Question for the Pro's about breeding?

Question

I have a beautiful 8 mos. old *****, purchased with the intention of showing and future breeding. Health and temperment were my first concern when I chose her, as she is a pet first. I have a 2 year genetic guarantee.

The problem is that she has had a case of hives from beef, then went on too blow her coat, and then a Staph infection (which my vet misdiagnosed) I had another dog that we had to put down a few mos. ago, and now I think that she may have had the Staph infection too (red, smelly, itchy, sores on tummy and rear).

The question is... do I proceed with showing and my plans to possibly breed in the future? Is this a genetic flaw and she needs to be spayed? Or is this environmental, like a second vet opinion has stated?

I ask because I am genuinely concerned for her, but aslo any future pups she may produce. I am only interested in breeding if she is worthy...period!

(PennHip and NCL tests will also be done... possible allergies are my concern right now)

**** Get Em Gang... again, you answer was brutal... big suprise.

FYI, Did I say she was my only dog? Did I say I "started with a *****? Se is a house dog first, and a companion to my children... Great girl!

**good point!

Yes, I have research her lines, taken to all the breeders in a 6 gen. pedigree, as well as owners from these litters, and no one claims to have allergy problems

I am aware of how many dogs are euthanized every year, how many BYB's there are, and all the other negatives.. I do do rescue, and that is why I asked this question 16 mos. before she will be CLOSE to ready to be bred, because if its not going to help the breed I adore so much.. I simply wont do it. But if its is genetic, I would like to have the power to make her breeder step up and see which direction he is going with his prgram as well.

Answer 1

I have to say first, that you sound like you are really wanting to do the right things by your breed of choice and I have to give you props for that. Everyone who has ever done responsible breeding has to begin somewhere and at least you are making the efforts to go in the ethical direction. Too many people here are way to critical of anyone just starting out and that's really a shame. You sure don't sound to me like a BYB.

I would definitely research more with your vets (the first and second opinions you have) to find out exactly what this is that has popped up in your dog. Also, you would probably benefit from doing some intense research on the breed to see what kind of genetic defects are common or possible to crop up. Even the most reputable breeders sometimes have issues that arise, tho they do all that they can to avoid it.

If this is a genetic issue or an allergy present, I would say that it's best not to breed your dog and yes, informing the breeder would be a good idea. Assuming she's from an ethical breeder, they will know that you intended to breed and you would have paid a price tag to go along with the fact that the pup was considered of show/breeding quality. Ethical breeders require limited registrations for any pup that doesn't meet up perfectly to the breed standard to prevent breeding of flaws and defects. So you and the breeder should have written contract in place that states if the puppy turns out to have any flaws or genetic defects for showing/breeding, that you should be entitled to return the pup for a full refund and/or have the pup replaced with another deemed suitable puppy. At the very least, you should be entitled to some form of discount to bring your puppy to "limited registration" status. This means that the pups are acceptable as family pets, but not for breeding and so spaying is required and no litter produced by a dog with limited registration can actually be registered. This also usually means these pups are not as expensive as the "show/breeding potentials".

Good luck in your research!

Answer 2

Honest opinion would be that she should be spayed. The staph infection was caused by her allergic reaction to beef. My dobie did the exact same thing and now has to be on a very strict diet. And you don't want to breed allergies back into the population. You could continue to show her in things like obedience or agility and get used to what all breeding entails and go to shows and talk with the breeders. It is nice that you actually ask rather than just being completely gung-ho must breed my dog mentality. If you know you can keep her from getting pregnant, you could start showing her and see if the allergies go away. Sometimes by the age of 2 or 3 the immune system is back to normal and you find the dog no longer has allergies. Unfortunately that's not always the case, my dobie is now 2.5 years and still suffers hair loss/hives/staff infections whenever she gets beef or chicken.

Bleaching everything isn't going to do anything to prevent staff infections. Staff is a naturally occuring bacteria on the skin of all animals and as soon as the dog goes outside it will be exposed to it again. Staff does come from the environment, but dogs usually only get the infections when their immune system is weakened, like when they are having allergic reactions. Staff is the most common indicator of a dog having allergies to something. Also an allergen test done by the vet won't find all the allergens if it finds any. I ended up having to do trial and error with my dog to find out what she's allergic to.

