Hello,
I need advice, hope someone can help.
I have a male chocolate roan cocker spaniel aged 3 in June, he is registered with the kennel club and has all the paperwork. I have recently bought a bitch age 6 months with pedigree papers which is a red. I had to buy the bitch as she was being left alone all day as her owners were working full time, it was sad and i love cockers.
Anyway my husband is interested in mating her with our male dog, im not so sure though. We dont know the first thing about mating dogs. Im also worried about when she comes into season, what shall i do? My male dog has never mated i dont think he would know what to do lol..Im not sure if i should attempt it as ive been told it can change thier temperment as i have two children. Can a chocolate roan mate with a red? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Michelle

Hi Michelle and welcome to the forum :) You sound like a really sensible person , asking advice about breeding before jumping in as it can be a very risky thing to do and there is as you thought , a lot more to it than just putting a dog and a bitch together. There are quite a few very well informed Cocker people here on the Forum and I am sure one of them will be along soon to offer advise :)

Melody :)

Hi Melody,
Thanks for the reply. We are both sensible and all advice will be welcome.
Michelle

Michelle - you have a recipe for disaster here so it's really good that you have asked for help before hand:)

Only the experienced should risk putting a solid to a particolour. You risk mismarks asd a minimum. Responsible breeding is more than putting a bitch and a dog of the same breed together. The main question you need to ask yourself is why do you want to do it? Your girl won't be ready for about another 18 months by which time your boy will really be to old for his first stud but not impossible. Until then you'll have to make sure you can keep them apart when she is in season as you will end up with an unplanned litter. Cockers are already a numerically common breed with many farmers out there. You don't want to add to the problems of dodgy temperaments and health that are becoming increasingly common with bad breeding happening with our beloved breed.

You need to make sure that the pedigrees compliment each other and that you are not doubling up on any faults. Cockers should be tested for PRA (genetic eye disease) before being considered for mating as a minimum. You should also consider hip testing. You will need to know what occurences of cleft palate, bad mouths, boys missing their full bits are associated with the family tree of them both.

If you are looking at this as a one off - then you need to make sure you have plenty of money around as preparing for a whelping is not cheap.

You also need to understand that putting any bitch into whelp puts her at risk. It's not all easy going by any means. Many members of this board can relate their horror stories to you. As for your boy, then once he has had a taste of honey - so to speak, he will want more and it can change their personality as they become more red-blooded:D

Another really important thing you have to consider is would you be able to have homes lined up and vetted before you planned your litter? Would you be able to take back any puppies at any stage of their life for any reason what-so-ever?

If you are still thinking about going ahead, then you need to get yourself a copy of "The Book of the Bitch" by Kay Adams. It's the bible of all reputable breeders and you need to read it from cover to cover several times before going any further. You have plenty of time on your side in one aspect of this - but on the other hand you have an entire mael around an entire female who could come into season at any time. You need to have arrangements in place to keep them apart. Living in the same house during her season might be a nightmare. Dogs and bitches can go to some extraordinary lengths to get to each other as instincts and hormones kick in.

I'm sorry if all this is negative - but you need to know all the angles you mjust consider if you are to do this properly.

If you are interested in breeding Cockers, then I would recommend that you look to source yourself a top quality brood bitch from a reputable successful breeder who can guide you through the breeding process. You would look to buy in the stud services of a quality dog, and end up not making any money - but you would know you had bred as good a quality and heathy litter as possible.

hth

Pam n the boys

Hi Pam,
Thanks for the great advice.
We have decided to have the bitch spayed as soon as possible, this seems to be the best solution. Seems like a lot of stress and worry breeding, we will leave that to the experts.
Take Care
Michelle

Michelle - for what it's worth I think it's the right thing to do - glad to have been of help:)

Pam n the boys