Choice of a stud dog

In dealing with the choice or selection of stud dogs to use, I am going to ignore the really detailed study necessary to further the aims of the long established kennel, which can, and does, use unknown dogs to try to impose certain characteristics of a particular strain.

Too much thought and too much trying to be clever is often the cause of the wrong dog being used.

At the onset the choice can be narrowed considerably. To do this use only champion stud dogs. To do so enormously improves your chances of breeding good animals. Imported stud dogs must be assessed on individual merits.

Please do not misunderstand me and think I am going on record saying that dogs without titles cannot, and do not, sire a good stock. They can, and do, but restrict their use to occasions when you have time and money to experiment. The great cattle breeders never consider using an inferior sire. What is a good policy for them must be good for the dog breeder. Let me quote from Everett Millais, who spent much time and money experimenting with dog breeding in the 1890’s.

“A pedigree animal is not an animal which has a pedigree, for as pedigree it may be that of the greatest mongrel with the vastest extent of blue blood, but a pedigree animal is one who by his pedigree shows that he has been inbred enormously without any deterioration of quality; and the value of a pedigree animal, whether dog, pig, sheep, horse, or bull, in fact that in comparison with a non inbred animal it has the power of impressing on its progeny its own form and external characteristics which no animal has to such extent if it is not bred on these lines

Why do people use pedigree bulls in preference to others? Why do people go for thoroughbreds, pedigreed stud dogs, etc…?

It is because their stock is improved in the direction of the sire, not on that of the dam, and with these facts before us, which I might largely add to, we have standing proofs that the dictum that the sire generally determines the form and external characteristics is not open to modification excepting in the case of mongrels, where it is impossible to form any opinion as to the results”

The same holds good today.

If you wish to seek support for my advice, sit down with a few Championship Show catalogues and work out the percentage of Challenge Certificate winners that are sired by champions. It always adds up to a very high one. Now look at the registration details in the Kennel Club Gazette and you will find that only a very small percentage of the stock registered is by a Champion sire. These facts prove my point very clearly, and as the fee of a champion stud cost only few thousand rupees more than a dog without title, it is fool hardy not to follow the form.

Do not be afraid to send your bitch long distance to get the services of the best sires. Neither must you adopt a short sighted policy and refuse a good stud dog because you don’t like his owner.

A shy, nervous stud, or one that is reluctant to mate his bitches, should never be used: such dogs tend to produce stock with the same trait.

Some bitches are difficult to get mated and can be served by one dog and not by another. Time can be saved, therefore, if you go to a kennel where there are more than one stud dog available. If several dogs are available in the one kennel, unless you have a strong preference for a certain sire, accept the stud dog owner’s advice. Remember it is greatly to the owner’s advantage that his stud should produce the best possible stick. There are, available at stud, dogs who the result of a lifetime’s experience and hard work, and these are available for reasonable sums, so it is not worth while keeping your own stud dog unless he is completely outstanding and going to be kept fully employed.

Finally, it is not worthwhile to keep and advertise a dog at public stud, with all the problems of visiting bitches, unless you can be sure of his having a minimum of fifteen (15) bitches a year.

Douglas Appleton (The Dog Business Book)