Hello , Can anyone tell me what age Dogs can go out to stud? I was just wondering as a friend who has bought a young boy is wanting to stud him out . My boy is only 8 months old but I wouldnt want him to ever lose his inocence lol

Your dog can be used at stud when he's passed the tests relevant to his breed to exclude genetic conditions (hip x-rays [which can't be done before 12 months of age], BAER test, specialist ophthamology [needed annually] etc) and has also been independently assessed as being a good example of his breed. For most breeds that means doing well in the showring; others need to prove proficient in the working field.

Having a stud dog is a hge responsibility - all the pups he ever sires are your responsibility all their lives long.

That isn't meant with any disrespect to you or meant to sound rude but I don't understand why anyone would ask someone inexpereinced to find out for them. :-)

I would probably advice your freind to speak to the experienced breeder of the dog rather than ask a inexpereinced freind to seek advice.

You could print this of for her.  It covers most of the issues mentioned already.

No they had just bought the dog and mentioned it to me , I was just asking as I thought he was a bit young , he is 11 months old .

Thanks isabel

Oh gosh they just bought the dog and want to put it out to stud already!!.  I would still seek the advise of the breeder for all things to do with the dog, the health tests, suitability as a stud etc.

Yes I know , told them its mad to stud him out straight away but its fallen on deaf ears . I dont really know why I am asking as I dont think it will matter what I say , feel quiet sad about it all

The normal way that dogs become stud dogs in reputable responsible circles is for the dog to be seen as a superior example of his breed by doing well at shows or in the working arena, have been through all the health testing needed, and then they wait for the owners of excellent bitches to take an interest.  They do not put their dog 'out to stud' per se, they wait for the compliment of being asked by a knowledgeable bitch owner to use their dog because it will complement their bitch.

So I would say to your friends that they will have to start showing and/or working their dog and start researching the breed and bloodlines.  A good way to do this is to join the breed clubs and buy any publications they can get their hands on, past issues of club journals/yearbooks will have photos and pedigrees of dogs in the breed, if you go back far enough you can see how whole lines and kennels develop the tendencies for certain traits and which dogs passed them on etc.

Until they know these things they cannot know if a bitch is compatible with their dogs.

Of course no-one can acquire such knowledge at once so getting to know people steeped in the breed and being able to use the knowledge they have to supplement ones own growing knowledge is the way to go.

To be honest having a dog at stud requires far more knowledge than breeding from your won bitch.  With the latter you only need to study your own bitches lines in depth and then seek a suitable mate, with a male at stud you need a deep and broad knowledge of the liens in the whole breed.

having studdogs is a lot of work ..and also expensive .. most people think the money just comes in just with doing nothing // but one has to:
*having all the required tests done,have to look good, done some winning at the least! and have the super temperament/workingabilities! meaning keeping up with the genetic tests aswell to make sure your dog sires healthy pups, showing him around, training your dog etc etc .;
* you have to KNOW your breed! Not every bitch, every male is a good studdog!
* he could be a Topwinner but a lousy producer!
*you have to be ready for" clients" every time of the day! very often weekends!
*your dog has to be always in a spot-on condition, which does not come by itself!
*you have to be honest towards owner of bitch/towards yourself and the breed when someone comes up with a bitch that doesnot have the quality/tests required .. Even if you can use the money for the studfee!And having dogs .. cost a lot ... so even when tempted .. making the right decission .. NOT always easy!
*having yourself a friendly nature, tactfull, with lot of knowledge of the breed!
*when your dog has produced serious problems: honest enough to withdraw him from further studs!
when you think this is all  ... then be prepared of people who think they are not just using your dog .. but think they are becoming "family" and can make use of you every minute they want
people that live further away .. booking a stud .. often expect you to host them aswell! with some you just gladly do, some you are glad the mating is done and they leave!
DONT always expect people to be friendly, some think that they pay you for the stud mean they "owe all your attention" too!
Again, some become real good friends ... and make the studlife easy!
Be prepared for problems when there is no litter/bitch misses
Be prepared for unkind remarks about your dog when only two/three pups are born, as the "wanted a big litter"and they know you just had one from the same sire!!
Be prepared that when there are some abnormalities in the litter or some wrong bites ... IT ALWAYS comes from the STUDDOG!
IF you can face this all, still have fun with your studdogs, still can smile when visitors come in, when a new litter is produced, still  can pick up the phone and stay calm and helpfull .. then you seem to be the right person to have studdogs!
Studdogs are not born as studdogs, they need a good handler/owner that cares for him, helps him when needed, believes in him .. and when his studdog days are over .. still love him to pieces  .. regardless what he has or has not produced!

