Should we Stud out our dog?

[WalnutCrest]

<snip>

The breeders website is northtexasmastiffs.com . If you look on that website she has the health tests posted for all of her dogs
The fathers name is Luke and the mothers name is Minnie I believe.

<snip>

She shows no pedigrees -- a red flag.
She shows only one (I believe) registered name -- a red flag.
She appears to have zero championed parents -- a red flag.
She appears to have a very large number of dogs -- a red flag.
She sells adult dogs -- a red flag.
She 'merged' with another kennel -- a red flag.

None of these on their own would warrant avoiding her ... when taken together, it leads me to suggest that you might be better served with a different breeder with higher-quality stock.

If you'd like to discuss this offline, I'd happily do so.

In all events, welcome to the breed and good luck to you (and your future pup)!

 

[afidz]

Her website is lacking a lot of information, she is an older lady and I don't think she is very tech savvy or really updates her site very often.
She doesn't have the pedigrees listed (I don't know why) but she has told me them, I just forgot to right them down. But I have done on the AKC website and confirmed what she said.
Her adult dogs are rescues, in her contract she says that if there is ever a problem where the owner can't keep the dog to contact her and she would buy them back and re-home them so that they don't end up in shelters or in bad homes. She doesn't sell the dogs that she breeds, those are her family pets.
In regards to the merger, they both still hold their own facilities, they are about an hour and a half to two hours away from each other. I think they each provide one of the dogs and split the money that is made from the litter.
I know that at least one of her dogs was championed for a fact, I found that listed somewhere online, but I don't remember where I saw it.
Like I said in a previous post, I have spent a lot of time talking to her on the phone. I was able to get a lot more information from her that way than by looking at her website. Her website is definitely lacking a lot of information.
Like I said in my intro, I hope that I am not being naive, I really believe that she is a good breeder and we made the right choice. Its too late to turn back now, we have already given her the deposit.

 

[angelbears]

I'm not saying that you shouldn't get a pup from this breeder but what I will say is that losing a deposit is a drop in the hat compared to the expense of caring for a poorly bred dog. Like others here on this forum I have spent thousands of dollars trying to maintain the health of my big guy. One antibiotic that they put Cane on was 200.00 dollars for a 10 day supply and he was on it for six weeks. We switched to a raw diet which if done correctly gets costly. I can go on and on.

I'm not bashing your choice of a breeder I don't know enough about breeding EM's to offer that kind of advice. I will say that whenever Walnut post something on the forum I always read it and take note of what she has to say. She is one of only a handful that I feel truly knows what she is talking about.

 

[Laura Lee]

You want to learn?

I have you a couple of things to do. Have you done either one?

It's I "gave" you, not I "have" you.

 

[Laura Lee]

This was not my first post, I DID post an intro a while back and no one seemed to respond. I have also commented on other people's threads. Either way, it doesn't make a difference, I still don't see what the big deal is. Saying that I need a thicker skin to be on this forum or maybe this isn't the place for me? Do you see whats wrong with that statement? I am not over here crying because the forum people are misunderstanding my intentions. I have so many other questions that I wanted to ask before I got my puppy next month but if these are the kinds of responses I am going to get, I think I am just better to figure it out myself.
I don't really understand how this escalated. I don't understand why ruthcatrin's posts get ruder and ruder every time I try to explain myself or justify my intentions. All I am trying to do is learn about mastiffs before i bring mine home. I am trying to get as much information as I can so I can make the best decisions for him. If anyone is actually reading what I am saying, I already said that now that I understand what breeding involves, it is probably not something I am going to pursue. I feel like certain members are TRYING to be mean and are feeding off of all the negative energy already in this thread. I don't have patience for negativity, I don't have the ability to manage the stress that comes along with it, my life is complicated enough with out it. I WOULD however, appreciate any more advice in the next couple weeks so I can transition my dog to my home with ease. If you have anything negative to say, keep it to yourself and move on. I am not the enemy.

I've never shared life with an English Mastiff (Bullmastiffs are my thing) but, for all intents and purposes, the general advice as to how to spot a responsible breeder is pretty much universal. Try starting at the below two links, paying attention to the part that says a responsible breeder will answer any and all questions you have (ahem...without putting you down) and be just as nosey about you, your family and your environment as you are about them and their kennel. Also note the part in the second link where it says a breeder will not encourage you to breed, nor provide you any incentive to do so.

http://www.bullmastiffinfo.org/entitlement.htm
http://www.bullmastiffinfo.org/desirabl.htm

Yes, it's a Bullmastiff resource, one in which I found very helpful in my research before acquiring my first BM, but a lot of what's addressed on the site is applicable to the various Molosser breeds. Set aside some time and read through all the various subjects. I'm sure you'll find in enlightening and useful. I'm also sure there are similar sites out there specific to the EM, as well. You can find them by spending some time Google-fooing.

Welcome to the forum, by the way.

 

[ruthcatrin]

I don't really understand how this escalated. I don't understand why ruthcatrin's posts get ruder and ruder every time I try to explain myself or justify my intentions.

Because every post you make you insist we're all so horrible to you.....obviously thats what you want out of this forum.

The first several posts in this thread WERE NOT RUDE, blunt and to the point, but in no way rude. We ARE blunt on here. Sugar coating when you're talking to someone who's got a serious problem with a mastiff only gets someone (a person or the dog) injured or killed. These dogs are too big to mess around with. We also do quite a bit of sarcasm here. If you can't handle that you ARE NOT going to be happy here.

