>My DH is actually considering showing and breeding her. His BF has >a male stud from similar (not the same LOL) blood lines.
Has your female been in heat already? I hope you don't mind my unsolicited advise! I wish someone would have given me that advise. Last year in December I bought a female Mini Australian Shepherd. My intention was not to breed her (mainly due to time constraints), however, I had fallen in love with the dog and the only way to get her was to let the breeder have two litters back. That way I had to pay a little less. At this point, I can only tell you, WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING!!!!! I would lovingly pay any price, so I don't have to go through this again.
If you want to show and breed your dog, it's going to cost you a lot of money, if you want to do it right. Vet cost, x-rays (to make sure the hips are ok - in respect to hip displasia), eye testing, you name it. You will be looking at a couple of thousand $$ before you can breed your dog. Not to mention the papers for registering your dog, and the cost for dog shows. I just coughed up $ 300 for ONE dog show, and that doesn't include hotel, air fare/gas ......
It is recommended to not breed your dog until she is 2 years old. So you will be going through at least 3 heat cycles. Let me tell you from my experience, IT IS A NIGHTMARE!!!
Boy, did I have no clue what I was getting myself into!!! She went into heat the end of March (female dogs go into heat every 6 months and it lasts about 3 weeks) and I didn't recognize my sweet little girl anymore. Her personality and behavior totally changed. Without wanting to go into to much detail .... the rabbitt comparision comes to mind and the "bee and flowers talk" with my kids became obsolete. Now, I have 3 neutered males and didn't think it was going to be a problem. Well, it was, two of them hadn't figured out, that half of their equipment was ..... shall we say, gone.
I had to keep her seperated the whole time and she would go balistic in her kennel, whine, cry, howl, bark .... (you get the picture) and that for hours at a time. Just to put it in perspective, she rarle ever barks and never howls otherwise.
Depending on where you live, you may have all male dogs in a radius of 10 miles show up at your door step and not leave. And there is no fence high enough for a male dog who wants to get to a female. So be prepared to keep her locked up for 3 weeks.
If you decide to breed, you'll need to figure out when her fertile days are (it's not the whole 3 weeks, it's a small window of a few days during those 3 weeks). Experienced breeders can tell, most of us can't, so you may need to get a vet to test and of course, pay. When you breed, you should only breed them every 48 hours and keep them apart for the rest of the time. Lots of fun, I can tell you.
I just went through this in April and I was close to a nervous breakdown - no exaggeration, and I am not someone who gets easily thrown off track!
My dog will be having puppies June 21, I just looked into all the supplies I will need, if she has her puppies at our house. Whelping box, pads, scissors, heatlamp, syringe .... another $ 700, that's if everything goes well and I don't need to call the vet.
After they are born and at 3 weeks or so, they'll have to go to the vet for check up, then there will be deworming, vaccinations and not to mention all the work with cleaning and sozializing the pups.
Be aware, that if you do it right, there is not much money to be made in breeding dogs. Most reputable breeders will do it for the love of the breed and to improve the breed. The ones that are in for the money, are puppy mills, and we all know what that results in!
I hope you are not offended by my unsolicited advise, I just don't want anyone to go into this as unprepared as I was. If you feel you can handle it and you want to do it, go for it, but go into this prepared and with your eyes open.
Carola
