“How to Select a Stud Dog” by Leon Warrren
Download this page in PDF formatFirst, let me say that if I knew how to advise anyone as to how to breed a certain bitch in order to produce even one outstanding individual in a single litter then I could make a lot of money!
A geneticist, which I certainly am not, could write a lengthy book on the subject and still be unable to produce near-perfect individuals consistently without several generations of trial and error breeding. This is what the dedicated breeder tries to do or, at least, should be trying to do. If you fall into this category you should not need any advice on how to breed your bitch and would, probably, justly so refuse it if offered.
So it is to the beginner that I feel should direct most of these comments. First, after observing the results of literally hundreds of breedings in many, many years it is my firm conviction the bitch of the mating is much more important than the male in determining the characteristics passed along to the offspring. Therefore, without a good bitch to start with you will probably be wasting your time and money breeding her to a dog because he has a great show record or possesses physical characteristics your bitch may lack, such as a pretty head, etc. Remember show wins DO NOT change a dog’s genes nor improve his conformation. He would produce the same offspring bred to your bitch if he had never been out of his own back yard.
So what should the beginner do? In my opinion, before he decides on a stud he should go to the dedicated breeders mentioned earlier. In this connection I must say I consider a dedicated breeder to be one devoted primarily to improving their breed and not necessarily concentrating on making show records. Visit their kennels and observe what their studs are producing. Attend as many shows as possible in order to observe the type of one sire’s get as compared to others. Forget who makes the top wins. Look at the offspring. Look for a dog, both at breeder’s kennels and at shows, who produce a fair percentage of sound individuals. In order for you to do this, however, I must assume you will first have taken the time and effort to have seen enough dogs that you have a pretty good idea as to what a basically sound individual should be.
Now, if you have decided on the available stud which appears to be the most consistent in the quality of his offspring, it is time to study the pedigree of the prospective sire. Does his pedigree show him to be what I like to to term “family-bred”? That is, ancestors within just a few generations which are repeated , or are closely related so as to form a close knit “family”? I prefer to use this term rather than “line-bred” or “in-bred” wich are the same except in the degree of closeness.
If you now have established the sire is a good producer and he is ‘family bred”, what about your bitch? Remember, to me, she is more important. Is she ‘family bred”? If so, is it the same general family as the male? If this is the case and she is a basically sound specimen, she should be bred to the male you have chosen. Nothing really great can ever be certain, but you will have vastly improved your chances for a good litter. If your bitch’s pedigree shows her to be “family bred”, different from the male but nevertheless of good sound stock, breeding her to our subject stud would be an outcross, but still through the combination you have a good chance of a good litter. Personally, I abhor an outcross breeding when there is no rhyme or reason to either the sire’s or dam’s pedigree, no matter what their show record is. Your chances of producing anything decent, I feel. are very slim indeed.
Now that I have you completely confused-Lots of Luck!
Written by Leon Warren
September, 1972