brilliant post!




mabey some people should listen to that...............

Well I haven't bred yet, but when (and if) I do the main thing I want to do is to take the breed back to it's roots. I want to breed a dog that not only has the ability to do a days work, but also a dog that can enter a show without being laughed out of the ring!

However the most important thing for me is temperament and health, these two things, to me at least, are the most important things when considering breeding any dog. As far as I'm concerned looks and working ability can be worked on by picking certain dogs to breed from - temperament and health is something you should have right from the get go.

With Isla being my first Show ESS I guess I'm one of those people who aren't deemed experienced enough to breed? But as far as I'm concerned I've spent most of my life researching dogs and everything that goes with them. I have the expert help of my breeder and the commitee members of the NESSS who are giving me some excellent advice regarding breeding.

I think as long as you're sensible and go into breeding with your eyes wide open and you're honest with yourself about your dog and the dangers that come with breeding, then I think it's unfair to assume that just because you haven't had several dogs of the same type you shouldn't breed.

I also think people rely too heavily on show results to justify breeding - showing (eg a dogs looks/conformity to breed standard) is one tiny part of a dogs makeup (albeit important, for obvious reasons, I agree), there are so many other things that are more important in an animal that will, most probably, spend most of it's life trying it's best to intergrate into a home with a human family.

Well said Rips., in most cases show results are irrelevent as you know its hard to get passed people who have been in the breed for a long time even if your dogs are superiour. I also dont think the lenght of time you've been in the breed is relelvent some people can have a breed for years and know nothing about them whatsoever its the research you put in that counts.
I've reppied you hun

Random - was looking through this thread and then read your post Made me chuckle, I too had my Weimaraner (who is 12yrs old now) spayed at 5 yrs old. I echo your feelings. I love her to bits, but she was the first and the last....

Just caught up with this thread again, makes for interesting reading.

Thanks for your kind comments Mini , I would like to explain to those that are interested why I held my affix for so long before breeding. I enjoyed showing my dogs and got a reputation over the years of having some good specimens of the breed. I studied hard, found the lines that I liked, and bought in stock that would compliment each other if I were to breed them.

10 years into the breed my first bitch had to be neutered due to a mammary tumour at an early age, I then purchased another bitch 2 years later, with a view to her being my foundation bitch, as I don't breed from anything under the age of 3 years I waited for the right time. I showed her in the meantime, qualified her and showed her at Crufts and other championship shows, then she developed problems during 2 of her seasons, she was really quite poorly so I decided to have her spayed too. They found upon examining her that she also had a mammary tumour so she was operated on immediately.My first bitch Georgia remained with me until her death at 10 years, Remy is coming up to 10 and still with me.

I then purchased an older bitch, had her hip scored etc and managed to breed my long awaited litter the following year. By this time I had a couple of waiting lists for pups, these people had either seen my stock at shows, seen my website, or I had been recommended by word of mouth. They knew that I had stock that looked and acted according to the breed standard, and had awards to prove it (I'm not saying thats the be all and end all btw), and that they were all health checked prior to being bred from. The stock that I kept were shown and did well at all levels, Giddy won numerous champ show classes and was placed at every show, including Crufts, so I was happy that I had done my homework correctly and had bred just what I was looking for, something that I was happy to live with and could show if I wanted to

In my case, having my affix made my name well-known in the breed and, IMO, helped my reputation when it came to breeding.

I wasn't aware that I was touting my name around and becoming well known in that way, it actually could have gone against me if I had poor specimens or developed a bad reputation for some reason. I know I wasn't accused of that but it really didn't even occur to me that people would think that.

I hope thats cleared that up..as I said, I've enjoyed reading this thread, and I like reading the comments from those in the know,all trying to help those less experienced in various aspects of the dog scene.Theres so much I don't know and feel I learn a lot from the Dogsey forum.