Information,Advice etc on breeding

[LookinForMayberry]

Originally Posted by BigHoss14

Me and my family just got a female boxer pure bred with papers on Monday. She seems to be in good health etc. I was just curious if we decide to breed her what are some precautions we should take as far as who we breed her with and when she is ready to be bred. She is 3.5 years old and the guy we got her from said she has only been in heat twice. Not sure if that is normal or not just mentioning it.

Please accept what I am going to say as my concern for your female, and her pups -- and you. Don't do it. Responsible breeding goes far beyond buying a pedigreed animal with papers. Actually, the fact that she has papers means only that her parents had papers, and that does not imply she is good breeding stock.

To understand if you should breed your animal, you need to investigate the breed's positive and negative traits: physical and emotional. Then, you need to investigate your animal's genetic history -- back several generations. (The breeder we bought our Lhasa's from tracks back twenty-five generations, minimum -- scrutinizing each generations descendants, looking for ANY sign of negative traits. If any showed, the animal was sold as pet stock, with the contract for alteration at six months.)

IF your animal is breeding acceptable, the same thing needs to be done for her partner -- for each stud used.

If you find BOTH acceptable, it is your responsibility to maintain your breeding records, and track the descendants' pups, to be alert for any adverse signs. To sell unrecorded pups is unresponsible. If your female's breeder cannot provide this information, I can with near certainty tell you she is not breeding stock.

I haven't even touched on how to maintain your breeders to keep them healthy, physically and temperamentally. Then there's frequency. If you breed a ***** more than twice a year, you are harming her immune system, and she will become irritable with her pups. You want a healthy, happy, loving mom throughout her pregnancy, to insure the pups are the same.

Most people do not understand that responsible breeding is not usually a profitable occupation, it is an expensive hobby done from love of a sound animal.

Based on your post, I don't sense you are ready for breeding, yet. Take the time to do it right. Don't add to the population of poorly bred animals that already exists in the world.

[dee 42]

He doesnt give a *&^% about the betterment of the breed, or that poor girl. Agh ! I could never breed my dog, I would have sleepless nights for the rest of my life, worrying about those puppies, and what kind of life they were having. It is VERY time consuming and difficult to find good, responsible, loving forever homes. believe me, I know, after rescuing that pregnant lab and having to place 9 babies. I had to turn some people away and endure their verbal abuse when they took it personally. One said to me " I could go to a breeder and buy one right now" and I said, "yes, you can, but youre not getting one of these puppies. I am sorry. This isnt a good match". She had misrepresented herself on the phone, IMO. Once we met face to face, she told me the dog would live outside since she had alot of family members with allergies....she had 3 young children, both adults worked outside the home....there was no fenced yard "yet"....I asked her to go home and seriously reevaluate why she thought she wanted a dog and she blew up at me. But my conscience was clear, those puppies were going to have a better start in life than their poor Mama had. Also, we had the new families sign a contract that if they for some reason, couldnt keep the dog, they would bring it back to us, and they had to sign spay-neuter agreement.
I heartily agree, anyone thinking of breeding a dog should spend a day, an HOUR, at a shelter, and look into the eyes of those dogs. Please have a heart and don't breed your dog.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

The OP hasn't been back lately and has gotten good advice. Since this topic is covered, thread closed.