# Finding a stud dog?



## princesspenny

Sooo, my pup is only 11weeks so i have lots of time but im wondering when i go to breed my girl at around 3 yrs old what will a stud dog owner be looking for in an approved female? I see that lots of breeder say they will stud there dog to "approved bitches" what exactly do they want to see? I want to make sure that my girl is a good prospect and a dog that a stud owner would be proud to breed with. I'm not sure that I actually want to purchase a boy to breed to, im thinking i'd rather pay a stud fee but it seems like that might be really hard to find. There really are not that many studs around in my area and predicting when in her heat cycle to take her will be a challenge all its own so i dont want to have to travel super far. What do most people do? And what should I do to prepare my girl?


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## sunnyday

What you need is a mentor. Someone who has a LOT of experience in Poodles, who can help you to objectively evaluate your bitch's qualities and help you to analyze pedigrees and track down a stud who perfectly complements her; someone who can talk you through whelping, help you with the decision-making process eg. what to do if your bitch dies in whelp or won't suckle or gets a pup stuck, etc. These questions need to go to that person, who will understand your dog, your location, and your needs much better than anonymous people on an internet forum.

If your pup is breeding quality and was purchased as such, then your breeder is the obvious choice for a mentor.


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## princesspenny

Yes I do! I'm trying to find someone in my area but I feel like who would want to do that? Whats in it for them? I dont want to pay someone. My breeder has offered to let me breed to her stud dog ( not related closely to my puppy) and i may do that but shes 7 hrs away from me and although she has shown her dogs in the past shes not interested in doing that anymore and i bought my dog outright as a show/breed potential puppy, shes not a co-own as my other dogs were. She is there to answer any questions i have but shes not close enough to offer that one on one mentoring.


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## sunnyday

What's in it for them, I would think, is helping to perpetuate quality in the breed that they love!  I am new to poodles, but in other breeds the real, committed dog people are just dying to find someone to talk dogs with, and they also are often on the lookout for someone with whom to entrust the lines that they have built a lifetime developing. Join your local PCA affiliate, make some relationships, and show yourself to be the kind of person who's worthy of carrying on that work.


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## peppersb

As someone who had a litter a year ago (my first and probably only litter), I think a pet owner can do a great job of breeding. I think a well-loved pet having puppies in her own home with loving support from her owner can be great for the momma and great for the puppies. However, I really think that having a mentor is very important (I'm assuming that you do not have experience in breeding yourself). You say that you don't want to pay a mentor. I paid my mentor (she got a percentage of all of the puppy sale prices) and it was worth every penny. A few of the ways my mentor helped me:

1. She evaluated my bitch in terms of structure and temperament and a review of her pedigree, and she even had a couple of her friends examine my girl and look at her pedigree. Some people think that a dog should be "proven" by showing them and getting an AKC title. My own opinion is that this is not necessary (I'm sure some forum members will disagree), but I do think that there should be some evaluation of the bitch's suitability for breeding by someone who knows what to look for and can be objective.

2. My mentor helped me pick the stud. In our case, this was easy because my mentor is the owner of a stud who was a perfect match for my girl and she lives only 15 minutes away from me. (We did briefly consider a couple of other potential studs).

3. My mentor was there for the breeding, and my bitch and I needed her experience. (It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.)

4. Our puppy birth ran into complications. My mentor was with Cammie and me for 23 straight hours. During that time, we were in contact with 3 vets and we ended up needing to have a C-section in the middle of the night. Lots of decisions had to be made and I am forever grateful to my mentor for being there and guiding the whole process.

5. Cammie was a great mom, bouncing back from her surgery faster than any human would. It was wonderful to see how strong her instincts were. But it was also wonderful to be able to call Michelle with my many questions and to have her visit frequently. At one point, Cammie's breasts got so engorged with milk that it was painful for her to nurse, but she needed to nurse to relieve the pressure. Michelle knew just what to do.

6. I expected that most of the puppies would be placed through Michelle's contacts. In the end, all of the puppy buyers came from a web site that I set up, but I do think that some of the puppy buyers found it reassuring to know that an experienced breeder who has a great reputation was involved. IMO, anyone planning to breed should be very sure that they are going to be able to find loving homes for the pups.

