I am considering the possibility of breeding my 18 month year old bitch, she seems fully grown, and has a temperament of gold. My parents bred thier dogs so they would help me out, but their not in country at the moment so i was wondering if any could tell me.

I have been looking for a stud for the past 6 months, but have heard of stories of breeders mixing papers so the dog isn't what the pedigree says it is.

My do breed is staffordshire bull terrier.

Thank you in advance for any replies

I am probably not the right person to say this, but sinse nobody else has...

1, (as far as I am aware) an 18 month old dog is too young to be bred from.
2, breeding is no joke, it take's years to do enough research to be sure you are doing the right thing, and to be sure you are using the right dog's.
3, (again as far as I am aware) there will be health test's needed for both bitch and dog.
4, if you don't know how often a bitch will come into season, you certainly don't know enough to be considering breeding yet.
5, how do you know your bitch is a good enough specimen of the breed? Do you show her? Has her breeder seen her? Especially in a breed that has been over bred to the limits, surely you don't want to add to the problem of 'problem' puppies, i.e. unhealthy, nothing like the breed standard, not having enough forever homes for the puppies to go to, selling them to some lowlife who wants a dog to make himself look hard, selling them solely for profit?
6, I am not implying that you can't afford it, but breeding is, by all acounts, a VERY expensive hobbie. Will you have enough funds to look after a possible C-section, sick puppies, health problems with the bitch, even if all of the puppies died - insurance will not cover these costs.
7, If you went ahead and mated your bitch, if she has problems during labour and needs a c/s, it can be difficult to get her to accept the puppies when she comes round from the operation, have you got the will, energy and time to bottle feed 8 pups, 24 hours a day?
8, the other thing that is a serious point, is that letting your dog have a litter is a risk to her health. Could you live with yourself knowing that things could have been different, if the worst happened?

There are many more points as to why breeding shouldn't be taken lightly. Please take this as advice (even from a novice) and not a critisism. If you still want to breed, the best thing to do is talk to the breeder that bred your girl, and get reading/studying/asking/researching, as much as possible. You will need to be ready for any outcome.

Good luck :D

Obviously if I have anything wrong, someone please say so the OP get's the facts, I have only repeated what I have read on here many times, so mistakes probably will be made!

Not a lot to add to that Natalie.  This link describes the difference between a good breeder and a puppy producer.

http://st15.startlogic.com/~justonel/breeder.html

Thank you Brainless,

i read the article and it was very educational, i want to start showing dogs but have to start somewhere.

But someone please answer my question

Regards

Bitches are very individual and anything from 4 to 12 months between seasons is normal.  Your bitch will by now have had two or 3 seasons so some pattern for her should be emerging???

I would show her first to see if she is worth breeding from, then health test her.  If she is a medium size breed two to 3 years old is soon enough for a litter.

Thank you for your response, all your points have been taken on board.

I know she is close to the breed standard because people say she is(people who know there stuff). I posted just to know how often a bitch comes season, i know the problems which COULD occur. I have the money if anything goes wrong.

Like i said my parents have bred for many years, so they will help.

I am in the process of researching so thank you for your response but you still didn't answer my question.

Regards

Every six months or thereabouts.

I can highly recommend 'The Book of the Bitch'. I do not intend to breed but bought it when I got my bitch puppy just so I would be informed. It is an excellent book and covers more or less everything you will  need to know about caring for a bitch through her entire lifetime :)

Thank you.

I *think* it is on average every 6 months, but every bitch is different, and I think it can depend on the breed as well, someone else will have to confirm or correct me though :D

Good luck with what ever you decide :D

thank you

Every bitch is different. I have had bitches come in every 6 months to the dot. I've also bitches that never came in at the same time. One came in season any time from 17 weeks to 31 weeks. Some bitches (very few though) won't come in season for a year or two. These are not good to breed on from. Apart from not knowing exactly when they are in season, they could have other underlying problems.

You would also need to eye test.

well put i love the idea of a bundle of cute pups running round the house ,but i dont no enough about my breed to even consider it one day when ive learnt enough and want a pup for myself i may but from what ive read on here there are so many risks involved both for your bitch and the pups and my dogs are my family to so it would be like risking a family member ,sounds daft i no but have you spoken your your breeder because that would be my first port of call if i needed help

Something which hasn't been mentioned by anyone yet is the sheer numbers of Staffordshire Bull Terriers (both well-bred and bad) born every year, and the vast numbers which end up in rescue, are you confident that any pups which you might breed won't be adding to their numbers??  Are you willing to take back any pups, possibly with behaviour problems, at any time in their lives and rehabilitate if needed?  This must be as much a consideration as any other area you consider ;)

one of my girls is every 6 months, 1 has only had 2 seasons in in 27 months , 1 had 3 seasons every 6 months & the last ( 4th ) season was 10 months ago ! so i guess the answer is "watch & wait for nature "!
regards
caron :)