ISO Female English Springer Spaniel for Breeding

[Man_in_Black]

I currently have a male English Springer Spaniel (liver/white) that we would like to have bred in return for a pup.

The problem is, many people who breed this type of dog, breed them for sport and like them to be proven in the field. Our guy has had no training BUT flushes on his own (including barn sparrow, geese, black birds, chickadees in our yard, etc) and is NOT gun-shy by any means. He’s been out clay bird and target shooting with us since he was 4mo. He is exceptionally smart, well bred (AKC Registered), cuddly, and incredibly full of personality and we’d like to not only pass on the characteristics that we love about this dog, but to hopefully have another that’s similar to him.

We’re located in Northeastern PA but would be willing to travel to surrounding areas within reason.

I’ve looked on the AKC website, but haven’t really come across many people in our area.

If anyone knows of anyone that would be interested or has any advice/leads on how I can go about finding a girlfriend for him, I’d really appreciate it!

[Hannahsmom]

[QUOTE=Man in Black;8742818]
I currently have a male English Springer Spaniel (liver/white) that we would like to have bred in return for a pup.

The problem is, many people who breed this type of dog, breed them for sport and like them to be proven in the field. Our guy has had no training BUT flushes on his own (including barn sparrow, geese, black birds, chickadees in our yard, etc) and is NOT gun-shy by any means. He’s been out clay bird and target shooting with us since he was 4mo. He is exceptionally smart, well bred (AKC Registered), cuddly, and incredibly full of personality and we’d like to not only pass on the characteristics that we love about this dog, but to hopefully have another that’s similar to him.

We’re located in Northeastern PA but would be willing to travel to surrounding areas within reason.

I’ve looked on the AKC website, but haven’t really come across many people in our area.

If anyone knows of anyone that would be interested or has any advice/leads on how I can go about finding a girlfriend for him, I’d really appreciate it![/QUOTE]

if you like him so well, why don’t you go back to his breeder for another puppy? Obviously you like how he turned out. The characteristics you mention I would expect to find in ANY well bred Springer litter. There are many show breeders in the Midwest, they will have lovely pet quality puppies and I bet all will have those characteristics you enjoy in your boy. Don’t go to the AKC site, go to the web page for the English Springer Spaniel Association of America. Parent breed clubs usually list contacts for member breeders or how to find them.

[Unfforgettable]

What health clearances does he have? I agree that it’s a better idea to simply buy a puppy from similar lines. It’s highly unlikely that anyone with a quality female would do such a breeding and then be stuck with pups they couldn’t sell.

[wireweiners]

No responsible breeder will sell you a bitch puppy for breeding. Your dog, while I’m certain he is a very nice dog and a wonderful pet, has done nothing to make him worthwhile for breeding. Have you done any genetic testing? I believe Springers have hip displasia and progressive retinal atrophy. There may be other genetic problems of which I’m unaware. Does he conform to the breed standard? If you want another puppy, then go back to his breeder and get another puppy.

[Simkie]

Prove that he’s worthwhile to breed by titling him in something and showing he’s exceptional, and you won’t need to go looking for girls to breed–they’ll find you.

[Alagirl]

No reputable breeder would breed their bitch to your dog.

The world is full of unwanted dogs, purebreds to boot. To stand out your effort has to be above the rest:
a performance and/or conformation proven dog gets the girls.

Breeders who have that will look for the same in a prospective mother.
Along with tests for all the breed specific ailments. Not sure what springers have…hip problems? ear or eye problems?

You get the gist.
Your lovely dog - in horse terms - would make an excellent gelding!

Unlike horses, dog breeders have to expect several pups who may or may not be up to standard (and then in need of a home).

Oh, and breeding could cost the life of the bitch (and puppies), so you aim for the stars!

[Cascades]

Might be an off the wall question, but, are you sure puppies by your dog would even be eligible for registration?

That is to say, are you sure he doesn’t have a limited registration with AKC?

In my experience, breeders of quality dogs don’t generally sell puppies with full registration to owners who don’t intend to at least title their dogs before breeding.

[S1969]

I have an exceptional top #20 in the breed bronze grand champion stud dog, with field experience and a (low level) field title, and he’s been bred exactly once. Even with his attributes, which are considerable, he has not been requested much because it’s easy to find males – you can ship chilled semen across the country in a matter of hours – so there are thousands of eligible males to choose from.

