How old does a dog need to be in order to be used at stud? I have heard of dogs being used at 8 months privately ( not publicly after a stud enquiry ata a show) and was wondering if it was 6 months or had to be 8 months up.
Do any of you guys know?
Pete

It depends on the breed. The dog would need to have passed all the breed-relevant health checks, which includes hip-scoring for many. This cannot be done before 12 months, so in that case the dog should be at least 12 months old before standing. 15 months is probably better.

At eight months old you would be taking a chance. The dog wouldn't have been hip scored (this can only be done once the dog is 1 year old) so you wouldn't know if it's hips had a problem or not. Of course, not all breeds have this done so it may not count anyway. Has the 'stud dog' had any other relevant test done for its breed?

I would think that most bitch owners would prefer to wait and use an adult dog. At least you would then know how the pups would look like.

The real limiting factor when using a dog at stub is the health schemes. In the UK you cannot have a dogs hips scored until a year old so by the time you have received the scores back from the KC/BVA you are looking at nearer to 18 months. In the USA hips cannot be scored until 2 years old so you are looking at quite a bit later over there.

Regards, John