To all reputable breeders: when to start breeding? - Page 2

**dobermansrule** · 06-20-2008, 05:57 PM

"I have not bred a litter of Doberman pups for over 25 years"

any plans? or do the greyhounds keep you too busy?

tranquility · 06-21-2008, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaryAndDobes

Since 2002, my pet puppies have been spayed/neutered when they are cropped at 9 weeks before they ever leave my home. There are pros and cons (google juvenile altering - there are tons of sites on it), but since I firmly believe in not adding to the pet overpopulation and numbers in rescue, this is what I do. That, to me, is much more important than whether a dog grows to be one or two inches taller. The puppies I've had done haven't grown any taller than their ancestors anyway.

Wow, I have not heard of this before. This is great for me because when I hopefully get a Dobe, a major worry in the back of my mind is that I have to do the neutering process on my own and stress about any potential complications.

to MaryAndDobes and others>
I will google but would like to hear from DTers as well: is chance of overgrowth the only concern/-ive of 'juvenile neutering'? If that is the only issue, that's awesome for me. I'm going to want that from a breeder so I don't have to deal with neutering.

**velmadobe** · 06-21-2008, 12:23 AM

I don't have as much experience under my belt as some of the other breeders here so my learning curve is still developing. All of my puppies left with contracts and only one went to a 100% non show home - he went on limited registration. Two others are co-owned by me, and one is co-owned by my bitches breeder. I kept one. I keep in close contact with my puppy people and have discussed when to neuter with them - we are just playing by ear and he will be neutered when he is done growing at the latest, but sooner if they want. They all went with contracts, but to me the best way to make sure that everything goes well is to keep in touch with every family on a regular basis.

Like Mary, I do some volunteer work with my local rescue and firmly believe that we all need to support rescue.

I will say that having a waiting list is not a reason to breed. Truthfully, in my area there are more people looking for a well bred puppy than there are puppies - so I don't worry about finding homes for companion puppies. Finding good showhomes is always hard.

thea2003 · 06-21-2008, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaryAndDobes

Since 2002, my pet puppies have been spayed/neutered when they are cropped at 9 weeks before they ever leave my home. There are pros and cons (google juvenile altering - there are tons of sites on it), but since I firmly believe in not adding to the pet overpopulation and numbers in rescue, this is what I do. That, to me, is much more important than whether a dog grows to be one or two inches taller. The puppies I've had done haven't grown any taller than their ancestors anyway.

I couldnt agree with you more. Althouhough cats a FAR different than dogs, when i was doing cat rescue the kittens were done at 8 weeks