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Originally Posted by YorkieRose  Breeders can get on their high horse and say they always use correct stock..but the fact is..dogs have faults and we have to breed with faults that are minor.
A stud can produce far more pups then a btich, so I feel he should be of the best quality..good structure and color. Males tend to hold color as they do not have hormone fluctuations.
Size is relative to the frame...there is nothing wrong with an 8 or 9 pound bitch with a nice compact frame. I do not like a oversized bitch who is coarse and looks it...but a bit of extra weight is not bad for a brood. I have never had problems with oversized pups when using an 8 pound girl..many 7 pound frames turn into 9 pounds with the breeding of a few litters..
You do not want to start with bad bites or flop ears..or serious structure problems..but a bit too light or dark is a minor fault..if you wait until you have every point of the standard in your dog and bitch, you will not breed for many years or never...the goal is to improve...and I have taken a light bitch, bred to a deep steel blue stud and gotten all nice steel blue pups... |
Great post.
I have found much of what Pat said to be true. We had an 8 lb bitch that we bred to a 4 lb male twice...same result each time, pups averaged 5-6 lbs at maturity. She reached 8 lbs after her first litter; she was a dead on 7 prior to her first litter. Breeding with serious structure problems will only worsen the problem in the end. I will only breed with a minor fault that I can live with as we all know that there is no perfect speciman..and always pairing with something to hopefully correct it. I do not classify a pound over standard as a "fault" regarding a bitch.