Id suggest if you MUST breed from her, look at all her points, tempermant etc. has she a lot else to offer the breed? and most importantly, have you homes lined up for any potential pups before you even go as far as a mating?
If you are happy with these points, then you need to choose a dog who's bloodline is a good nick, and preferably has a neat ear, again, if cosmetics are of importance.
One other important factor, I personally feel you should take on,is that IF you do breed from her, are you able to take TOTAL responsibilty for any pups produced, and be able to take them back if need be, at any point in their life?
Thre are many many staffords on the ground at the present time, and it is my concern that others are bred without very careful thought.
In no way am I having a pop at you! But you must understand the problems the breed is going through these days, and the placing of any stock needs to be done extremely carefully.
I have said before, that i would not ever breed a litter if I had to advertise them, and there was not a waiting list for any pups I bred.

Well said Staffmad

Can I just ask how old is your staffie as if she is still young her ears might not have totally settled down. However if she is an adult then take advice from the other Staffie owners who have posted they have your dogs and your best interests at heart :) Gillian

she turned 1 on christmas day.

Stand to be corrected but think her ears should be to breed standard by now, she is as you will know far to young to be bred from yet always assuming you decide that breeding from a bitch with such an obvious fault is worth all the work and expense when it is so much easier to let someone else breed your show dog for you. Time to think about breeding for yourself when you have learned more about the breed.

thanks for all your help im not gonna breed from her now, a breeder at our ringcraft club is planning to mate just after crufts so il put my name on the waiting list.
thanks again
kelly

i would 'nt do it

i breed my bitch 2 years ago she was 3 at the time and her ears were fine but as a puppy they went straight up they did not sit right until she was 18 months old.  she had a litter of six and 3 out of the litter have up right ears and like i said that was 2 years ago so i not think that they are going to come right now.

if you want email me and i will send you a pic of one of them taken a few weeks ago

hiya depending on the age or dog the ears can be corrected in most cases there is a book called the bullmastiff manual by bill walkey that has a section complete with pictures and step by step directions if caught early enough it only takes a couple of days or so to put right

bearing this in mind any pups breed from your bitch if they showed this problem they could also be put right

all the best

david

Thought we were talking Staffs, are all dogs' ears alike then. And do you really think it is a good idea to breed from a bitch with this problem there by increasing the problem within the breed leading, in the end no doubt, to the incorrect becoming the norm. Also concerned that this is considered enough of a problem for a book to be written, perhaps it is time to change the standard if the breeders of the past have been so careless to allow the situation to become so common

shame it takes ear carrage to make you want to change a breed standard what about dog's that can't breath or can't give birth, eye problems the list goes on real problems threatening the quality of life of a long list of kc dog's problems all caused by the breed standard

but if ear carrage is more important then fine

Think you're a bit out of date UKBull. Many standards were changed quite a few years ago to prevent health problems. eg Chow standard used to read "eyes: Dark & small, preferably almond shaped". Now reads " Eyes: Dark, oval shaped, medium sized & clean". problems aren't caused by the breed standards but by breeders who think the more exaggerated the better.

hiya many is not all is it

you know aswell as i do there are many breeds that suffer through the so called standard
changing a few words here and there won't change anything enough to solve the long list of problems caused by such standards i won't go into breeds that will only start a long list of but my dog is fine posts which lets face it 20 dogs out of any given breed that has a 1000 plus registered each year is meaningless

it takes more than that to stop these deformed breeds winning at shows if there dog's are'nt winning breeders will have to change there breeding as it will affect puppy sales

i really do wish that the breed standards had changed but in the real world they have not and that's a fact

My point being UKbull that is if so many of the breed are having to have their ears taped up then perhaps the breed standard is asking for either something that most the breed do not have naturally or the habit is so ingrained that the breeder are not being careful enough with their breeding. Of course, health is more important but we are talking about ears, which in breeds with heavy hanging ears may be a health issue but not, I don't think, in this case.

And yes standards are changed to encourage healthy dogs, have just filled in a form from the KC regarding the health issues in my breed so you see a check is kept on the breed health and if needed the breed clubs will be asked by the KC to look at amending the standard.

hiya

ear carrage has a lot to do with cartilage which at times during say teething can put a pups ears out of synch

if you notice i said in a lot of cases it can be put right not in every case

ear carrage is something most owners would not consider a issue worth taking the dog to the vets to see what has caused it fair enough it may be down to bad breeding but it could just as easily be down to other reasons which given the chance the vet could do something about

the reason why i said read the book rather than pass on the method was to encourage reading up of the subject which is much better than me putting details which someone could follow with no real knowledge of the subject

all the best

david

One problem that is occuring with the obsession for that perfect little rose ear, is that some of the more overall exaggerated lines are now suffering from chronic ear infections etc, as the ear canal is becoming so small and tight. again a case of interpreting the standard to the extreme again!
I like to see a neat rose ear, but not so tight it is almost button like! something Im seeing more and more in the modern show dog. Id never turn down a good dog purely on ear carriage! It looks nice, but served the dog no purpose at all in his original job way back when.

hi David

the problem with the puppies out of my bitch is that when they left me there ears were fine they all started changing when the puppy was teething

hiya

that's what i'm saying they could have been corrected if there owners knew how to bad ear carrage is not allways down to bad breeding it can be just one of those things

if you were to breed again this time round you would know that something could be done

all the best

david

hi David

i did breed her again to a diffrenet stud and all puppies ears were fine,  what i was thinking was if this bitches ears are still up then maybe her ears can not be fixed the way you said.

out of the 3 pup's that had up ears 2 had them put right like you said with tape but the last one did'nt work, her ears were ment to go up and at was that

so how do i tape her eyes???

Do you mean her ears ??
Really no one should be breeding and then correcting the faults
breeding  should be done to produce healthy, sound and faultless pups not taping ears (or taking out teeth as people do) to make the pups "look" correct :rolleyes:

i not breeding her now im talking about trying to see if i can correct her ears if not then im not bothered about it.

hi Hannah

how old is your bitch (sorry if you have said) as she might be to old now

shes just turned 1,
regards

sorry to say but i think that she might be to old now the best time to it is about the same time the puppy is teeething or just after

out of curiosity, how would one tape the ears down? and are we talking ears that are pricked up constantly?? sorry to be dense!!

sorry but i have never had to do it myself but why dont you have a look at the book that someone said about

hello all, would just like to add that the breed standard states semi erect ears are ok but rose is preferred but remember it's the judge who picks the winner so it's what he favours, and to say a dogs ears are'nt quite perect means they stand no chance in showing is'nt or should'nt be frowned apon it's the dog as a whole, proportion head the look etc, and marked down as to how far of the standard you are, i would also like to say that most good brood bitches never see the show ring or they don't do very well but there blood line, temperment, general all roundness means they're likely to produce quality pups when mated to a good suitable stud dog..