Hi I have a black male labrador puupy he is 10 months old. I have all of his papers. I am looking into breeding him. How would I go about this? thanks dawn

Dawn - at the moment he is just a baby!!   Your first step should be to look at his KC registration papers - are they endorsed by his breeder saying "no progeny will be registered"?    You should speak to him/her to see how they would evaluate him.   If you can't get in touch with his breeder, for whatever reason, join the breed club nearest to you - there will be people there who can advise you.  Are you taking him to ring craft/started obedience training or field work?   When he is a year old, you must have him hip and elbow scored - there are a lot of excellent stud dogs out there, and the reputable owners, who breed responsibly, can have their pick of stud dogs of excellent lineage, build and temperament.

Talking of temperament - how is your boy at the moment ?  Boisterous and bolshie at times?  A typical lab teenager :D.    Would you be prepared for a change in his attitude, once he had been used at stud?  It does happen!!

Would you have the space to accommodate a visiting bitch?   The bitch visits the dog - not the other way round - and you might have to put her and her owners up for a couple of days.      And, morally, once you sign the stud contract, you are equally responsible with the owner of the bitch for the welfare and wellbeing of the puppies produced by this mating - would you have the space to keep three or four boisterous lab teenagers - sadly labs are often abandoned before their first birthdays because of their destructive little habits!

Get hold of a copy of The Book of the Bitch - read it - and check the responses to other posts on here about using your dog for stud!

Kind regards
Margot

You will find the first post in the Breeding forum informative. It is titled "Should I offer my pet dog at stud". Please do read it.