One final word about money. I don't know why you want to breed, but if your objective is to make money, my advice is to forget it. You could make more per hour flipping burgers at McDonalds. Doing a really good job of supporting a bitch through pregnancy, birth and raising puppies is extremely time consuming and expensive. IMO the people who do make money at this "business" cut corners all over the place (cheap food, breeding marginal dogs, breeding bitches too early and too often, too many dogs to provide loving individual care, etc.) and it is not good for the bitches or for the puppies or for the people who buy the puppies. I don't mean to suggest that all breeders are like this. There certainly are some fabulous breeders on this forum who resist the temptation to cut corners. I do think that pet owners (or beginning breeders) having a litter or two is great, provided that you have a dog that has good structure, good temperament, good health (and health tested) and a good pedigree and provided that you have a mentor or some other form of support to help you through any problems, and provided that you are going to be able to place the pups in loving homes. But I would not expect to be making much if any money.


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## princesspenny

peppersb said:


> As someone who had a litter a year ago (my first and probably only litter), I think a pet owner can do a great job of breeding. I think a well-loved pet having puppies in her own home with loving support from her owner can be great for the momma and great for the puppies. However, I really think that having a mentor is very important (I'm assuming that you do not have experience in breeding yourself). You say that you don't want to pay a mentor. I paid my mentor (she got a percentage of all of the puppy sale prices) and it was worth every penny. A few of the ways my mentor helped me:
> 
> 1. She evaluated my bitch in terms of structure and temperament and a review of her pedigree, and she even had a couple of her friends examine my girl and look at her pedigree. Some people think that a dog should be "proven" by showing them and getting an AKC title. My own opinion is that this is not necessary (I'm sure some forum members will disagree), but I do think that there should be some evaluation of the bitch's suitability for breeding by someone who knows what to look for and can be objective.
> 
> 2. My mentor helped me pick the stud. In our case, this was easy because my mentor is the owner of a stud who was a perfect match for my girl and she lives only 15 minutes away from me. (We did briefly consider a couple of other potential studs).
> 
> 3. My mentor was there for the breeding, and my bitch and I needed her experience. (It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.)
> 
> 4. Our puppy birth ran into complications. My mentor was with Cammie and me for 23 straight hours. During that time, we were in contact with 3 vets and we ended up needing to have a C-section in the middle of the night. Lots of decisions had to be made and I am forever grateful to my mentor for being there and guiding the whole process.
> 
> 5. Cammie was a great mom, bouncing back from her surgery faster than any human would. It was wonderful to see how strong her instincts were. But it was also wonderful to be able to call Michelle with my many questions and to have her visit frequently. At one point, Cammie's breasts got so engorged with milk that it was painful for her to nurse, but she needed to nurse to relieve the pressure. Michelle knew just what to do.
> 
> 6. I expected that most of the puppies would be placed through Michelle's contacts. In the end, all of the puppy buyers came from a web site that I set up, but I do think that some of the puppy buyers found it reassuring to know that an experienced breeder who has a great reputation was involved. IMO, anyone planning to breed should be very sure that they are going to be able to find loving homes for the pups.
> 
> One final word about money. I don't know why you want to breed, but if your objective is to make money, my advice is to forget it. You could make more per hour flipping burgers at McDonalds. Doing a really good job of supporting a bitch through pregnancy, birth and raising puppies is extremely time consuming and expensive. IMO the people who do make money at this "business" cut corners all over the place (cheap food, breeding marginal dogs, breeding bitches too early and too often, too many dogs to provide loving individual care, etc.) and it is not good for the bitches or for the puppies or for the people who buy the puppies. I don't mean to suggest that all breeders are like this. There certainly are some fabulous breeders on this forum who resist the temptation to cut corners. I do think that pet owners (or beginning breeders) having a litter or two is great, provided that you have a dog that has good structure, good temperament, good health (and health tested) and a good pedigree and provided that you have a mentor or some other form of support to help you through any problems, and provided that you are going to be able to place the pups in loving homes. But I would not expect to be making much if any money.



Thank you for the info! Can I ask a few questions? How did you find your mentor? Was it not the person you purchased your dog from? was it strictly for the one breeding that you were mentored? How much/percentage did your mentor want in exchange for helping you?