i have emailed this link to them showing what you have all said , thanks

Well done 'Parzac', great post, nothing I can think of to add.

as one of my friends use to say ...." been there, seen it, bought the t-shirt" .....
and  then laughed  when saying ... "we leave the studwork to you! "
I  still, considering all above mentioned about studdogs, love to " do the job" .. and am just as happy as the owner of the bitch when all goes well, no problems with puppies .. very often even  stay in touch with  owners of pups from a certain combination when they ask us to send pics,extra info about /from the sire of their  new familymember!
But i even after more then  35 years , believe that having studdogs( although many think it is so easy ..as the "dog does all the work")is something thats requires experience, love for the breed,and above all : a happy nature! Haha!!

and then they wait for the owners of excellent bitches to take an interest.  They do not put their dog 'out to stud' per se, they wait for the compliment of being asked by a knowledgeable bitch owner to use their dog because it will complement their bitch

Judging by the quantity of top show dogs advertised at stud on the websites and magazines, and added to their puppy adverts as 'stud dog available' this is not true of many people who own stud dogs. Working or show champions.

I would say that dogs that have already proved themselves at stud are advertised in breed magazines etc, as that is where knowledgeable bitch owners will be able to compare their achievements.

Once a dog has produced top specimens it is fairly normal to advertise the fact the same as advertising your dogs wins.

This is not the same as advertising an unknown quantity, it is merely allowing people to know the dog is still available and what he has produced.

Years ago in my breed it was normal for stud dog pedigrees to appear in our club Journals and then people got shy of seeming to be touting for stud work for their dogs.  In fact the stud pedigrees were invaluable for later research and thankfully they have been resurrected, but even so only a few owners advertise their dog availability at stud.

I mean advertised on the many 'free' internet sites that advertise mainly puppies, (which many on here do not like, fair enough!) and sites that advertise stud dogs, as in the one spoken about here before. This is direct stud dog work, not breed mags but glossy mags, as well as personal websites (which is fair enough.)

calmstorm, you did mention

>top show dogs

so at least quality dogs with success behind them and not really in the same ball park as Joe Public et al on the same sites.  TBH I agree that some folks are a bit too 'out there' with advertising their studs - I know of several who do it and yet their dogs' successes lie in occasional open show BOB wins and never see strong competition anyway.

FWIW along with many I still prefer to look at and assess the dogs in the ring and/or their progeny, know the dogs in person in their pedigree or trust someone implicitly who does and I also believe that sometimes an unshown or rarely shown littermate can be the best choice - we should after all be looking for the best possible dog to compliment our girls.  A website of any type or magazine ad may cause me to visit a site with photos and pedigree but would certainly not even be close to my making a choice of stud dog.

always good to see the dog in this own place!
i have used a few years ago a dog that i just loved at first sight, no CC's, no other showresults, nothing, he was just (?)a Pet! with a pedigree to dream of!  Quite an old boy! Never used as a stud, our bitch his first ever!But at age of ten .. he did a good job!
The pups/progeny we had from him are all winning at shows, are topworkingdogs and have the same melting expression as their Dad!He will never /is never seen in an add, never on a HP ,but what he has produced tells more about him then any add or any homepage/internetsite will ever do!

why do people  need to advertise their stud dogs????

In numerically smaller breeds it is to let other people in the opposite end of the country have a look before travelling a long way only to find the dog isn't quite what was expected ;-)

Other people, though, I would think that they just want the money :-D

> In numerically smaller breeds it is to let other people in the opposite end of the country have a look before travelling a long way only to find the dog isn't quite what was expected ;-)
>

Being in a numerically small breed I would have thought it the other way around, that in the numerically small breeds people are prepared to travel further to show their dogs and most people will know all the dogs in the breed, where in the strong breeds the entry from one show to another can be quite different with few overlapping dogs being seen, as they have CC's at more shows so people will be more selective which ones they enter..

Sorry i just don't see  the need to advertise ANY stud dog regardless  the size of the breed just MO

Other than in breed publications (more brags for his offspring really, or to publisciose his pedigree) then I agree.

