Looking for a male saint bernard

[arabianequine]

My saint will be 2 the beginning of the is next year. I want to breed her. I have been looking to either buy a saint or find a stud.

I found a stud that I may use. I have his pedigree and AKC numbers but how do I find out about him or his family's history?

The pedigrees I seen when I bought my girl....had CH next to her family members names etc. I don't even recognize any of the names on this males pedigree.

 

[carolinagirl58]

Go here.... http://www.offa.org/ and put in his name or his parent's registered names and see if you can find out anything about prior health testing, such as hip xrays. If the dog has not not been health tested and his parents have not been, I would not use him for stud. St. Bernards are prone to a host of inherited health problems and you sure don't want that for your pups. Has your dog had her OFA xrays to make sure her hips elbows are good?

 

[dainerra]

Any good stud owner is going to ask "why do you want to breed this girl". What titles does she have. Did her hips and elbows pass? Does she have a current burculosis (spelling?) Test - this is a doggie STD that can lead to loss of litter, sterility, or death.

What do you know about the health of her pedigree? What age did her grandparents/great grandparents/etc die and from what? How about her siblings? Are they healthy? Have they earned any titles? Are there any faults (bad teeth, incorrect coat, any inherited issues at all) in the pedigree? How about temperment? Any issues anywhere in the family? These can have a genetic source, so its very important to not pass them on. After you know all this info and more about your female then you need to start doing the same research into the male's family tree.

Your breeder should be able to tell you if there are any male bloodlines that are a good match and what ones to avoid.
Any stud owner should ask those questions about your female. This is because, in the breeding world, the stud is most often blamed for any faults in the offspring so they aren't going to risk their good name.

 

[dainerra]

Also, do you have homes lined up? I assume that you plan to keep one of the pups? What anout the other 5 or 6? Or 8? Big dogs tend to have big litters. Have several extra in line because family and friends who are BEGGING for a puppy now will disappear when it's time to take one home. Now would also be a good time to start researching and writing your contract and guarantee. Many states have puppy lemon laws and you can be sued if the pups aren't healthy.

A good contract will at a min. Require spay/neuter of pups and a right of first refusal - if any owner can't keep any pup for any reason then the dog should come back to you. You wouldn't want one of your babies to live his last days in a shelter.

 

[turney31]

I'm sorry but where is the "rain on her parade" smilie. I think sometimes posters have good intentions BUT think they are the only ones with COMMON SENSE. I don't need to hear the how many dogs are in shelters speech either. They are half the reason more of those animals are not in homes. There are loads of loving responsible owners who want pups from their beloved pets. I am not naive enough to not realise there are idiot breeders out there . There are a lot of us out there who could not give a red rats patootie about show potential, but our, perfect in our eyes ,healthy, vetted family pet having a litter is not the end all. Do you really believe that the other pups would be a surprise to her? Sounds like she is being responsible to me.

Good luck with your search!

 

[carolinagirl58]

Quote:
Looking for a stud dog with hip and health certification and making sure that the female also has no health issues has nothing to do with showing dogs or show potential. It has to do with a new owner not being heartbroken because their growing puppy is now being crippled by hip dysplasia. And they are being forced to decide between euthanasia and thousands of dollars in surgery for their dog. Hip dysplasia affects pets as well as show dogs. It's actually MUCH more common in pet lines because of the irresponsible breeders who don't bother to check for these things prior to breeding and most show breeders do.

 

[carolinagirl58]

Here's an interesting statistic from the Orthopedia Foundation's web site. Of 2075 St. Bernards checked for hip displaysia, only 51.3% had normal hips and 46.7% had abnormal hips. Only a scant 4.2% of the dogs tested had excellent hips. If I was in the market for a St. Bernard pup, those statistics would terrify me! They are the 6th worst breed for bad hips, of ALL the breeds tested!! That's the reason testing these dogs is SO important. It has nothing to do with showing them and everything to do with not bringing dogs into this world who are going to suffer with bad hips.

http://www.offa.org/stats_hip.html

 

[watchdogps]

Quote:
And don't forget, that's just the owners who chose to make their dysplastic dogs known. You have the option of sharing the results or not, and many people will only share satisfactory results.

 

[carolinagirl58]

Quote:
And don't forget, that's just the owners who chose to make their dysplastic dogs known. You have the option of sharing the results or not, and many people will only share satisfactory results.

exactly.....meaning the REAL numbers are actually much worse. I honestly was a little surprised they ranked so poorly on the hip chart. It did not surprise me that Bulldogs were number 1 but The ranking of St. Bernards is much worse than I expected.

 

[dainerra]

Not raining on parades at all. The contract is to protect her. Sometimes people think that they want a big dog, but then end up over their heads. A contract makes sure that the owners don't just get bored and abondon the pup. Again, nothing to do with "too many dogs" in the world, just some basic guidelines to making sure the pups are healthy.

I said to make sured to have extra homes lined up because I see a LOT of people who say they want a dog until one is available. Then they have a hundred excuses why they won't take one.