Not sure how to go about this, we have a beautiful golden retriver with papers who we would like to breed from. Any info on pros and cons & any info on stud dogs around the Hereford area apreciated.
Many Thanks
awaiting any advice

Hi,
First you need to be certain of the reasons you want to breed from your bitch. Hopefully it's to improve the breed. So for that you need to be sure your bitch has enough good qualities to be a brood bitch. No dog is perfect, so you need to recognise her faults. One way you can find these out is by showing her - if she does well, then you could have a good'un! If you don't want to show her, a reputable breeder of Golden Retrievers (the person who bred her?) who has successful show or working goldens would be pleased to assess her for you.

Then you need to know that she's genetically healthy, and for this she needs to be hip-scored, eye-tested and hopefully elbow-scored as well.If she passes all these successfully, the hard reference work begins! You will have to study her pedigree and find out which (if any) of her ancestors was responsible for her good points and which her bad ones. Then you find a studdog who can replicate her good points and compensate for her bad points.

If you just want another nice puppy, it's a lot easier (and cheaper) to buy one - perhaps another from the same person who bred her?

Hope this helps.
:)