[mboyd]

Hello,
I am interested in any thoughts and/or opinions I can get on this matter. I own a bitch of about 1.5 years who is light in color (English Cream). I am trying to decide whether to breed her or to have her spayed. Her tempermant is wonderful, in fact she has already received her TDI certification and visits a local nursing home regularly. She is a beautiful dog, loves to retreive, loves to learn, loves to impress people. The one thing I am concerned about (from a breeders standpoint) is her weight. She is very active, has a playmate at home and we all go to my farm about 3 or 4 times a week to run and excersise - however her weight is almost 85 pounds. I don't believe her to be "fat", but rather I think it mostly muscle. Would this dog be undesirable to breed? You can review her lineage here http://www.k9data.com/pedigree.asp?ID=284611 .
Thanks in advance,
MB

 

[Penny & Maggie's Mom]

Please do some reading here. Breedings should only be done with the thought of bettering the breed..... clearances need to be done, clearances for previous generations are important too. And are not done before two years of age. I would leave breeding to those who have a good backround and clearances on their dogs and much experience or the experience of a proven mentor. For the rest of us golden lovers, SPAYING and NEUTERING is the responsible thing to do.

 

[PeanutsMom]

Run! j/k
Are you thinking of breeding her soon? If so you should know they say to wait till the dog is two years old and had all clearances. You will receive strong opinions on this topic. Welcome to the forum.:wavey:

 

[ragtym]

MB,

To me, her weight would not be the issue. What would be is that from the information you've given, she's not yet 2 years old so she hasn't yet received any final clearances for hips & elbows. There is no CERF or heart clearance information on her either.

Neither of her parents have any clearances on file with OFA. Of her 4 grandparents, only 1 has any type of clearances listed. This doesn't necessarily mean that they haven't gotten clearances but it would be a big warning flag to me.

Before you consider breeding her, you should, at the very least, wait until she is 2 years old and take her in for OFA x-rays. You can get her heart and eye clearances now but both of these should be done by board certified specialists in these areas, not just by your personal vet.

There are more things to consider as well but I'm sure others will chime in on those.

Ragtym

 

[tintallie]

Unless the dog or bitch is proven in some sort of venue (conformation, obedience, field or hunt trials) and has OFA rating of fine, good, excellent on the hips, OFA normal on elbows, CERF for the eyes (annual), and heart clearance by a cardiologist, and the ancestors have the 4 clearances, I would not buy a puppy from that litter. Your bitch is not even 2 years old and a reputable breeder would at least wait until that age. The clearances don't guarantee the puppies are going to be problem free but increase the probability.

 

[Ljilly28]

It is so responsible to ask these questions of yourself and GRF first, before breeding your pretty girl. This forum helped me decide NOT to breed, to spay and neuter both my show and field dogs this year even though I adore them both and invested SO much time and money in them. The reason? They don't meet the criteria of improving the golden breed even though they are lovely,healthy members of it. I definitely dreamed of titling both pups in their respective areas, pursuing their clearances, and starting Poetic Goldens- but I read, learned, thought,and listened to the professionals, and slowly realized that even with titles, my pups are my beloved pets. For me, and this is just me, I wont be breeding a dog who isnt hands down and repeatedly BOB, BISS or field/obedience CH plus all clearances. That probably means I never will- and I am happy with that. Or maybe someday I will find the magical pup who COULD improve the breed. I have to set a high bar for myself, higher than professionals who know pedigrees and their own lines inside and out. So I say, you should spay your girl and then love her dearly as your best friend.

 

[dannyra]

Spaying is the responsible thing to do.

 

[AmyinAr]

Unless the dog or bitch is proven in some sort of venue (conformation, obedience, field or hunt trials) and has OFA rating of fine, good, excellent on the hips, OFA normal on elbows, CERF for the eyes (annual), and heart clearance by a cardiologist, and the ancestors have the 4 clearances, I would not buy a puppy from that litter. Your bitch is not even 2 years old and a reputable breeder would at least wait until that age. The clearances don't guarantee the puppies are going to be problem free but increase the probability.

ditto. there are so many unwanted golden pups in rescues that responsible breeding is more important than ever ... spay for sure if you have no plans to show or continue certifications

 

[mylissyk]

Coming from a rescue perspective, I can tell you that there are an overabundance of Goldens ending up in shelters in Texas who need homes. Rescues try as hard as possible to save them all, but sadly Goldens are being put to sleep in shelters. I would discourage you from breeding for that simple fact.

The points that others have made are valid. She should be two years old before breeding. She must have OFA hip xrays and ratings to ensure she does not pass hip dysplasia to her puppies, she should have heart certifications from a cardiologist, and eye certifications, and elbow exams also.

The dogs in her pedigree should have those exams also.

And I would like to see a dog compete in some venue before they are bred.

Keep in mind also, the stud dog you use should also have all the certifications, and should have some competition wins of some kind as well.

The purpose of all that is to better the breed and prevent, as much as possible, passing down any genetic problems either of the breeding pair might have themselves or in their history.

Personally, I believe it would be more responsible to spay.

 

[avincent52]

If you have to ask...

But seriously, ask yourself why you want to breed her?

