[Scubabe]

After reading another post on here a few mins ago and having a good old chuckle at the comedy of errors which made up a mating There were a few questions raised in the thread about stud dog owners having "facilities" available for the mating and the tie.

It just struck me as quite strange that in the thread I was giggling at, the stud dog was immediately brought out to the bitch (who was still in the car) and the mating & tie happened there on the front driveway. If I were paying for a stud service I'd kinda hope that there would be a little more forethought go into the practicalities...

My mum has been breeding for years and all matings & ties occurred in the carport - which, while not a completely enclosed garage or outhouse, at least had a roof on and a wall so the neighbours weren't watching the entire event, and it had protection from the elements while still allowing a cool breeze to come through for a long tie in the middle of summer (in Australia it's sun, not rain, you need to worry about).

It got me wondering what is "usual" for owners/handlers of stud dogs in the UK - where do your boys get down to business, and what is your usual practice?

 

[Ockey]

Although i am new to this myself and have only studded twice, (2 covering each time), this is what i do is as follows.

Firstly :-If kids are at home they are definetly in the house and not looking out of the window.

As my covering have taken place on an evening 1st take my dog for a short walk to relieve himself, don't give him any tea and look him up in his outside run / kennel in back garden.

When bitch owners arrives bring them into the back garden via side of house (NOT through house as Barney spent a further hour sniffing where she had been after she had gone).

Let the bitch off - Barney wagging his tail in his run and then let him out and on all ocasions they have had a bit of a play then get 'down to it'.

The first dog on both occasions it was more or less straight in, then we gently stepped in and held the dog (15 min tie)

Second dog gave him the run around for over 1/2 hour to the point we thought even though 12th day and all right signs in place mustn't be ready, then she stood for him, he was knackered before he started (33 min tie one day 40 min tie another with me sat on my little wooden stool!)

The last occasion i actually met up with the owner before hand so we could meet each others dog

Then more or less after, after giving them a drink and a treat, put Barney back in his run till bitch has gone. 1/2 hour or soon later give him his well earned tea!!

Oh and one point warn the neighbours, my first covering the maiden bitch screamed it was awful only for a second or two, then when Barney tried to swing his leg over to go back to back he screamed as well, so now i won't let him go back to back as he got twisted. Next doors dog went loopy at these screaming so i just let the neighbours know if a covering is taking place.

That my way anyway!!

 

[Guest]

If I were paying for a stud service I'd kinda hope that there would be a little more forethought go into the practicalities...

Not that I know the first thing about Stud work but now I have this mental image of a Sleazy Joint, with red flock wallpaper, dimmed lighting, "in the mood" music and loads of top shelf magazines lying around. 8O :wink: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Diana]

... a little fine food. A chilled bottle of fizz... his best shagging trousers neatly ironed. That sort of image Jules? ;-) ;-)

Garage all the way for us ;-)
Garden if we need a bit of height differential help (up hills, down holes etc).
I never have the happy couple pounding round the garden aimlessly. They both just get exhausted and if it DOES happen, you are the other end of the garden away as she spins and flips with him plugged in, possibly breaking his whatsit ;-) If it moves to 'outside lurrve' then the bitch is on a lead and positioned where she is needed, to save lots of useless galloping about.

Such fun!
Di

 

[Guest]

... a little fine food. A chilled bottle of fizz... his best shagging trousers neatly ironed. That sort of image Jules? ;-) ;-)

Yeah that's the sort of thing Di......Do you mean it isn't like that??? 8O :lol: :lol:

 

[sue51]

:lol: :lol: @ Jules

I haven't stood a dog at stud (one day who knows?) - but with the visits we've made - two were inside, one outside, but all in 'dedicated areas' when I worked in the kennels, they were outside in the yard (well over 20 years ago) and table top dogs anyway (and one of the only times I've been bitten :roll: )

It is one thing I have given thought to though not having a garage - so suspect for us it would be kitchen or possibly will need to put up some awning off the back of the bathroom outside (which would be handy for the pool anyway )

 

[Ettinsmoor]

I have my big covered run area now.

However I do remember one of my Gem x Rocky matings being on the patio in the summer and sitting there on my little stool holding them in the tie and having a conversation with the postman at the same time . With quite a few grunting sound effects too .

 

[druimmuir]

I have a mating kennel opposite the kitchen window, nowt posh but it's covered and you can leave them in peace then nip out at the right moment, and watch discretely from the window too.

Nic

 

[Feebarn]

I have a mating kennel opposite the kitchen window

Its a love shack! 8)

 

[JohnW]

Oh dear. The last time we mated Lucy was, as I've said before, in the middle of the fens in freezing fog and pitch black dark one Christmas eve. Barbara, the stud dog owner supported Star and I held Lucy during the tie, and Barbara's husband supplied a couple of straw bales for us to sit on.

All the comforts of home!

Regards, John

 

[Diana]

;-) at John. I have to admit to have had MY girls mated in some funny old places, or occasionally met someone half way, if it happened to be more convenient for me, with one of the dogs, and had ourselves a bit of free love in the sun.... but never 'freezing fog on a Fen' ;-) Hope the pups were named accordingly??? ;-)

When all is said and done dogs will mate anywhere - if you DON'T want them to ;-) - you could book them a suite at the Ritz if you DO, and you can be sure they probably won't have any of it... grin.....

