Breeding

[Unimum]

Hiya,

We have a young border x lab she is actually a crosee between brown/red border with chocolate lab, her colourings and markings are just beautiful and after only owning lab/border crosses my whole life I have considered whether I should breed her?

I would just like the opportunity of providing families with (what I think) is a great breed and I was thinking about breeding her either with choc labs or tri coloured borders, just to keep the nice brown colour she has.

Does anyone on here breed casually? I understand the work and care that would be required and the vet bills. I wouldn't be looking to make a lot of money doing it rather as a hobby more than a mean of income, charging $300-400 per dog.

Can anyone offer me any advice before I choose not to book her in for her desex procedure?

Thanks
UNIMUM :-)

[Cupcake]

We breed American Staffy's. There is A LOT of costs involved tho. We have friends paying off a $3000 vet bill as the stud dog was too big for their dog and she couldnt birth the puppies, also a few of them didnt form properly, wasnt pleasent. However thats an extreme (yet not uncommon) circumstance. Just food for thought...

You also may come across some people that frown upon cross breeding dogs.

I hope you make your decision & it all works out for the best hun! Good luck xo

[Phteven]

TBH the pounds are full of cross-bred dogs and one of the reasons is the amount of pet owners with gorgeous dogs who think they're doing the world a favour by breeding them.
IMHO until the pounds stop putting hundreds of dogs down every year the only people beeding should be those attempting to imrove or preserve the pure breeds.

[ss_storm]

TBH the pounds are full of cross-bred dogs.

Many of them are collie/kelpie crosses, as well as lab crosses and even a large number of purebred labs end up in pounds.... it is amazing how many labradors end up just in our local pound.

I agree with Brontide. There are plenty of good dogs being put down every day in pounds, why breed more?

Have you considered what you would do if you couldn't find new homes for the puppies? Especially in these financially tough times are there many people who are going to buy a $300 dog, as well as foot all the other expenses that come with being a pet owner.

TBH I probably wouldn't pay $300 - $400 for a crossbreed dog, and there is no certainty that the puppies would inherit your dog's good nature. Then there is also the cost of having the puppies vaccinated and microchipped before they go to new homes, another expense, plus if anything goes wrong with the pregnancy or the puppies.

Your dog may be a nice dog, but is she really breeding quality? Just because she has a uterus doesn't mean she has to have a litter...this is a major problem in the horse industry, there are so many thousands of horses being sent to slaughter/dodgy auctions every year because people think it would be a great idea to breed their mare simply because she is able to and end up with a ton of foals nobody wants. I think dogs are in a similar situation.

[Unimum]

wow.

I think that will be my last post on here.

[christy]

Sorry, why? I don't think anyone has said anything that was that hurtful?

I work in a veterinary specialist centre, but have been in the vet industry as a nurse and a trainer for over 10 years. Behaviour is a huge part in deciding on what will happen to an animal. In Australia, 80,000 dogs are put to sleep prior to 12 months of age in welfare agencies due to temperment.

I know what you mean though, I have a black lab who is absolutely gorgeous. I was there when she was born, and knew both her parents and love them all. I trained her for my children, she's laying next to me right now with her head next to the lap top..... I would have loved for her to have pups. I was going to breed her with another lab I knew, but in the end decided it wasn't the best. A few health issues are completely eradicated if you desex your dog prior to having pups. I couldn't put her at any more risk for something I wanted to do. It wasn't worth it to me.

[Jennifer13]

I agree with the other posters. The number of unwanted dogs and puppies that are put to sleep each year is heartbreaking. I imagine the last thing you want to do is find one of your puppies in the same situation because there is no home for it. And giving it to a pet shop to sell if you can't find it a home further contributes to the problem.

hun, you sound like you really love your dog and TBH it isn't the best thing for her (to be a breeding dog) anyway. And there is a huge cost to owners.

My post may be coloured by the fact that I saw too many litters of new pups and kittens put down when I worked at a vet surgery as a student, just because there were no homes for them (even though we tried to find them). I have two rescued dogs myself, completely as a result of watching that heartbreaking process.

[Fuzzywuzzy]

From a *consumer* point of view i would rather adopt a cross breed dog from the RSPCA for a similar amount of money as they are already vaccinated/desexed/microchipped and temperament tested and you're supporting the RSPCA and all of the unwanted animals.

All ethics aside, I would be considering whether there will even be a demand for the puppies