Dog Being Suitable for Breeding.

Follow these guidelines: 

1. For a bitch, ensure that she is in good physical health, over 18 months old, and emotionally mature.

2. If you have a male dog, check that he has both testicles descended in the scrotum. Recognize that if you use your dog for breeding he will be more interested in and successful at sex than he might otherwise have been.

3. Train your dog so that it is well-socialized to other dogs as well as to people. Intensely people-orientated dogs, denied an early opportunity to learn how to behave with other dogs, may be unwilling or unable to mate.

4. Ensure that vaccinations and worming are up to date, especially for a female. Recent vaccination ensures that pups inherit good levels of maternal antibody protection against the common infectious diseases.

Worm a female regularly before and during pregnancy - although some parasitologists say that this treatment does not make any difference to a pup's subsequent worm burden.

5. Choose your dog's partner by temperament and health, not simply by .s and bloodlines.
6. If the dogs are purebreds, ensure that both partners are registered with a kennel club. Pups with documents are easier to home.

7. If you are the owner of the female, always ensure that you have good homes for each, pup in the litter.

8. Check that you conform to local legal obligations concerning dog breeding.

9. Have both dog and bitch examined by veterinarians and certified healthy and free from known inherited diseases.

In breeds that are known to suffer from inherited eye or joint diseases, have your breeding animals certified disease-free and registered with the appropriate organizations.

To minimize the risk of diseases for which there are now genetic tests, such as progressive retinal atrophy in Irish Setters, have genetic screening tests carried out to ensure that the breeding dogs are not carriers.

10. If brucellosis, a canine venereal disease, is a problem in your area, ensure that both the stud dog and the bitch have been checked and cleared. In addition, ask your vet about blood tests for herpes virus infection.

11. During pro-estrus and estrus, exercise your bitch only on her leash to eliminate any risk of mismating.

12. Breeding is most successful when it occurs within two days of ovulation (when the female's ovary releases an egg).