Does anyone have a second choice of stud in case first falls though thank you

I do. :)

Does the second choice know he is on standby?
I haven't had a second choice even when I have used a maiden dog.  I did, however, advise some friends to do this just in case the maiden dog they'd chosen didn't perform but they wouldn't have wanted to leave it much later to mate their bitch for the first time.

It took me so long to decide on my first choice that my bitch would have been too old by the time I found a back up that I wanted to use!!! :D:

I never have as apart from the logistics of getting from one to another, I would always worry that the back ups owner (unless also owner of the first choice, which in my breed is not that likely) would feel offended that their dog was only second choice :D

Would you use a second choice dog if the bitch had already visited top choice?  Under such circumstances would you DNA test pups to confirm that a slip mating hadn't gone unnoticed?

For the last litter of Beardies we bred we only found one dog that really suited our bitch & if he hadn't been willing & able there would have been no litter. We could have compromised & gone elsewhere but didn't want a certain dog in our lines & all the other dogs available had him so it was Timmy or nowt. Fortunately he was willing(& very able) & got a fantastic litter both in type & character & health 

I tried my bitch with a dog and did not manage to get ehr mated.  On the next occasion I gave him the opportunity, but had premate tests done and went to the dog I planned for her second litter (and only barely succeeded gettin one mating) before it was too late, but was absolutely sure no intimate contact had occured with the first dog. 

If there had  been a slip mating (as hd been on theprevious occasion) I would not have gone on to use the other dog.

No, don't have a back up. Never had, actually. When I decide on a dog I want to use, second best wouldn't do. If for some reason the chosen dog wouldn't be available on the actual day, I'd rather wait til next season, either to use him if possible, or having time to find a new "number one".
To use a back up if a stud doesn't perform is not a option for me, by the time I'd given up, the bitch would have been passed her season anyway .
Besides, like Brainless, I would find it rather difficult to tell someone their dog is second best.
Karen

In my breed, we have enough trouble finding ONE suitable stud, never mind two. If the first wasn't available, I'd have to wait until the next season.

If know one does why do the books advice you to.

How old are the books?  In days goen by some of the large keennels would have a team of stud dogs, say father son, cousin, half brother and so on, so if one suited your bitch the others might make an equally good match.

Alfs breeder used the stud she had chosens brother as the original one had been used on a bitch the previous day :)

A stud should be able to serve bitches on consecutive days.

Maybe she didnt want to chance it, I dont know, I didnt go into it.

I'd worry about the lead running out of his pencil for another bitch, whereas mating him on succesive days to same bitch is just topping up :D

There is also the risc of infection.  Maybe not too big, but nevertheless it's there.

i dont have a backup because once i decide on the perfect male for her i couldnt choose a second if the stud for some reason cant be used or they dont mate then she just doesnt have pups that season and i try again next

I think the term back up is open to misinterpretation when read from a book.  As Brainless says you may have to travel many miles from one dog to another and given the time your bitch is receptive this could be impossible or at least difficult. 

Is it possible they mean have a back up for the next season, if your first choice doesn't perform and then you may want to try a different dog next time.  If it was a maiden dog chosen the first time, by the time your bitch was ready again - next season - he may have been able to perform and you would want to stick with your first choice after all the research you had done.

I would agree that the practice of taking the bitch to one dog and then to another on the same season is risky to say the least, proving parenthood can be expensive and no one likes to be second choice.  Any DNA testing has to be done with the Stud dog owners approval so you cant keep it secret.

The way I mean I have a back up is if something should go wrong so that I CANNOT use the first choice -not because he didn't perform or anything, but because he might be ill or anything. Then I'd go to second choice because I personally would not wish to have pups in the winter (it's not practical for me) so I would not want to breed the season after, and leaving it another whole year I'd rather avoid if possible.

Now me I always prefer to breed in the winter, avoid missing so many of the shows, and of course less neighbour worries in the winter, more work for me, but when pups reach the noisy and playful age neighbours are inside behind closed windows and doors and pups wake later in the mornings

That's exactly what I meant, the interpretation of 'back up' means different things to different people. 

I think you would agree, from your posts, that a back up would be a dog that you would visit with the bitch only after ruling out absolutely the first dog which was unavailable, for whatever reason, but would not take your bitch from one stud dog to another, the first having met and presumably tried the bitch and failed to serve her (someone mentioned slip matings and in the words of the song 'it only takes a minute' it does happen), then to go on to another stud.

You are, I know very experienced breeders and I value your opinions greatly, over the last months I would have been lost without it.  I have to agree with the winter puppies.  They do sleep well and dark nights and mornings are a boon.  I am wondering why I always had summer litters before.  The winter babes are great.

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It is harder work fr the breeder especially if you have a wet and cold spell, but the nice thing is that January born pups go to new homes in the Spring,a nd are readyu for walks in the summer, and this makes housetraining easier for new owners, and also they spend a lot more of their destructive puppyhood digging up the garden rathe4r than chewing up the furniture. :D