# How to Breed my Golden?



## HopsHunting (Nov 13, 2016)

I've got a nine year old Golden that my wife and I never neutered. We agreed that he'd be bread down the road. He's a heck of a dog though and I'd love to breed him. 

Anyone know how to go about doing this? I'd love to breed him and get his son.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Please take a look at the information on the GRCA website. At a minimum your dog should be tested and screened per this information before considering breeding him. 

https://www.grca.org/about-the-breed/grca-code-of-ethics/
Specific Guidelines
I. Dogs selected for breeding should:
Be of temperament typical of the breed, i.e., stable, friendly, trainable, and willing to work. Temperament is of utmost importance to the breed and must never be neglected or altered from the Standard.
Be of conformation typical of the breed.
Be in overall good health, and be physically and mentally mature (which is generally not until two years of age).
Possess examination reports and certifications as outlined below to evaluate and document status concerning recommended screening examinations; and these reports should be publicly available in an approved online database. 
Approved online databases include registries under management of veterinary professional associations; registries maintained by non-profit organizations with veterinary staff or advisory boards; and university-based registries under veterinary advisement. U.S. registries should be used for dogs residing in the U.S., unless previously evaluated (as in III below) prior to importation.
Hip and elbow certifications from the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) prior to its discontinuation in 2012 are acceptable for dogs residing in the U.S., providing the dog was 24 months of age or older at the time of the examination. Reports should be recorded in an approved online database as described above.
Submission of abnormal information to the OFA online database is encouraged.

II. The following reports are acceptable for dogs residing in the U.S.:
*Hips *– a report from the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) or PennHIP at 24 months of age or older. Since PennHIP results are not automatically published, these results should be recorded in an approved online database as described above.
*Elbows *– a report from the OFA at 24 months of age or older.
*Hearts* – a report from a Diplomat of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (Cardiology), at 12 months of age or older. Report should be recorded in an approved online database as described above.
*Eyes *– a report from a Diplomat of the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmology. Examinations should be done within 12 months prior to a breeding, and results should be recorded in an approved online database as described above.
Dogs that produce offspring should continue to have ophthalmology examinations on a yearly basis for their lifetime, and if the findings permit recertification, the results should continue to be recorded in an approved online database.
For frozen semen from deceased dogs, either an ophthalmology examination within 18 months of the date of death, or status that was in compliance with the Code of Ethics in effect at the time of the dog’s death, will be considered current.


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## Pilgrim123 (Jul 26, 2014)

Also, don't forget the girl should comply to all this as well.
Welcome to the forum. I hope you get all the information you need.


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## LJack (Aug 10, 2012)

Here are few things to keep in mind in addition to the health testing for Hips, Elbows, Eyes and Heart for both parents which is designed to produce the best chance for healthy puppies. 

Breeding is not with out risk. 
Please read up on canine STDs like Brucellosis. 
Not all bitches take well to the physical process of breeding and dogs both bitches and studs have been severely damaged in the process. It is not with out risk physically for your boy. 

Having a boy is not a strong place to be in the idea of breeding dogs. Bitch owners are really the driving force in breeding decisions. A nice quality bitch is going to have an owner who wants to select a boy that has all the minimum health testing, is usually as accomplished as the bitch or more so in some dog sport, fixes the weeknesses in the bitch and does not bring many weeknesses of their own to the breeding. I know many very nice, accomplished boys with full health certifications that have been used only a handful of times or not at all.

If you are contemplating moving forward, the testing is a cost. You might want to have a vet do a breeding evaluation first. If he is sterile which could be that case at 9 since fertility drops as a dog ages, then you would not have to spend the money on the other pre-breeding health certification tests.


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

Along with everything everyone else said, I'd like to point out that just in case you decide to do this and say put it on CL- and someone w a bitch calls you- you need to realize that fully 50% of the pup's genes come from her and you'd want her to be a fabulous girl and that's not the usual scenario. You're going to get the dregs off an ad. And as was pointed out in an earlier post, stud dog usage is typically bitch owner driven. 
MORE than 50% of temperament comes from the bitch who is raising the puppies- so you'd want a stellar temperament on that end of things. And her owners would need to be able to spend considerable time socializing, etc so that you would get a dog like your boy you love so much- I'm sure he is well socialized and a joy for you. And 9 is a time to start worrying about another dog being assimilated into your family.... do you know his pedigree? If you scan his registration so I can see his parents, I will make you a k9data page which hopefully would fill itself in with all the dogs behind them. Put a dime or penny over the date on the right side of the registration (the date his registration was entered at AKC) because that date is like a key/password you don't want to give out.