It is possible that you could end up breeding an untitled dog - depending on the dog, its attributes, etc. But without something else to recommend him, he’s unlikely to be attractive to a good breeder. Which is important - because if he isn’t bred to a nice bitch, you may not want one of your own puppies.

Step one would be to check the registration and make sure you can register puppies. Step two would be basic health testing - hips, elbows & eyes (probably) but maybe also cardiac/thyroid, etc. Good breeders won’t even think about breeding to a stud dog without health testing.

After that, you could start looking for a breeder, but be prepared for them to say no. If your dog is really great in the field - at least get out for some AKC Hunt Tests to have your dog seen and to talk to other owners about who is out there, who is breeding, etc. Also, look for a regional Springer club in your area to meet other breeders - I agree with checking the ESSAA website.

As much as we all love our own dogs, yours may or may not be exceptional enough to breed, or at least, to be desirable. It takes some work and comparing to figure out whether he is or isn’t; that’s why people title their dogs - to prove their attributes to others.

[jetsmom]

What you are asking is to find a cheap bitch to do backyard breeding with. No reputable breeder will use an untitled, unproven dog as a stud. AKC registration is as meaningless as saying you have a registered QH.
You can ask your dog’s breeder for another puppy. If you got him off of craigslist or from a backyard breeder, then he is just a nice average dog that doesn’t need to be bred.
There are millions of pet quality dogs euthanized every year due to lack of homes.
The fact that you have a nice, well behaved dog reflects more on that breed and the amount of time and care you put into him than his bloodlines. I would venture to guess that any puppy you bought of that breed would turn out to be a good dog that you’d enjoy if you raised him the same way. No need to breed him to get another.

[microbovine]

Perhaps you can contact good breeders around the country and compare pictures and bloodlines. Look up gundog breeders. Some of them breed more than one breed, depending on the sort of field work they do. Perhaps you can also find an opportunity to test your dog in the field. That would help place any future puppies. If they see potential in your dog, maybe they will sell you a female.

We have a female field bred spaniel (she is spayed). I cannot speak highly enough about the breed. They are wonderful dogs. I completely understand the OP’s interest in breeding them. I don’t know anything about the bench dogs, but the field dogs are intelligent, easy to train, sweet, attentive, playful, and very healthy. We bought our dog from a reputable breeder. She was sold as a pet because she had a little hernia (that healed on it’s own). She is such a conscientious breeder that she sold us the puppy as a pet for that reason alone. We feel like we won the lottery.

[S1969]

[QUOTE=microbovine;8743403]
We have a female field bred spaniel (she is spayed). I cannot speak highly enough about the breed. They are wonderful dogs. I completely understand the OP’s interest in breeding them. I don’t know anything about the bench dogs, but the field dogs are intelligent, easy to train, sweet, attentive, playful, and very healthy. [/QUOTE]

I agree; no one is doubting the breed’s attributes. However, my friends that breed hunting dogs still title them, even though they don’t show them in conformation. Many title through AKC and NAVHDA, although some choose one or the other. And some breed back to “untitled” dogs but they are not unproven as hunting/gundogs - these are dogs that really hunt.

Flushing chickadees and accompanying while the owner shoots clay pigeons means nothing. (Actually, most hunters would dislike a dog that found “tweety birds” as we call them.) A gun dog breeder isn’t going to choose a stud dog that has never hunted.

Unless the OP wants to either title his dog, OR prove it on actual hunts (which would probably require showing the dog’s skills to the prospective bitch owner – e.g. leasing the dog to a bitch owner for a season) it is extremely unlikely that anyone will want to use him.

As I mentioned, for around $1K, you can buy semen from some of the top dogs in the country in my breed…with hunting and bench titles.

[Bicoastal]

[QUOTE=Man in Black;8742818]
He’s been out clay bird and target shooting with us since he was 4mo. He is exceptionally smart, well bred (AKC Registered), cuddly, and incredibly full of personality and we’d like to not only pass on the characteristics that we love about this dog, but to hopefully have another that’s similar to him. [/QUOTE]

So where did you get him from? I echo the advice of others: return to that source and get a puppy from his lines. It’ll be faster, cheaper, easier, and more likely to achieve your goal of getting a second dog just like him.

You know the rules, right? The COTH Coven demands tributes (in the form of photos!) :yes:.

