Time to say hello from Southern Oregon

[mike w]

Hello,

Been lurking on the boards here for a while and thought it was time to introduce myself.

We are the proud owners of an boy EM/cross and a Golden Retriever. Brody (our EM) is about 3 years old and just a love (he is sprawled across my lap as I am typing this). My wife is a nurse and I am a field service engineer on digital printing presses for HP.

For quite some time we have been talking about and researching the possibility of breeding EMs and are currently searching for a female puppy on a show/breeding contract. I was raised in a family with St Bernards and having big dogs all my life I know many of the challenges and joys that these guys can bring.

If anyone hears of a good breeder with pups within 8-10 hrs of Medford, Oregon please keep us in mind.

Thanks and looking forward to participating in the community here!

 

[Jadotha]

Hi, Mike

Welcome to you and your wife! If you look in the 'Breeder Discussion' topics section, I think you will find a wealth of information/advice on responsible breeding. I am pleased that you are passionate enough about EMs to consider the serious commitment of breeding. There are some things I would encourage you to think through, before you 'jump into the deep end'. I say this as someone who was at one time looking into breeding Irish Wolfhounds, but decided against it.

> First, why do you want to breed? Do you have a vision and goals for what you want to uniquely contribute to the breed?
> You say your boy is a cross. I am sure he is absolutely wonderful or you would not be pursuing this path. Are you considering using him as your stud? If so, why? His puppies will not be considered pure-bred regardless of the quality or 'credentials' of the female you may acquire. One of the minimum requirements for responsible breeding is to ensure your breeding stock meets AKC conformation and temperament standards. A couple of hundred years ago, there was a more 'functional' approach to breeding -- breed the best at the job with the best at the job --, and many of the early mastiff foundation stock were mixes of mastiff, bullmastiff, bull dogs and so on. But fortunately or unfortunately those days are long gone. You really must have purebred, registered dogs who meet the standards.

Secondly, it is important to show your dogs to prove that they are amongst the best representatives of their breed. If you don't show, then you should, at the very minimum, have an expert evaluate your dogs and provide a written affidavit as to their qualities and flaws.

Next, health testing of breeding stock prior to breeding is very important to avoid all too common genetic defects. For mastiffs this should include hips, elbows, eyes, thyroid, cystenuria, cardiac (and I am sure I am forgetting something).

> Have you researched genetics and bloodlines?
> Have you researched particular EM whelping issues, and proper care and nutrition of Mom and puppies?

 

[mike w]

Thanks for the welcome and the food for thought. I have been researching various health issues and possible pitfalls of the breed and breeding them. In fact that is how I stumbled across these forums
Our boy is altered, and even if not, I wouldn't want to cross him with a purebred. Would definitely be interested in showing and would at a minimum have her evaluated. What we are talking about at this point (if we decide to continue with the idea of breeding) would be to hire a suitable stud to sire a couple litters.

We have a love for the breed and I would like to help continue and improve the breed. We don't have any illusions to making any money at it, just want to produce some quality puppies. Hoping to find a breeder that we would purchase a pup from that would help mentor and support us in our endeavors.

I have been researching the health issues and potential whelping problems and have been looking into it since we started talking about it a little over a year ago. We have a wonderful vet that takes care of our fur children now. Next visit I will be talking with her about health testing etc. Have also been looking on line for vets specializing in EM health testing as well.

Haven't done a lot of research on bloodlines, not real sure where to start on that.

Have been lurking on the boards for a while and have been checking out the breeder forums. We are planning on getting a fawn colored girl even if we decide not to breed.

 

[musicdeb]

Welcome aboard~

 

[Jadotha]

Ok, Mike...thanks for the clarification, it sounds like you have a good start, in terms of planning ahead. I think it is important that you look at many, many dogs to determine the type that you like -- and that you think you could add something special to. I don't know if this is allowed on our forum, but the "This forum is brought to you by the Mastiff Seet Spot" has a lot of information on the history of the breed, and bloodlines. After studying bloodlines, it would be helpful to find a mentor who would sell you a show quality bitch, and help you with showing and planning for breeding.