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

Oh! One other thing. Stud fees depending on where you live typically run about 50-60% of the price of a puppy. So you might have to negotiate to get a puppy in return for his service. And you need to do a google search for contract examples so you will have one (that's on the stud owner).

Once you have a k9data page, it might be easy (may not, too) to find his siblings who reproduced and get the genes that way.


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

As the owner of a stud dog, I will add how time consuming and intensive it is to do everything right. It is something that sounds easy- but a 9 year old boy with no experience at natural breeding might or might not get the job done. My dog has improved and perfected natural breeding over time, gaining experience and confidence. Even so, I have a developed relationship with a repro vet in case AI TCI or surgical is the plan prefered by the bitch owner. Working hard with the owner of the girl is important for the pregnancy to be achieved- progesterone is very helpful to see when she ovulates etc. It would be wise to take him to be collected by a repro vet to take a look at his sperm count and quality. You can put him on a supplement for stud dogs, or even just Gycoflex to help this. It is just harder than it seems. Golden girls can have cysts and other issues. I totally get wanting to have a son or daughter of your own dog, and we can give good advice here on breeding. It is , as said above, important to check hips, elbows, heart, and eyes to avoid heartbtreaks as we have the most loveable breed bit not always the healthiest.


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## mkdutra (Oct 31, 2016)

Haha  Find a female for him and let them love each other. That simple!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Aislinn (Nov 13, 2010)

If you want to breed him besides all the tests that should be done please be aware that:


a) If he's never been bred, he may not know how. Yeah, true. He may try to mount from the front, from the side. You may have to help him to where he needs to be and you may have to use your hands to guide him to do it.


b) The female may not want to be bred and may be aggressive with him, bite him. Or anyone that is in the way to her freedom from him.


c) Once they breed they are tied together, you must hold them together, usually they will turn and face opposite each other. If the girl runs, she could seriously hurt him. 


d) You will need to check him after to make sure everything is in the right place and know what to do if it isn't.
e) He may start marking after being used at stud.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Does he have full registration? Is he registered AKC? Has he had all the basic health clearances? Is he a good specimen of the breed according to other people (we all think our own dogs are drop dead gorgeous)? Do you know his physical faults?

There's other stuff to be concerned about (the dog losing his brains after being bred)... but the above are minimum that you need in order for somebody to consider using your dog. And then even if your dog clears everything - it's not always a given that somebody will want to use an unknown dog... unless they are desperate or don't care too much. 

^ Case in point, I doubt I'm the only one to have had our dogs propositioned in petstores by people looking to breed their girlies. I typically use my older dog to explain to these people why this is not the way to get into breeding and they are banking on the stud owners being honest about stuff. 

FWIW - if it makes you feel better, I would absolutely LOVE to have a puppy from my older boy who I worship to the moon and back. He's one of a kind. There are not too many goldens out there who have the temperament, unique look, brains, and attitude like him. If his hips had cleared, I probably would have been talked into letting a couple close friend breeders use him. A lot of people wanted to know what his pedigree was and had the view that he was a real diamond in the rough because he was this gorgeous dog who in class and matches was a complete showboat in training. He was a joy of a training partner. Still is at almost age nine (birthday is in January). Temperament wise, I trust this dog with anyone. He has never met anyone he doesn't fall in love with at first sight and wants their love desperately. He especially loves children. Other animals too - he's perfect. I know I can trust him completely. He's very much like a prior dog in that this dog has never ever raised his lips, never growled, and never been anything but sweet.

But morally speaking - I can't breed him. And I probably wouldn't anyway because while his hips aren't great, he also has certain mildew type allergies which cause a lot of tearing with his eyes. These are both issues I absolutely don't want in another dog. And it's not like I could tell right away in a future puppy since you can't tell what's going on with the hips until they are done growing and then the eye tearing and allergies was not noticeable when he was young. 

One thing you can absolutely do though. 

Older dogs who are young and spry enough to interact with puppies will imprint some of their behaviors, temperament, social behavior, tricks, all kinds of stuff on the puppies. They also help with a lot of the training as well - so potty training and general day to day routines, the puppies learn from the older dogs. They still will have a lot of traits and behaviors that are pretty unique - usually picked up from their moms.... but they very much learn how to be dogs from the older dogs in their permanent homes. 

You don't have to bring home a related pup. Just make sure if you bring a pup home, you do it early enough. I think after the older dogs are 11 or 12, it's very difficult for them to keep up with a younger.


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