Let me start off by saying im not looking for a ton of money out of this...miniature poodles usually only have 3-5 puppies. If i wanted to make money breeding i'd pick a breed that had larger litters..haha. So lets take that off the table right away.I want to show and breed my dog because it has been a passion of mine since i was a little girl and im finally old enough to fulfill it. I got my puppy from a good breeder, multiple champions in her pedigree, i would like to show her in the ring, she will be completely health tested for everything and comes from genetically sound parents. The breeder I bought her from gave me full rights to her knowing i was going to show and breed her. She has offered to mentor me/help me with the breeding if i want to use her stud dog.
My post here is simply this, my breeder is 7 hours away...thats just too far. I'd like to find someone closer to me who can help me with showing for sure and i would like to set my girl up so that she would be a good candidate if i were to search for a stud dog to use closer to me. I would consider myself a potential hobby breeder...breed for a litter maybe once a year with good sound breeding stock that has been proven in the ring and health tested for everything. Personally I think thats where the majority of breeders fall. I dont think i'm wrong for wanting to pursue this..all breeders had to start somewhere and i'd like to start now at 33  I do have some experience as my 2 mini aussies are actually co-own dogs. My breeder did all the showing though and she picked the stud dog, whelping and the pups were all sold through her, she just sent me a check when all the pups were sold and she took 50% of the litter profit after costs ect... in the end it was only a couple hundred dollars..not much. I want to be much more involved then i was with my co-owns so this time i paid for a dog out-right so i could do the venture myself. I would LOVE to find a mentor closer to me for sure!


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## peppersb

Thanks for the additional explanation of your plans. It sounds like you are in a great position to get started as a breeder, and I think you have a good plan and will do well.

My situation is a bit different. When I bought Cammie, I had no idea that I would breed her. But everything just fell into place and breeding just seemed like the ideal solution for us. First, I wanted another poodle -- one that would be a life-time companion for Cammie. I really wanted another small standard poodle like Cammie (she is only 33 pounds). But well-bred small standards are very hard to find. I felt incredibly lucky to have found Cammie, and I ran into a number of very bad breeders of small standards along the way. So I was not at all sure that I'd be able to find another well bred small standard poodle. My groomer, Michelle, is an experienced poodle breeder and she is the one who became my mentor and partner in breeding. As our groomer, Michelle watched Cammie grow, and she was impressed by her structure and by her pedigree. I loved her small, delicate build and her sweet laid-back temperament. She was everything I wanted in a poodle. So Michelle and I started talking about breeding her. Michelle had only one stud dog, and he was absolutely perfect for Cammie -- an AKC champion who was small (only 40 pounds) and with a pedigree that complimented Cammie's very nicely. I felt that I could breed a better dog than I could buy. I contacted Cammie's breeder and was able to purchase breeding rights. All of the pieces just fell into place.

I did give some thought to going forward as a breeder, keeping one of the females from this litter and developing a line of small standard poodles. Part of me still thinks it would have been fun to do so. But in the end, I ended up keeping one of the boys, Sam. Cammie has now been spayed, so I am no longer breeding. 

You are in a very different position. You are much younger than I am, and you really do want to become a breeder and develop your own breeding program. I think you are off to a great start, and I hope you will be able to find just the right person to help you get started.


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## princesspenny

wow you really lucked out! I'm looking for a groomer with show experience to help with grooming her, maybe ill find one who has experience breeding poodles. I reached out to a local breeder but they may be retired and not much help. Once she has all her shots im going to find a handling class, maybe that will lead me to someone. I'm also attending 2 shows in the next month, so we shall see. Lots of ifs right now, luckily shes young and i have time. I do plan on keeping at least one puppy to continue her line


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## NOLA Standards

PrincessPenny


You are welcome to email me - [email protected] dot com Will be happy to help direct you to someone who might can mentor and maybe I can provide you some guidance as well.

Regards,

Tabatha
NOLA Standards


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## princesspenny

Thats very nice of you, unfortunately i'm all the way in california..lol. so not very close! I went to some shows and spoke to two breeders who were friendly and offered to help in person, but have since not responded back to me. Perhaps because im new to poodles? or they dont want to share their knowledge? I dont know but it seems like a clicky world which im not a fan of. I'm very intimidated about the show ring and since i've never shown before I dont even know where to start! I would really love some local help, but it seems hard to find. I'm going to take my pup to a handling class, maybe ill get more leads. She also needs her puppy cut but i cant find a groomer to do it...seems so difficult to get this going. I'm in sacramento if you know anyone this way...most are all standard people though, there are hardly any minis up here.


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