[Man_in_Black]

Thank you everyone for your input! I’m unfamiliar with dog breeding, hence this post, so much of this information was very helpful.

He is AKC registered. He’s also been health tested (hip, elbows, eyes). Everything is good.

As far as contacting his breeder: They were just a family that bred their female. While this sounds like backyard breeding, when we bought this dog, his papers did show that both the mother and father lines were all registered dogs (I wasn’t going to shell out the amount of money I did for anything that I didn’t think would be bred well). I’m unsure as to how the other pups in the litter turned out as far as being gun dogs, but I would assume many of them have done fairly well. And though flushing chickadees out of our barn and taking him out shooting with doesn’t mean anything in terms of being a hunting dog, the instincts (like with many purebred, working dogs) are still there and very heightened; leading me to think that he would still produce offspring worthy of being good gun dogs. (I probably sound naive, I know…)

I haven’t gone as far as to call his breeder just yet. I wanted to see what others had to say on here. We’ve been throwing around the idea of maybe breeding him and I keep going back to the idea that we didn’t take the time to field train/test him, which was confirmed my inkling that probably no one would like to breed him without being proven.

https://photos.google.com/search/tra
I don’t know if this link will work lol…they’re all puppy photos though (my work computer doesn’t have any recent ones on it)

[Horsegal984]

In order for your dog to be AKC registered all of his lines had to be as well, so saying that it’s not a backyard breeder because they’re registered holds no weight. Your pup is from a BYB who probably would let you breed him to another bitch, because they don’t seem to have high standards to uphold. The things you really need to look at for a high quality breeder are the generations of health testing, the titles (which will be additional letters before/after their names) and a good look at the contract can tell you a lot about the breeder and quality of pups.

Would you mind sharing his registered name? That may help with looking at his bloodlines and some of the genetic testing. You can PM me if you wish, I won’t share it

[Marshfield]

[QUOTE=Man in Black;8742818]

If anyone knows of anyone that would be interested or has any advice/leads on how I can go about finding a girlfriend for him, I’d really appreciate it![/QUOTE]

You’re going to have to put the effort in to titling him in either conformation or Hunt test/Field trial, preferably both in order for anybody with a high quality bitch to have any interest in him. You mention the parents being registered, but no mention of their titles. That’s another strike against him.

I have an untitled, but fully health tested male in my house. Difference being, he is very closely related to a recent, national specialty winner who didn’t live long after that win. His breeder had kept him, but he was too closely related to most of her girls, so she sent him to me. And now, his offspring speak for him. Cracker jack performance dogs. His daughters have been ready to compete in agility as soon as they’re legal age.

[Cruisesmom]

[QUOTE=Man in Black;8743610]
Thank you everyone for your input! I’m unfamiliar with dog breeding, hence this post, so much of this information was very helpful.

He is AKC registered. He’s also been health tested (hip, elbows, eyes). Everything is good.

As far as contacting his breeder: They were just a family that bred their female. While this sounds like backyard breeding, when we bought this dog, his papers did show that both the mother and father lines were all registered dogs (I wasn’t going to shell out the amount of money I did for anything that I didn’t think would be bred well). I’m unsure as to how the other pups in the litter turned out as far as being gun dogs, but I would assume many of them have done fairly well. And though flushing chickadees out of our barn and taking him out shooting with doesn’t mean anything in terms of being a hunting dog, the instincts (like with many purebred, working dogs) are still there and very heightened; leading me to think that he would still produce offspring worthy of being good gun dogs. (I probably sound naive, I know…)

I haven’t gone as far as to call his breeder just yet. I wanted to see what others had to say on here. We’ve been throwing around the idea of maybe breeding him and I keep going back to the idea that we didn’t take the time to field train/test him, which was confirmed my inkling that probably no one would like to breed him without being proven.

https://photos.google.com/search/tra
I don’t know if this link will work lol…they’re all puppy photos though (my work computer doesn’t have any recent ones on it)[/QUOTE]

Health tested? To have a dog correctly tested for breeding purposes, a CERF (eyes) OFA (hips and elbows) is not cheap. Did you have these done?

If you breed him, are you willing to take on a litter of puppies? Can you guarantee homes for all the puppies? Will you take them back when new owners can’t keep them? Will you hold new owners to a spay/neuter contract?

