Hi all,
well I have a 5 month old pedigree puppy and in time, i may wish to stud him. I am not 100% sure, but he is a wonderful specimen of the breed and is from a very good bloodline, I am hoping that we would be able to improve on this. But i need help as to where to start. I will be showing him when he is of age, as long as he and myself enjoy it as neither of us have done it before. I just want to know where to start really, with all the health tests etc. I know he is only 5 months but the more research i do etc hopefully the better equipped I will be by the time he is old enough. My breeder will also help me in regards to suitable bitches for him to breed with. Any pointers would be great.
Em

Admin edited

Hi Em
First off, have a read of the first post in the breeding seciton, as it tells you about using your dog at stud. You will have to be prepared for a change in temperament etc.

Secondly, showing is the way to go, and it's basically just a case of waiting for bitch owers to contact you if they see your dog at shows and like what they see. (So if it is a popular breed, you may never be approached unless he does really well as there will be many studs to chose from.)

What health tetsing you need to do depends on the breed, but basically your dog needs to be 12 months old before it can be done. Hip and elbow scores can be done by any vet (although one which is used to doing it is to recommend), eye testing needs to be done by a specilaist. Eye testing sessions are often arranged at various shows, and these will be listed in the dog papers. It's often easier to go along to a show and do it, than to have to travel to a specialist -cheaper too. Some breeds can be DNA tested for various conditions. I'm sure your dog's breeder may be able to help you.

Em,

At 5 months old and before he has been shown, you can't claim that he is "a wonderful specimen of the breed", whatever breed he is.  Dogs develop and change a lot over their first 18 months.  Even if he were fully grown, however, you still wouldn't know if he was a wonderful specimen unless you had shown him and received great results at championship shows.

Bitch owners approach stud dog owners and ask to use their stud.  It is not up to you, as a stud dog owner, to approach a bitch owner.

Bitch owners can choose from many, many available stud dogs in the UK for their bitches.  They will usually choose a stud dog which is a champion, because why would they choose another dog if they can choose a champion just as easily?  In addition, having the litter sired by a champion means it will be easier to sell their puppies because they can tell the puppy buyers they were sired by a champion.  So - there are very few reasons for any bitch owner to want to use an untitled dog.

If you're that set on it, get out there around the country to the champ shows.  Get your dog a Junior Warrant and then a Ch title.  Then carry out the health checks - hip scoring, possibly elbow scoring and eye testing depending on the breed, maybe also heart testing, again depending on the breed.  If all these results are satisfactory, then I'm sure with a titled dog and all health checks carried out, you'll have bitch owners queuing up to use him. 

Hi Em,

Defo get showing and you will then find out is he is a good specimin.  I used a dog that was not a CH but I liked what he has produced previously.  Also top stud dogs are not always champions.  Some dogs produce and some dogs win they dont always do both. :-)  I am a strong beliver that there are many a CH curled up at home on somesones sofa. :-)

Hi Liisa,
well this could have been the case with blade if it wasn't for that judge telling us to get out there as she thought he had everything they would look for. (thats if he does turn out to be a ch of course lol :-))

If you want to have him at stud it is best you show him and you will learn his faults and of course strengths.  I thought my bitch was perfect when i got her but learned her faults from showing and used a dog that would compliment those 'faults'.  Lets just say her daughter is a BIG improvement and I will no doubt find out her faults when she starts showing next year.

Thanks Liisa,
I think I worded my first post wrong!! When I meant about helping with bitches suitable for breeding with I mean if i get approached by a breeder wanting to use blade I wouldn't have a clue if her bitch would be suitable or not this is where the help of my breeder will come in handy as she knows alot more about this than i do thats for sure. I know he will have his faults and i'm sure like you say they will show up in the ring (when everyone is under pressure to be doing well) But thanks for your comments, everything helps when you haven't got the first clue about it!!

Thanks onetwothree,
We will be showing him, but obviously not till he is 6 months (just a few days out to enter LKA) I have never shown before so this is whole new ballgame for me. Blade has come from a very good pedigree, and if you know his breed (am not allowed to say as admin will edit again) you will probably know some of the ch in his lines.  Hopefully he will follow. His gr sire  seems to have been used alot by a few peoples pedigrees I have looked at. So there is hope yet. What I wanted to know was the age that these tests need to be done etc? Just wanted to be prepared for if we do ever get approached so I can say yes he is definately healthy and has passed all the tests needed.

>What I wanted to know was the age that these tests need to be done etc?

Like I did say in my reply, he has to be 12 months at least.

so everything has to be done at 12 months? or just the hip scoring

It depends on his breed whether he needs hip scoring etc.  Hip scoring cannot be done until they are 12 months of age.  Depending on the breed again but some eye tests have to be done every year.