We're all human, every person doesn't read every post even though this is a fairly small forum. So yah, sorry your first post got ignored, it wasn't intentional, it was the result of this being a small forum made up of people with busy regular lives. (and I"ll add that it WASN'T ignored, several people posted in it, so I"m not sure what else you wanted?)

Looking over your breeder's site. Is this the Kelly/Flint litter? I'm glad to see that Kelly appears to have had health testing, but even OFA doesn't list her parents, do you know if her parents were tested, and who they are? She doesn't list any health testing for Flint, and without his full registered name I can't be sure of finding him (or not) in the OFA database, his sire had his hips and elbows done but nothing else and I can't find his dam in the database, do you know if Flint was tested? I can handle the lack of info on the site if she's given that info to you as part of the puppy information.

 

[ruthcatrin]

I'll add that the dogs come from champion lines is cool and all, but what has she done with these dogs? I see on her home page that one was a Therapy dog, which is good. What about your puppy's parents?

The merger kinda makes me blink a bit, but I HAVE run across it before. Its usually a smaller breeder being coached by the larger/more experienced. So I guess it would depend on what exactly is involved with the merger before it'd bother me or not.

 

[ruthcatrin]

(Ok, I see you saying that you had that info for the other pup and will be getting it for the new pup, missed that till after I posted)

 

[Laura Lee]

Because I’m not an experienced breeder, I have a question. (In fact, I’m not a breeder at all, let alone an experienced one). The hypothetical “week bred†pup that was mentioned earlier in the thread by one of the experienced breeders here (I forget who)…is that a puppy that was bred over the course of a week (poor mother, she must’ve been exhausted), or a miracle puppy whose gestation period was only seven days in duration?

*snicker*

 

[ruthcatrin]

Because I*m not an experienced breeder, I have a question. (In fact, I*m not a breeder at all, let alone an experienced one). The hypothetical “week bred” pup that was mentioned earlier in the thread by one of the experienced breeders here (I forget who)…is that a puppy that was bred over the course of a week (poor mother, she must*ve been exhausted), or a miracle puppy whose gestation period was only seven days in duration?

*snicker*

I missed the reference so how about quoting it so who-ever it was can correct it. And you've made you're point about typos, so you can stop being a jerk and hijacking the thread. Oh, and BTW, its actually fairly standard practice for a bitch to be bred several times over a span of days (though a week might be a bit long) in order to be sure she caught.

 

[Laura Lee]

Nah, people can find it on their own if they are so inclined. To do so myself would be just perpetuating the hijacking of the thread, don't you think?

See, I belong to a number of forums. Whenever I read someone pointing out spelling errors made by others, I automatically begin scouring the posts of the person pointing out the spelling mistake, often done in a superior, condescending manner, as was the case here (jeans versus genes), to see if all their posts are mistake free. It's sort of a hobby of mine, I guess. *shrug*

 

[ruthcatrin]

Nah, people can find it on their own if they are so inclined. To do so myself would be just perpetuating the hijacking of the thread, don't you think?

See, I belong to a number of forums. Whenever I read someone pointing out spelling errors made by others, I automatically begin scouring the posts of the person pointing out the spelling mistake, often done in a superior, condescending manner, as was the case here (jeans versus genes), to see if all their posts are mistake free. It's sort of a hobby of mine, I guess. *shrug*

Everyone deserves the right to correct themselves, so if you're going to snipe about typos then quote them. Just sniping IS rude. And you must have an awefully boring life if thats how you get your fun.....

 

[Laura Lee]

It’s just that I’m confused. You tell me to stop hijacking the thread, after you tell me to point out to whom I was referring in my previous post…back when I was hijacking the thread, apparently. To me, you sound wishy-washy.

And, yes, I know attempted daily breedings taking place over the course of a week during the heat cycle is not unusual. I was making the joke about a continuous breeding taking place over that time, hence the part about the dam being exhausted. Do try to keep up, dear.

 

[angelbears]

Actually jeans and week were spelled correctly.

Glibly ostentatious of me. *wink*

 

[ruthcatrin]

It*s just that I*m confused. You tell me to stop hijacking the thread, after you tell me to point out to whom I was referring in my previous post…back when I was hijacking the thread, apparently. To me, you sound wishy-washy.

And, yes, I know attempted daily breedings taking place over the course of a week during the heat cycle is not unusual. I was making the joke about a continuous breeding taking place over that time, hence the part about the dam being exhausted. Do try to keep up, dear.

Apparently hijacking this thread is important to you?

If you're going to snipe about someone's typos they deserve the right to correct themselves.

And where in heck are you getting continuous sex from??

 

[ruthcatrin]

Actually jeans and week were spelled correctly.

Glibly ostentatious of me. *wink*

Point lol

 

[Laura Lee]

Actually jeans and week were spelled correctly.

Glibly ostentatious of me. *wink*

"You're" was also spelled correctly, even though the poster meant "your." *wink*

 

[AKBull]

I'm getting ready to clean house on this thread if you guys can't somewhat stay on topic.

 

[Laura Lee]

I'm getting ready to clean house on this thread if you guys can't somewhat stay on topic.

Excellent spelling in this post ^^^

 

[angelbears]

I'm getting ready to clean house on this thread if you guys can't somewhat stay on topic.

Yes, ma'am!