thinking of breeding my springer bitch

pheasntstalker

well, lads lassie,s, my springer bitch is on heat at the min she is 2yrs old,and im thinking of putting her with a good dog, 2 ive worked with, she has 3 seasons under belt, im just wandering if i breed her now would she be back and ready for action in time for november,i dont mind missing sept with her as i have enough lads with dogs around me,just wandering what age did any of ye breed yer bitchs at? or would i be better leaving her til end of season this year,to breed, any tips help as ever would be taken on board much appreciated

dicky82

the general rule of thumb is to have pup's born in the spring and ready to go in the summer as there will be more interest in pup's from people. if pups are born in winter months they have to be under the lamp longer and damp wet weather is not good for young animals.

HOWEVER. . . working dogs present a bit of a different scenario. most people train their gun dogs at four to six months old. they also prefare to train pups in the off season. there for you want to buy a pup that will be of trainable age at the end of the season. . .

the other thing to bare in mind is that your bitch can have anything from one to ten pups. they need lots of work and from the age of four weeks old they require four feeds a day. food costs money and four feeds ends up as four sh1tes per pup.

breeding your bitch is not something i'd do on a whim. i currently am selling pups from my own bitch and breeding her is something i have thought about for over two years. if you are thinking of doing it to make a few quid then don't. nine times out of ten you make a loss. i have been involved in breeding bitches since i was 19 and its hard work and not for the get rich quick men.

Cork24

Unless you wanna go into puppy Farming..

is your bitch a good Gun dog ?


English Springer and Cocker Spaniel Mix make great gun dogs.

pheasntstalker

jaysus no, no time for puppy farms ,and definately no way breeding her for money, i think more of my dog, she is a great honest hard worker nothing special,she does what i want her to do,she has her faults but thats down to me,and its falling back on me now having to correct them:o:o,she is my first springer so i was/still abit novice with them but ive learned valuable lessons and tips here and elsewhere not to make same mistakes next time,no i was justing thinking of breeding her just to have a pup from her,the nxt genaration, ive decided to wait til end of season in jan as advised,thanks as ever for advise and replys,regards p.s

EPointer=Birdss

I like the have a pup of any breed hitting minimum 9 months for the season. Gives me 3 months of manners before hand & a month or 2 exposure to game if they are ready. It also allows 3 months of shooting scenarios to get the dog working if they are ready. (not all will be)
I find summer bred dogs are 2 young for the coming season & are missing a lot in the learning phase of their life by the time the next comes about.
If you can get her pupped & due in Feb you doing ok. Will need to possibly sacrifice a few weeks of the season with her in Jan but possibly worth it.

stevoman

Breeding pups is hard hard work take it from me. My bitch had a litter of 8 in April I thought I'd never see the back of them, and i tell you one thing it is an expensive business, especially vets fees. My bitch got mastitis, cost me a fortune to get her right again.

Just be sure to remember there's nothing in pups anymore everyone wants everything for nothing. I bred with no intention of making money, had my expenses put aside so I was lucky. I kept back two bitches for myself to train next March, I don't normally start them in full training until 9/10 months and I gave the rest of pups away to working homes in return for a pup down the line.

Just think long and hard about it because it's not until they are born that the hard work really begins!

TriggerPL

pheasntstalker wrote: »

jaysus no, no time for puppy farms ,and definately no way breeding her for money, i think more of my dog, she is a great honest hard worker nothing special,she does what i want her to do,she has her faults but thats down to me,and its falling back on me now having to correct them:o:o,she is my first springer so i was/still abit novice with them but ive learned valuable lessons and tips here and elsewhere not to make same mistakes next time,no i was justing thinking of breeding her just to have a pup from her,the nxt genaration, ive decided to wait til end of season in jan as advised,thanks as ever for advise and replys,regards p.s

Have you breed her before is this her first litter

dicky82

the other thing i forgot to mention is the vaccinations. they have to be done at four weeks, fourteen weeks and again at eight months. they also have to be wormed at two weeks old and every two weeks after that. as someone else mentioned there is now the fact that everyone wants everything for nothing. it's very disheartening to put all that work in to have people make you silly offers or no offers at all. the other thing and this is what really pisses me off is the amount of PURE TIME WASTERS you have to deal with.

pheasntstalker

lads thanks for all replies and advice, i do genuinly apreciate it,to ans an ops question it will be her first litter,and the decision to breed her is not taken lightly i asure ye i am very firmiliar with the hardwork in breeding an the expense when we had terriers, years ago, if i was to decide to breed her i,d only be keeping a dog from the litter, and the rest will be let go tbh small money to genuine shooting lads/lasses that will look after them and work them,as i stated im not breeding for money its not worth it and i think more of me bitch,ive seen enough and rescued dogs and pups from puppy farms and heartless b"std so called breeders yrs ago