Answer 3

Gosh, this is a tough one. I have been breeding on small scale for over 30 years and I agonise over every litter I produce, hence so few over the 30 years. You really need to research the ancestors of your girl thoroughly and more immediate relatives to find out if this your girl is a one off or whether these tupes of infections/allergies can be linked genetically. Also research the breed in general to find out what the most common genetic problems are. There is no such thing as line totally free from health problems. The trick is to minimise those probs to the best of your ability.
In the case of your girl, it may well be something environmental in which case you really need to find out what it is. Diet plays a major role too, especially in the young pup, where the immune system is still developing.
Personally I am strong believer in natural rearing and loathe all commercial pet foods. But that is another topic! -:))
Good luck with your girl

Answer 4

If this was my dog, I would not show it; first, showing may cause stress on your dog which may then manifest in other conditions or weaken her immunity by stress (like it does for us) and make her susceptible to other conditions; it would be awful if you were all set to show and then she developed a skin condition and there goes that showing; sounds like she has been through a rough time already in 8 months; better to have a healthy dog than an unhealthy show dog; everyone and everything has genetic flaws; there is no super animal nor super person ; these flaws just manifest at different times and with different symptoms, diseases, etc. Why stress your pup for your need to enter an dog contests - to be able to say I have the best looking dog? but you know that already! do you need to prove it at the expense of your pup? Also, breeding causes its own risks to your female and what if there is something wrong with the pups? are you keeping them? Pregnancy in animals and humans, takes away from the female. Evaluate the costs that you are willing to expend to accomplish your wishes with this animal including your pet herself. Personally, I find more accomplishment in helping animals that need to be rescued from cruelty and a terrible life and saving them to better life than to prancing animals in a show ring.

Answer 5

Staph infections are invironmental infections, they arent genetics that can be passed on to her puppies unless she has the staph infection when she is pregnant or is nursing,,, My suggestion would be bleach everything that the other dog was on and around that way the staph will be killed and then you shouldnt have any more problems with it,,, She should still be ok to breed as long as all the tests are done to see if she has any genetics problems that she would pass on to her litter,,,I hope this helps and good luck with her,,, Most of the time Staph infections just need to be treated with antibiotics and then they should be fine but you do still need to use one part bleach and one half part of water to clean every thing that the other dog was at and also she has been as well that way you can kill the Staph...

Answer 6

it is something in your or the dogs living space my self i was a breeder for 10 years and my fam has been for 20 my best adv scrub down the house or were ever the dog spends time with a strong cleaner and dis everything

Answer 7

Sorry to say but your dog is definitely not breeding quality. You would just be passing on bad genes. Plus there are so many reasons not to be a backyard breeder.
Why do you want to beed a dog?

Are you not aware that there are 15 dogs born for every one human? http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.cause&cgid=1&rgid=2&stid=10

Are you not aware that there are millions of dogs killed every year because of not enough homes? http://www.jour.unr.edu/outpost/voices/voi.valdyke.animal.html

Are you not aware that only 1 dog in 10 gets a permanent home? www.safehavenforcats.com/main.htm

Are you not aware that one female and her offspring can produce 67,000 dogs in just six years? http://www.metroplexanimalcoalition.com/SpayNeuter/didyouknow.html

That coupled with the health benefits of spay/neuter WHY would you breed your dog? www.sniksnak.com/benefits.html

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/myths_and_facts_about_spaying_and_neutering.html

Answer 8

Allergies are genetic. Spay her.

Answer 9

NEVER breed from an animal w/PROVEN allergies *&* a piss-poor IMUMNE SYSTEM!!!

DUH??

THINK...WHY would anybody want MORE of that???

****WHY**** were you fool enough to start out w/a BITC-H???
Dog FIRST.....Finsh that & THEN decide if you REALLY want to invest the $$$ & DECADES of work & research to continue.