Being in a numerically small breed I would have thought it the other way around, that in the numerically small breeds people are prepared to travel further to show their dogs and most people will know all the dogs in the breed,

Exactly what I was going to say, being in a small breed myself (as far as number of SHOW bred dogs go -the working ones are so separate they might as well be a different breed) we all know each other, everyone knows what dogs the other breeders/exhibitors have got, what litters there are, what imports there are etc, and we all see pretty much all the dogs at the shows, if not at every champ.show then certainly everyone in the breed who has any kind of show involvement will turn up at Crufts and the main breed champ.show. So even if there were no internet I dare say we'd all still know exactly what was what. :) And yes, we often have to travel further than most as well.

i do have my studogs mentioned at my homepage! with pictures! but dont get the impression now that putting them on a HP is bringing in lots of studs etc! when  you are asking for healthcertificates, certain quelifications and a pedigree that match with your  boy's !
in our breed for many 'breeders" the "flavour/champion  of the week" is more important than looking at the dog itself, its pedigree and if this dog is complimenting their bitch .. They just go for the titles on the pedigrees!  so many think that if enough championtitles on the pedigree the pups are better quality!  no use telling them that this is no  true!
like mentioned in one of the replies before: some super producers never been in the "winnerslist" yet have given /done more  for the breed then the latest champion.
i have bred/have quite a few of champions in my time of breeding but still believe it is just the 'judges opinion and if lucky 3 or 4 have tthe same idea about your dog ... but at the end of the day what realy counts is not that  piece of paper  framed on your wall, but the dog itself! You have to live with your dog . and it should be a happy life ..what good is a studdog with a nasty temperament but with lots of titles mentioned behind his name!

> Years ago in my breed it was normal for stud dog pedigrees to appear in our club Journals

that sounds like it would be very helpful for bitch owners in avoiding ackward conversations- if you liked a dog and did not know his pedigree, chatted to the the owners and got his pedigree and realised it didn;t fit at all then having to say no must be pretty uncomfortable. i imagine i;d feel bad and feel like i'd wasted the stud owners time. having a pedigree available to check out before an approach sounds like a good idea.

> that sounds like it would be very helpful for bitch owners in avoiding awkward conversations- if you liked a dog and did not know his pedigree, chatted to the the owners and got his pedigree and realised it didn;t fit at all then having to say no must be pretty uncomfortable. i imagine i;d feel bad and feel like I'd wasted the stud owners time. having a pedigree available to check out before an approach sounds like a good idea.

Exactly, same with health clearances, though you can contact the kennel club about these.  I have done this to avoid exactly those conversations.

Nowadays in some breeds with DNA tests you may wish to know the Carrier status of a dog etc, as you may have carrier bitch worthy of breeding from and must have a clear dog.

Must say in club publications I can never understand when some owners don't put their dogs breeding and hip scores, eye tests etc, the list of achievements is worthless without the other info.

> hip scores, eye tests

think i can guess for some breeders...

I suppose I was thinking more of the owners who have their own websites, and place photos and info on there, rather than advertising them for stud on a 'free' site or newspaper. I wouldn't entertain one of those sites if I was looking for a stud dog.

most of my dogs have english hipscores .; as to me this system tells me more about the hips then just getting a certificate saying it has A or B etc hips! in germany they have a bit same system, scoring each hip and giving  info about the hips, so  we use that scoring system aswell! if people are intrested in our boys  progeny etc, they can click on the pedigrees giving all info! and if needed i can explain what the score is in comparing to those they have in their country! And having the results of the progeny mentioned ... think thats is a very good idea .. it gives  one an idea about what the dog sires reg. beauty& health.Dont you think that owners of studdogs are very proud to mention those results? It would worrie me more when seeing NOTHING mentioned about the progeny!And when exact figures are asked for: just pick up the phone, have a good conversation with the studdogowner .. and ask the things that are important for you to know! Believe me MOST of them are very much willing to tell you all details! As they too dont want any wrong info to be spread and are hoping for happy, healthy goodlooking progeny coming from their dogs/bitches!
about the free sites:i think it depends on  site  itself  offering dogs at stud or pups etc! i  think that people are wise enough to" get their info" from the internet, regardless if free or "paid" HP.
The company of the food i use offers freesites/free referring to sites .. i see no problem in using the offer!
dont forget some people dont know how to make a HP, some dont even have a HP and YET in this way they get their dogs/pups on the internet .. with a pic and their contactinfo. for each one same possibilities!
in some large breed populations for some breeders hard to find good homes for their puppies .. not every breeder has long waiting lists .. not every studdogowner is so kind to mention the litters sired by his dog on his HP and referring to those litters outside his own kennel!