I know that in some countries there are restrictions enforced by the kennel club on the tests that the dog much pass in order to be bred or evaluations of character or general appearance.
So my question to you, dear readers, is: At which age do you breed your dogs for the first time? Moreover, what do you put emphasis on when breeding (titles, seeing/knowing the dogs, pedigree)?
On the opposite end of the spectrum, when do you retire a bitch from breeding?
If you feel like giving an opinion, feel free to comment or send me an email at whdackel@gmail.com
Maybe it'll be worked into my next opinion piece. :)
Looking forward to hearing back from all of you!
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| Can you pick out Baxter? |
HI! I follow the Swedish policy of breeding in our Dachshund club. Svenska Taxklubben. Think we have good policy. They have to be 3 years Before breeding.
ReplyDeleteM/
Julie, this topic would require a very long answer if treated properly. I can give you only a short one. According to the DTK parents have to be at least 15 months old, and we try to follow this. I think that the AKC is going to register puppies when a male parent is at least 7 months old and a female has to be at least 8 months old. We are in a tough situation with a very small gene pool so sometimes our parents are pretty young. It also depends on a female's cycle. We refuse to breed in the late fall and winter, when the weather prevents puppies from playing and working outside. Some females have a very long cycle,11 months, and this might impact our timing of breeding as well. Analysis of multi-generational pedigrees is a must as we do not want to breed too close. We breed for the field and dogs' work is the most important factor. What we see in dogs matters more that any titles.Of course potential parents need to have a functional conformation too, good temperament and be healthy. Our own standard for breeding is pretty high and we placed many imported dogs as they turned out in our opinion unsuitable for breeding. Some did not have a right temperament, some did not show the level of performance we need. We do not have a strict policy on when we retire a bitch from breeding. It all depends on how many litters, puppies she has had, what shape she is in etc. The oldest we bred was the age of 8.5 years, and there were no problems.
ReplyDeleteNice article, I learn a lot on how to choose the best breed of dog. I hope that I can have a new dog now since my last dog was died. I will train my new dog so that it will be nice to care it.
ReplyDeletevets minster