Hello.

I would love to one day breed a litter of dogs.

I have a lot of experience with dogs in general, but nothing at all on the breeding side.

I would love to produce my own dogs for working with the characteristics and looks that I want.

My question is, how do you get into breeding dogs?
How do you find the best dogs to start your line?
How can you get experience before starting so that you know the medical side of it to deal with any problems?

Thanks
James

My answers:-

1.     Decide upon the breed that you like best - that suits your lifestyle.   

2.    Once you have decided upon a breed, read as much as you can about the breed - get a list of breeders from the breed society

3.    Make contact with several of these breeders, visit them when they do not have puppiesto see how the adults interact with people.

4.    Attend shows - as an observer.    Get yourself a mentor.  

5.    When you have decided upon which lines you like, approach the breeder and ask to be put on a list as a potential puppy owner.  

Then you will be ready to get a puppy.   Once you have a puppy, train it, take it to ring craft and when it reaches the age of 6 months, you can start showing.   You want to know that the puppy you have is an excellent example of the breed - and this you can only see as the puppy grows and develops.  Keep in touch with your mentor - and be guided by him/her.   And be prepared to be advised not to breed - good breeders usually breed only when they themselves wish to keep a puppy.

As you see, it isn't a quick fix - I would put a time guide of anything up to 4/5 years before you'd be ready to breed.   Put in the groundwork now, and dream for the future.

The same guidelines for working dogs.  Just join the local shoot/trials club, make contacts and learn. 
But there are no short cuts to being a good breeder - it takes time to learn. :) 

Hi James,

> How do you find the best dogs to start your line?

I haven't bred a litter but was in your position 5 yrs ago when I bought my current bitch, I spent years training her and she is a good working dog not a show dog but certainly fit for purpose. However she failed her gonioscopy so all the breeding plans went out of the window. My point is your primary concern has to be health, noone can give you a guarantee on a pup, but if the parents are tested with good results then the pup has a better chance of being clear of hereditary diseases.
Otherwise I agree with Loki's Mum.
The other thing is follow the threads on the breeding forum, it's certainly opened my eyes about the trials and tribulations around breeding and has made me think twice about whether I could cope with all the work and potential heartbreak involved.

> I would love to produce my own dogs for working with the characteristics and looks that I want.
>

Lokis Mum gave a sensible reply and one I would follow, except as you are wanting to have a working line I would suggest you attend a few club field trials instead of shows and speak to the Field Trial secretaries of the breed clubs for the breeds you are interested in.

Breed clubs are now expected to have health co-ordinators and these people should be able to tell you about health testing and what to look for/ask a potential breeder of your chosen breed.

In flatcoats we have had a health co-ordinator and health committee for many years, we also have area representatives to help novice owners and advise them on everything from training to competing or working on a shoot.

> The other thing is follow the threads on the breeding forum, it's certainly opened my eyes about the trials and tribulations around breeding and has made me think twice about whether I could cope with all the work and potential heartbreak involved. <IMG class=qButton title="Quote selected text" height=10 alt="Quote selected text" src="/images/mi_quote.gif" width=20>

All the threads so far give the right advice and there really are no quick fixes or guarantees, but would especially echo the comment about the heartbreak.

I did all my homework or so I thought and bought my first show/breeding bitch from good hip scored parents and yet she still developed hip dysplacia and could therfore not be bred from. She had to have a hip replacement op before she was 15 month old and is now a big part of our lives though sadly despite how awesome she looks she has never been shown she will never be able to have pups.

My first stud dog I chose when he was 6 weeks old and at his first vet check he was found to have a heart murmour. The breeder did offer to take him back but I had already fallen in love with him plus I knew he would do well in the show ring, and he did. Sadly his heart got worse and he died before his second birthday.

I've just had my first litter 10 days ago and although finally got some beautifull pups it has come with its own heartbreak- please read my topic about how my dog had to have c section and has since had 2 dead puppies- the last just this morning.

I hope you are one of the lucky ones that makes all the right choices and everything goes to plan. I wouldn't wish what we have been through on anyone. I have been so close to throwing the towel in on several occasions and wondered if breeding really is for me but just to see these little pups now does make it all worth while.

I bought the book Breeding Dogs for Dummies. Whilst aimed mainly at the Americans it did make good reading along with the bible of course that is The Book of the Bitch.

Good luck and I hope it all works out for you

All the advise given so far is great.

It's worth bareing in mind though you dont always get a breeding bitch first time round.  We had 3 bitches till we got one suitable for breeding from though no fault of us or the breeders of our bitches, just one of those things.  However although all 3 bitches have come from different breeders they all came from the same line, the one we like and when we bred our litter alot of thought went into what we want to achive and we used a dog we liked and has done well in the ring, with lines that are great and compliment our bitch.

However we have gained the experiance to breed this litter by being in the breed for 15 years, watching and learning, talking and reading and seeing many litters to see what lines produced what and what the result was of two lines being brought together.

However of this litter we have bred this isn't the end, what I want will take afew generations to achive, everything takes time.

Hi JamesSilv,

I have bred quite a few litters and it is one of the most fantastic experiences if you do it responsibly - eg make sure you have people interested in homing the puppies when they are born and make sure you can get access to a good stud dog (male).

angel66

>make sure you have people interested in homing the puppies when they are born and make sure you can get access to a good stud dog (male)

Before any of that your bitch has to have passed all the breed-relevant health tests and been independently assessed as being suitable for breeding by at least two unbiased breed specialists.