It seems to me that you'd want a more compelling reason than, "she's a nice dog."

allen

 

[Phoebe]

Welcome to the forum! If she were mine, I'd spay her and cherish her as a beloved family member. I guess I've just never understood the need to breed...unless I was planning on showing and being competitive in some type of venue..and frankly, I'd rather cheer from the sidelines and enjoy my dogs as pets. Whatever you decide, she sounds like a lovely golden!

 

[barrett]

i second all that has been said above..plus i'd want to add the EXORBITANT (sp?) cost of a troubled pregnancy & delivery, which is SO common. If the other thoughts on the matter didn't deter me ( & they do) this would! ask a few vets or breeders what a C-section costs, or even a uterine infection...BIG wake up!

Anyways welcome to the forum and don't let the strong opinions scare you off becasue this is a HOT topic.
PS Post lots of pics...we love them!

 

[GoldenOwner12]

Hi i too was thinking of breeding my female when she was old enough shes only 17 weeks old at the moment. You know what i have decided to leave breeding up to those that are good at it. Plus theres so many golden breeders around my area why add to those that are already out there. Breeders in my area are finding it hard to sell there puppies cause theres just too many around. I got my girl from a registered breeder on main registration papers for $600 cause she was 15 weeks old and the breeder was finding it difficult to find homes for them. My girl is now 17 weeks old and guess what her breeder still has her brother and sister. read this link this also helped me decide not to breed http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/breeding/breeder3.html

The thought of lossing my dear Shelley to the birth of the puppies or even couple days after the birth i could not handle it. Think of it this way if your female died during giving birth or having a csection would you be able to hand feed these puppies every 2 hours around the clock for 3-4 weeks or more. Also what happens if you loss both mum and pups, or if the vet gave you a choice mum or pups which would you choose? also breeding is very time comsuming and cost alot of money to do. Most breeders just cut even when breeding some even loss money from breeding. All i can say is think long and hard and do alot of research before jumping into this. Female also need to be feed 3 times a day while pregant and 4 times a day when pups are born, could you afford the food bill for mum then not to mention the food bill once puppies are 4 weeks old.

 

[TheHooch]

If you have to ask yourself this question I am not sure you are ready for the eight weeks of work that puppies are if you do it right. But absolutely no breeding without clearences

 

[mboyd]

Well, this is all very good information and I do appreciate it. If she gets bread, she will not do so before two years of age. I hope I didn't insinuate that it would be earlier - however if I decide to spay her I would prefer to do so sooner. All breeders are interested in "bettering the breed" and I respect this. I am not a "breeder" per se rather I am just an individual with "nice dog".
MB

 

[lovealways_jami]

IMO, and thats all it is .... If you get her clearences and do your homework I dont see why you COULDNT breed her, if thats really what you want to do. The harsh reality is that there are tons of Goldens in shelters all throughout the world. But unfortunatley everyone seems to be looking for an English Cream/Wonderful personality puppy... Think hard about if you have time/money to take care of A BUNCH of darling puppies for 8 weeks. Theres so much involved in that alone. IMO there are a lot of highly known breeders on this forum who could give you the full scoop on everything you need to know...and then from the other perspective there are a lot of rescues who could give you the statistics... and if they dont scare you away too fast, you could really learn a lot. Whatever you decide to do, do it because it makes sense and its the right thing to do. When I say "If you get her clearences YOU COULD, I dont necessarily mean YOU SHOULD". Welcome to the forum.

 

[AmyinAr]

Well, this is all very good information and I do appreciate it. If she gets bread, she will not do so before two years of age. I hope I didn't insinuate that it would be earlier - however if I decide to spay her I would prefer to do so sooner. All breeders are interested in "bettering the breed" and I respect this. I am not a "breeder" per se rather I am just an individual with "nice dog".
MB

everything you said here is exactly why you shouldn't breed, if she gets "bred" you are risking losing her keep that in mind - also by spaying her early you will protect her health

NOT ALL BREEDERS ARE INTERESTED IN BETTERING THE BREED. Reputable breeders care, BYB (backyard) breeders are interested in money or playing with puppies until they can sell them in the paper to non approved homes - if all breeders cared they would all have return to breeder clauses and we wouldn't have all these goldens in rescues.

some links

http://home.comcast.net/~NoPuppyMillsVA/What_is_a_Backyard_Breeder_/what_is_a_backyard_breeder_.html

http://www.jlhweb.net/Boxermap/reputablebreeder.html

http://www.21stcenturycares.org/backyardbreeders.htm

 

[roxxijazz]

All breeders are interested in "bettering the breed" and I respect this.

AmyinAR is correct. Not all breeders are interested in bettering the breed. Some, yes...all, definitely not. Some do it for money, some don't even research or plan it ahead of time, but since they never got their dogs altered, they end up with a litter and decide "well, okay, might as well be a breeder now and continue making money off of my pet".

From your comment above, it proves that you need to do a lot more research and should not be considering breeding. Please get her spayed. Not only are there so many benefits to altering your pet, but it will be best for both you and her.

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

 

[Jackson'sMom]

As a person who just yesterday adopted a beautiful golden girl from a rescue that has a list of goldens waiting for a place at the rescue, I am a strong advocate of spaying or neutering any and all dogs that don't have a stellar lineage and all the necessary clearances.

 

[mboyd]

A lot of responses - I appreciate this! Soooo, it doesn't look like I will be receiving a stud offer from this forum. That was a joke.
MB