meet Bentley his currently 4 months old i want to know at what age he can start getting ready to hav

scarlet62 said:

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If you have to ask the question, then YOU are not ready to have an intact dog for breeding. Have you gotten his eyes, hips, and elbows checked and cleared? Tested for genetic diseases? What were his parents like? Did they have any problems? What makes him special compared to the countless other dogs out there?

Wow^

This is an older thread that addressed much the same issue - a person who wanted to breed Saints. Some of the posts on the thread give really good advice on the things one needs to do to be a responsible breeder of large dogs, which is why I include it here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/589474/looking-for-a-male-saint-bernard/350#post_10885806

MakelaNJoe said:

Wow^

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I have to very much agree with Stacy. Breeding large dogs (or any dog for that matter) should not be taken lightly. St. Bernards are prone to a whole host of devastating genetic conditions, including bad hips and elbows, knee issues, eye problems, along with several very, very sad types of cancers, like osteosarcoma.

At this point, I would recommend getting in touch with a well educated breeder (which may be the case with the people you bought this dog from...though often breeders don't want their dogs bred without proving themselves in a show ring) and ask to shadow that person. Chances are, most breeders will tell you these same things, but perhaps with more frustration. Backyard breeding really does a lot of damage to the breeding world, and most of the time is completely unnecessary. Remember, breeders that do things the RIGHT way often spend more money ensuring the health of the dogs they are breeding and the future of those pups than they make on a litter. If you are intending to breed these dogs to make money, you are not breeding for the right reasons.

Chickerdoodle13 said:

I have to very much agree with Stacy. Breeding large dogs (or any dog for that matter) should not be taken lightly. St. Bernards are prone to a whole host of devastating genetic conditions, including bad hips and elbows, knee issues, eye problems, along with several very, very sad types of cancers, like osteosarcoma.

At this point, I would recommend getting in touch with a well educated breeder (which may be the case with the people you bought this dog from...though often breeders don't want their dogs bred without proving themselves in a show ring) and ask to shadow that person. Chances are, most breeders will tell you these same things, but perhaps with more frustration. Backyard breeding really does a lot of damage to the breeding world, and most of the time is completely unnecessary. Remember, breeders that do things the RIGHT way often spend more money ensuring the health of the dogs they are breeding and the future of those pups than they make on a litter. If you are intending to breed these dogs to make money, you are not breeding for the right reasons.

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With dog breeding, a person must be brutally honest. The illnesses that can crop up are devastating. The starting price for surgery on a bad hip from hip dysplasia is around $2,000. And that is just on a single hip, normally both need to be fixed.

When a purebred dog is bred, only the best should ever be bred. That means That a dog should be cleared of all physical ailments and genetic disorders with proper testing, and have wins and titles in the showing ring. And when a dog is not the best, they should be spayed, or neutered. End of story. There are enough dogs in shelters because of irresponsible breeding, including purebreds. I own an AKC registered Beagle. Guess where I got him? The shelter. Obviously when I adopted him I did not care one ounce about papers, but they came with him. Papers clearly did him no good in his lifetime. FYI, my AKC Beagle is not a good example of the breed. He has eye problems and joint problems.

Why does a breeding dog need show wins? To prove he can actually pass muster and is a good example of the breed. The AKC will hand papers to anyone who has the money as long as the puppies came from AKC parents. AKC does not mean they are a good dog until they are shown and a judge decides they are. A stud can produce countless puppies. If he has a flaw that he passes on, he didn't improve the breed, he made it worse. Unless all those pups are spayed or neutered, then they will pass on that flaw.