As you are no using this as an advert I would of thought that you could say which breed so we can give you more info.

He is a doberman, but I put that in my original post and it got edited by admin :-)

Your breeder might be able to help with whether a bitch is suitable. When anyone's shown any interest in my boy I've said that I've got to check with his breeder before saying yes, because no offence but I haven't a clue whether the lines are compatible. They usually seem happy with this. :-)

Hi Em

Ideally his eyes should be tested for PHPV (veterinary opthalmologist) and this can be done any time now and if you are thinking of breeding him he should be tested for von Willebrands Disease (DNA test via the Kennel Club) - if his parents have not been done this would be a good test to do any way.  His hips should also be done (by vet).  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions

Hi Christine thanks,
Will he still need to be von willebrands tested as both his parents have tested clear?
Em

Hi Em

The Dobermann Breed Council/Kennel Club Breeding strategy on this reads:

Ultimately, the breed will get to the situation where DNA/vWD tested clear dogs are bred to DNA/vWD tested clear dogs. Under such circumstances, the KC registration system has the facility to recognise this and the puppies from such a mating are registered automatically as hereditarily clear (clear by birth). However, this designation depends on the correct dog being tested, the correct parents being registered and there are no errors in the actual DNA/vWD testing.

Although in the vast majority of circumstances all of these criteria will be correct, errors might creep in, which might certainly allow a carrier to go undetected and bred from. For this reason, it would be highly desirable for the breed to recommend that ALL potential breeding stock are vWD/DNA tested before mated. This will allow a continued monitoring of the state of the breed. The hereditarily clear status would then be confined to those offspring that don't go onto to become parents in their own right.

So if he is going to be used at Stud (and there are a lot of Dobermann males who never get chosen by bitch owners) then yes, ideally he should be individually tested

Hi Em

Just another view of studding. 

I have a stud dog too.  When you get noticed and people start asking you for stud services, that is where the nightmare begins.  Generaly you have to handle the studding, sometimes to reluctant females, you are as responsible for the pups and the bitch owners are and that is only a start.  Sadly there may be times when the people who approach you are not suitable matches for your boy for whatever reason and it is really hard, for me anyway to say sorry but there wont be a mating with my boy.

Once you've got used to all that and the changes in your boy, who is now a man, you can feel proud that your boy has fathered some lovely pups.  My other concern is that if I havent chosen his girlfeinds carefuly his reputation could be damaged if he produced a litter that was less than good. 

Food for thought.

Hi Echo,
I was aware of having responsibility for any pups and in regards of suitable female/bloodlines, i'm sure my breeder would be more than happy to help me in that direction. I know she has a lot more experience of this than i have, but i can only learn from gaining experience.
I think if it was left up to me then I would definately not be putting him to stud as I wouldn't know where to start!
Thanks for all your advice though, it is nice to see peoples experiences
Em

Hi again Em

Yes I rely a lot on my breeders advice too and any other breeders in my circle because I find it all very traumatic, with maiden bitches etc, and have had people from back in my dogs pedigree help me out.  Wouldn't you think it would be simple though but some girls simply are not having any of it and I think my boy is a stuner, when hes had a bath anyway  LOL!

Any how youve got lots of points of view here and I wish you the very best of luck with everything.  Keep us posted.

Thankyou Christine,
I just wasn't sure if he would still need to be tested, but it looks like it would be a wise thing to do still :-) 

edited to say fallen in wrong place again :-)

hi em
how's blade

He's as gorgeous as ever :-D

hi em
i hope this help's you out with the health enquiries you have for your dog,
1st: von willebrand's disease, to see if he is clear,a carrier,or affected, (this is a once in a life time test)it's important for confirming that the dog has no risk of bleeding and the planning of safe breeding combinations. here is a number for dr sampson at the kennel club who will send you some swabs for the test, instrutions will tell you how to do the test,02075181068 this test can be done at any age so your dog can be done now.
2nd: eye test, you say you are going to show your dog so if this is the case, at some show's they have a vet visit for the day for people to have there dogs tested. or you could get the dog world paper that come out weekly and look in there for opropriate eye testing facinities, or your vet would tell you where the nearest eye clinic is, the eye test is for PHPV/PHTVL.
3rd: hips, this is a simple test done by ex-ray, all i can advise on this subject is, to wait untill the dog is 12 months of age and then find a quality, well-known vet.
hope this has been useful advice, please do not hesitate to contact me if this prosegure has been a success, or if you require any more infomation, i would always be happy to help

Hi Billynomates,
thanks for all that info, that is exactly what I was looking for!! I'm sure I will be in touch again in the near future with some more questions in regards to this! Will give that number a ring and get this all sorted out as I'm sure we will have people enquiring about himin no time as he is a complete stunner :-D
Thanks
Em