Please keep this all on your mind when considering to breed or not. Take a walk through your local SPCA and see if you want to add to the number of dogs there. Please leave the breeding to the professionals.

[S1969]

Assuming that your dog has a full registration and the health clearances you mentioned, your best bet would be to go back to your breeder.

Sometimes, as Marshfield pointed out, your own breeder might be interested in recovering pedigrees/breeding lines. My first dog was bred 2x by his breeder who had lost his brood bitch and had a semi-related bitch to my dog, and he wanted to recover his side of the pedigree. My dog did have a conformation title at that point, and that made him somewhat more desirable, but his breeder was primarily a hunting dog breeder…so he might have wanted him so long as his health clearances came back ok.

I am ok with “pet” or “hunting” breeding without titles per se, but health clearances are a must…but titles do exactly what we were saying - they “prove” the dog to other people, but it can be possible to “prove” a dog’s hunting skills just by hunting. However, without title(s), the pool of interested breeders will be very small, or non-existent.

That said, if you love the breed - don’t be discouraged by not breeding your own puppy. I have a puppy bred by my stud dog now, but I almost didn’t breed him at all. There are so many great pedigrees out there – and this is coming from someone who is really in love with my own dog – you might really enjoy doing pedigree research and looking into acquiring a dog from another breeding line.

If I had all the time/space/room in the world, I would be looking to acquire puppies from a lot of different breeders, not just my own stud dog.

[Marshfield]

The breeder who sent Trinity to me will end up using Trinity’s grandson who is working on his conformation title now as a precursor to the performance side. Said grandson also has all his clearances done, final hip films still to be done.

[Action42]

I breed, own, and show English Springers in sport as well as conformation. As others have said, there is no reason to allow your to breed your unproven dog to my bitches.

I have spent countless hours and countless dollars researching pedigrees, analyzing structure, training, titling and improving my lines. If your dog isn’t superior in almost every way with titles to prove it, breeding to him would be at least one if not many steps backwards for what I am trying to achieve.

While I have no doubt that he’s a nice dog, going about breeding this way just perpetuates backyard breeding. Having an AKC registration at this time doesn’t mean anything except that his ancestors were registered. Do you see lots of letters before and after his ancestors’ names? Ch, GCH, CGC, CD, CDX, UD, FC, MACH are all good ones to look for. Without them, “well bred” means nothing.

I’d recommend that you find a breeder you admire and get a puppy that way. No sense in producing more mediocre dogs just for one puppy. Many breeders will have nice, officially health tested, pet quality puppies available even from very well bred litters. Not every pup is destined to show!

I’ll be happy to chat more about the breed and help with any advice I can give if you want to PM me.

[Man_in_Black]

[QUOTE=S1969;8743785]
Assuming that your dog has a full registration and the health clearances you mentioned, your best bet would be to go back to your breeder.

Sometimes, as Marshfield pointed out, your own breeder might be interested in recovering pedigrees/breeding lines. My first dog was bred 2x by his breeder who had lost his brood bitch and had a semi-related bitch to my dog, and he wanted to recover his side of the pedigree. My dog did have a conformation title at that point, and that made him somewhat more desirable, but his breeder was primarily a hunting dog breeder…so he might have wanted him so long as his health clearances came back ok.

I am ok with “pet” or “hunting” breeding without titles per se, but health clearances are a must…but titles do exactly what we were saying - they “prove” the dog to other people, but it can be possible to “prove” a dog’s hunting skills just by hunting. However, without title(s), the pool of interested breeders will be very small, or non-existent.

That said, if you love the breed - don’t be discouraged by not breeding your own puppy. I have a puppy bred by my stud dog now, but I almost didn’t breed him at all. There are so many great pedigrees out there – and this is coming from someone who is really in love with my own dog – you might really enjoy doing pedigree research and looking into acquiring a dog from another breeding line.

If I had all the time/space/room in the world, I would be looking to acquire puppies from a lot of different breeders, not just my own stud dog.[/QUOTE]

This is great advice, thank you. Like I said, I have thought about calling the breeder. I haven’t gotten a free second to pull out his records and do some research. I’m not opposed to getting another pup from other lines, either, I just was hoping to get some thoughts on how to go forward with making a sound decision (which obviously for some people would be to not have him bred at all). And that’s fine! Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But I’ve said it before, I’m not interested in having him bred out without being educated and having everything done the right way to ensure a healthy, well bred litter.