Hi guys just wanted to ask about your experiences of going abroad to use a dog at stud? What are the pitfalls, extra costs, what would I need to look out for? I'm inky thinking about this at the moment and wouldn't be going for at least 8 months but I like to do my research into these things so I can try the make the best possible choice for my girl. I've never used a stud abroad before so this would be a big thing for me and my girl so am trying to get as much info as possible. Many thanks

Well I went to Holland  last time and used a dog, it was easy. We went over on the tunnel to France and drove up through Belgium. Left UK at 8am and arrived in Holland at 5pm. She was spot on and we had a tie by 6pm !! Had a lovely day the following day and then mated again early on the 3rd day and drove home. I was lucky the breeder had a holiday house on her premises and we used it for a nominal fee. So just food and travel costs for us plus the stud fee. Result 6 lovely pups. Obviously the pet passport cost need to be included too. I had been blood testing so know she was good to go. I also blood tested on the second day there to make  100% sure she was right on the button. The breeders vet did it for me and results were ready in a couple of hours.
Aileen

Thanks Aileen, this is only a thought at the moment, as she wouldn't be mated till around feb next year. Nice to hear someone's experience especially in the same breed. I'm trying to have some options to choose from as our gene pool is relatively small. Thanks again for the reply.

I'd be researching a lot longer than 8 months, I'd be contacting the chosen stud owner or kennel a year ahead once I'd done as much research on their lines and their dog as possible.

The main pitfall is that you may not have seen the dog to go over, or seen what he has produced, especially to bitches of similar lines to yours, so it's very much a shot in the dark.

You may find you don't get what you hoped for in the first generation, and may simply need to keep something for the bloodlines, and get better results in the next generation when you breed back into more familiar lines, so you need to look on it is an long term investment into expanding the gene pool.

It goes without saying you need to research the health and faults of the lines, so your not inadvertently introducing faults not found here or making worse any issues the breed may have.

I took my bitch out to Germany last year without problems. Blood tested from about day seven and set off when she hit the LH surge ( 24 hours pre ovulation ) to allow me enough time to drive south, get the train and drive up to Northern Germany.

Spent a lot of time talking to german breeders about various dogs and what they may offer when used over my bitch. When to see studs and their progeny before making a final selection. When introducing new blood it will always be a gamble as you may not get what you hope for but I would certainly do it again.

Thanks for the replies. The kennel I'm looking at has been used by my mentor but quite a few years back, so she knows the line and history of the dog, which is good. I did research them myself last year as well and I like what has been produced. Looking through pedigrees and checking health tests has become some what of a fascination for me, I love digging through and seeing what I find. I just haven't done the travelling abroad with a dog before so have no idea how that worked or how people have got in with it. I am planning a trip over to see the kennel and meet the dogs, owners and some of his offspring,

Well I have flown abroad with my girls twice (Finland 2006, and USA 2010) now that takes much more of a leap of faith as you need to book as soon as the season starts, aim to guess at timing and stay for a week or 10 days.

With the current Pet Passport rules things are easier as you don't have to get things done as far in advance.

If it's only Western Europe and you drive/have a driver, then it's easy peasy, ferry or Tunnel, other than the distances to drive if alone.

Not something I would contemplate as the problems in the resultant litter can manifest themselves later as the health status and temperament behind the stud dog is often unknown. There may be problems in U.K. dogs but if you research properly, you should be able to avoid them.

That's fine if you have a numerically large or British based breed.  Those of us with numerically small breeds where the bulk of the World population is not UK based have to make a leap of faith every now and then.

The variety of people's opinions is really interesting. In my breed, I have found the majority of the breeders abroad (well, the ones I'm interested in!) are incredibly open about the health test results of their dogs and their progeny, and what they have produced in all their litters. They also routinely do more health tests than we do here. I have imported 3 dogs which are used very selectively at stud here  ...

I think using and researching dogs from Scandinavian countries this can be very much the case.