What factors do you need to consider in choosing a stud dog?
You are thinking of having a litter from your beloved girl. How on earth do you find a suitable boy to sire your litter? Choosing a stud dog can be really challenging, like everything else relating to dog breeding. What factors should you consider?
Before you look for a stud dog, is your bitch suitable to be bred from? Your dog should be registered on a breed register and have suitable health tests. Any responsible stud dog owner will want your dog to be as suitable to be bred from as their beloved boy. There is masses of information on how to get started on the Kennel Club website. Read my post on reasons for not breeding as well.
Health of the stud dog
For me, health is the most important factor, because I want all my puppies to live long, happy lives. I keep detailed records of every puppy I have bred and make a note of all their health issues. I try to ensure that owners don’t have to suffer the agony of having a dog with a long-term health condition, if it can be avoided. Well you would, wouldn’t you?
Luckily, Border Collies have LOTS of health tests we can do. If you go to the Kennel Club website homepage and select the Health tab under the the Health and Dog Care tab at the top of the page, you get the following:
Health screeing by breed
You can then look at Health testing and screening to see what health tests are available for your breed. You need to go to Breeds A to Z and type in your breed. Quin’s health tests are as follows:
- Eye Examination: Unaffected – 1st June 2021
- BAER Hearing Test : Pass – 1st June 2021
- CL : Hereditarily Clear
- CEA-CH : Hereditarily Clear & DNA tested clear
- DH: DNA tested clear
- Glaucoma & Goniodysgenesis: Hereditarily Clear & DNA tested clear
- IGS-1: DNA tested clear
- MDR1: Hereditarily Clear & DNA tested clear
- NCL5: DNA tested clear
- Raine’s Syndrome: DNA tested clear
- SN: DNA tested clear
- TNS : Hereditarily Clear & DNA tested clear
- Hip Score : 3/8 – 29th June 2022
In addition, Quin will need another eye exam before I can register any other litters sired by him. I’ve booked him in for a few weeks’ time. It’s an hour’s drive and costs £53 at the moment. The clinics run monthly and the specialist vet is away over the summer. It’s no mean feat getting a stud dog’s health up-to-date! Not least because they keep adding more DNA tests! Fortunately, you can send off for a ‘panel’ of tests and you just need to do a cheek swab. It costs around £350!
Health tests for a crossbreed stud dog
If you want to breed a crossbreed, or breed from your crossbreed, checking the health of the stud dog is more problematic. The records of health testing are not recorded in the same detail and are not as easily accessible. So if you have a Cockapoo, for example, as everyone seems to have these days, you should really check and carry out all the tests for both Poodle AND Cocker Spaniel. This makes for quite a list!
Temperament of a stud dog
How much are you like your parents? You might look like one or the other, but I bet you are also ‘like’ them? You might have their laidback approach to life. Or you might have their feisty attitude! Well believe it or not, dogs are just the same! So if you want a puppy with attitude, you need a stud dog with that temperament too. If you want a soppy cuddle monster, use Quin!
“Any dog that you breed from shouldn’t be shy, nervous, unpredictable or aggressive.” Taken from the Kennel Club website: Should I breed from my dog?
A commercial breeder, or puppy farmer, won’t be able to tell you that much about their stud dog. They breed for money, so they don’t give a shit what the dog is like as a character. If you buy from a commercial breeder, they won’t have spent time socialising their puppies or dogs. They won’t have bothered to introduce them to people, getting used to being picked up and handled.
Inbreeding checks
We all know that dogs should not be inbred right? We’re not allowed to marry our cousins and dogs are the same. Too close a genetic match causes genetic anomalies and magnifies health conditions.
With dogs registered on the KC breed register, we can easily cross check pedigrees and establish how closely related dogs are. Once again, if you are breeding from a crossbreed, this is more problematic. Be wary of using a stud dog local to you – it may well be related to your dog!
Judging the breeder
It’s not that difficult to judge dog breeders. You can judge me just by looking at my website. I have nothing to hide, so you can see the evidence of my breeding on every page I write about my dogs and my litters. When people come to visit my puppies, which I insist that they do before taking one home, they often know the names of all my dogs. That’s because there is information there.
Not everyone is as literate, or business-like, as me. But any breeder worth their salt will have plenty of available evidence of their dogs and how they live. Check out social media! Good breeders consider their dogs to be their family.
Mentoring support
Talk to the breeder of the stud dog. If they are a responsible breeder they will try their best to provide help and support all the way through the process of having a litter. You might not always like what they have to say!
Please don’t be offended if they say that your dog is not suitable to be bred from? We have to protect the health and temperament of our breed and our dogs. If I let you use my stud dog and your puppies develop a health condition that is in your dog’s line, that still reflects badly on my dog. Sorry, but I can’t take that risk.
Buy the Workbook
The Workbook – A Year With Your Puppy is available to buy. This book is a hands-on, interactive book for you. It will help you survive the first year with your puppy, but also act as a memento of that time and the journey you have been on. You can write notes and stick in pictures of your puppy throughout the year. Lovely! Find out lots more by looking at the Contents page.
Remember..
Please CONTACT ME if you want to know more about me and my dogs? And feel free to COMMENT if you want to tell me what you think.
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