But its about how it looks to paying customers that counts and sitting in the pouring rain on a muddy bit of grass tends to give a little less of a professional feel to it than somewhere reasonably dry, dedicated and clean ;-) On a more serious note, I have often OFTEN heard from bitch owners talk about how 'they consider their bitch came away with an infection' because the mating facilities weren't up to much.

They are almost certainly COMPLETELY wrong, and that infection was lurking for weeks beforehand in their bitch, or it was hormonally induced, but never the less, they will whisper to enough people (rarely the poor stud dog owner who could possibly have used the feedback constructively of course!) and that is never a good thing for a stud dog owner.

Everyone who gets a litter of ten healthy pups from one ten minute tie won't care if you do it in a cow shed (complete with cows!) but if they have problems, miss, bitch has an infection, pups are not quite right etc etc you can be sure something to do with poor mating facilities will end up being to blame....

Di

 

[_Jac_]

Oh dear. The last time we mated Lucy was, as I've said before, in the middle of the fens in freezing fog and pitch black dark one Christmas eve. Barbara, the stud dog owner supported Star and I held Lucy during the tie, and Barbara's husband supplied a couple of straw bales for us to sit on.

All the comforts of home!

Regards, John

What are you doing this christmas eve John? We will need a third pair of hands :lol:

 

[JohnW]

I'm too old for all that now Jac. It's pipe, slippers and velvet smoking jacket time. Complete with matching pill box hat.

John :lol:

 

[Rivermeadow-KMH]

When Fife had his girlies the procedure was - bitch in back garden, having pre warned neighbours (they can't really see much unless from upstairs but just in case). Let bitch have sniff around and wee. Let Fife out. He normally sniffs about where bitch has been. let them have short "introuctionary chat" loose in garden (small garden so can't go far). Then slip lead on bitch and owner sits in chair / on bench while Fife got on with it. Then I sit down and hold him during tie. Plenty of tea for humans and cuddles for dogs.

Only time it didn't work was when bitch was brought by exerienced breeding friend, and she had missed the ideal day. Friend tried to "Help" Fife, who looked highly embarrassed, and bitch wasn't having any of it. We had the tea, the biscuits and a chat. Dogs said "see ya around love" and that was that!


Re infections, Di, a lady you and I both know suggested to me that I ask every bitch owner to get their bitch checked for infections a few weeks before they bring her. That way they can have ABs if needed before the mating. What are other folks views on this? I did always suggest this to the bitch owners, but left it to them if they actually did do it. Does one normally check stud dogs checked for STD too? I didn't with Fife but he didn't have many bitches. If his two sons are used, I would like to make sure I do everything right.

Thanks

Katy

 

[Kendra]

Just out of sheer curiosity, and because I know nothing about this sort of thing (well OBVIOUSLY I know the basics!!! :lol, how do you "help" with a tie and indeed, why would you?

 

[Rivermeadow-KMH]

Just out of sheer curiosity, and because I know nothing about this sort of thing (well OBVIOUSLY I know the basics!!! :lol, how do you "help" with a tie and indeed, why would you?

Well basically the dog and bitch are stuck together and cannot seperate until muscles relax. They don't understand this and may well try to go their seperate ways before they are physically able to. So you sit next to them, or kneel, or bend and have a bad back, and just keep them both dogs calm and still until such a point as nature says "ok, you can go now". Usually the dog will get off the bitch's back and lift his leg over her, so they stand bottom to bottom, and sometimes they need gentle help to do that. The potential for hurting the dog is the reason that you steady them.

I have to say I always find it rather amusing - wham, bang, thank you ma'm, and then standing bottom to bottom for ages!!!

Katy

 

[Diana]

Ab's for visiting bitches.

Katy, some have had a bad experience with maybe their own bitch or one or two visiting girls, and so get rather 'extreme' and insist on this. My own opinion is its 99.9% of the time totally unnecessary and I would not use a dog that insisted upon it as there is no way I would give my bitch a course of unnecessary medication just before she is mated.

Our own experiences form our opinions however and over the years I have found many vets who would not even consider dishing out AB's on a whim of a stud dog owner.

It also of course then doesn't take into account the folks who ring saying 'been elsewhere, can't get the job done, can we use your boy and come today?!'.

However there are bitches who having had previous bad experiences with developing a post mating infection, will have responsible owners who will use them as a matter of course but that is THEIR choice to do so and for a good reason, to prevent it happening again if they can....

You can swab your dog every few bitches to see if an infection is lurking, so you offer him 'clean' as such... but to be honest most vets will not, again, give AB's 'just in case' and rightly so. Its not common practice however. Of course if you have a bitch owner call and say her bitch developed an infection after being mated, you can't know if it came from your boy, the enviroment pre or post mating, hormonal release or whatever.... so if you get that call best to go and get a swab done to check you are in the clear. Otherwise, its rare as hens teeth to have a problem to the sort of bitches with the sort of owners you would happil;y accept, so try not to worry too much till you have something to worry about (if you know what i mean).

Di

 

[Rivermeadow-KMH]

Thanks for that Di. I think what the lady meant was "get the bitch tested in case she had an infection, in which case it could be treated before the mating", not just give medication willy nilly. I suspect you may be right that she had had a problem years ago, plus she has a friend who is a vet!

However, good advice on your side, noted and added to info!

Many thanks

Katy

 

[Blypark]

I wouldn't want my bitch pumped with AB's, if I thought she may have an infection, I certainly wouldn't be mating her full stop.
I used to have a little milking stool which I used when the dogs tied, it was just the right height to pop my knees under the bitch. couldn't do it now - too old and too fat.
Sherry