New puppy owner of a German shepherd! Newbie questions - Page 1

As far as X-rays, blood work, anything and everything.
We plan on eventually breeding her & I want to make sure her pedigree & everything as far as hip elbows all her X-rays an everything are done.
How exactly does this work? What should I be doing as far as health wise as a puppy or even as she gets older?

Just curious, this may be a stupid question but I've always wondered how this works!

Any advice would be helpful!

I personally have hips and elbows checked at 12ish months if something I have is showing great promise to be kept as a breeding or working prospect. Anything I buy 6+ months will be xrayed prior to purchase. Training is an investment, and I would rather know early if there are issues. I do PennHip about 18 months of age, and OFA hips and elbows at 2 years of age. As far as health stuff with your puppy goes, maintaining age appropriate vaccinations and following a deworming schedule is about all you can do. I would take any "plans" of using this puppy for breeding and pause them. Selecting a puppy that will live up to your breeding expectations and requirements is a total crapshoot. They change so much. I certainly have bought puppies with the intentions of working them up as breeding prospects, some of them met my standards, some not. Breeding prospects I prefer to aquire older in age, although I really enjoy working up puppies. 

Right now enjoy your new little addition! What are your plans with her? Any photos? 

Good luck, and have fun with her! :-)

Here are a few things you should be doing yesterday. There is a lot more to breeding than this.
Raise your pup in an environment that exercises its mind and body in a confident manner. The critical time to imprint happens before she reaches four months of age. Part of having good joints is having good muscles and ligaments that keep the joints together. Read Joanro's recent post on this subject, this is something not everyone understands.
Get involved in an activity that challenges you and your dog. Prospective buyers should want to see your dogs achievements and that you know what you are doing. You need to learn canine behaviour so that you know what you are creating. Knowing the proper environment you are placing the puppies in and being able to handle problems between puppies and buyers rely on this.
Find and have a good relationship with a veterinarian who is a reproductive specialist who can give you good advice and who you can turn to if things go wrong 3am on a Sunday morning. Keep in mind you will have living beings who rely on you for their health and their well being.
Read negative posts about breeders and think if you really want to get involved in breeding. Some complaints are legitimate, but some are due to the psychopaths that will inevitably find you and come to your home. Are you prepared to have strangers come to your home potentially bringing diseases they brought from other kennels they visited?
The best way to breed is to have a mentor you can learn from. Learn about breed surveys just to give you an idea. The founders of the breed instituted a system that is still around today that requires each breeding dog to have show titles, working titles, hips and elbows certified, DNA tested. The dogs are scrutinized down to the teeth to ensure that it is within the standard.

Agree with both posters above and would like to add to the environmental care of your puppy: Keep her lean yet well nourished; DO NOT over exercise her while she is growing up; meaning she should not be trying to keep up with her master or anyone else while human is jogging; good on leash walks at her pace are great, remember you are trying to build and strengthen an athlete; NOT running and winning a marathon.

There is quite a bit of info on nutrition on this site possibly look into that and make sure you have her on a recommended diet that works for her.

Above all enjoy every moment as they stay puppies a very short time. Best of luck to you, Nan

Pic's we all love; also pedigree...

 

Personally since you have such high expectations for this girl I would probably do a prelim hip/elbow x-ray at 6 months.  That way you will have a preview of what things look like, its a young age BUT if they are not good at that age very possibly they will not improve at an older age.  I have seen them improve at a later age very minimally so the 6 month age x-ray can show you a pretty good picture of what the hips and elbows are going to be;  no 100% but enough information for future work habits also.  Be sure you check out the orthopedic experience your vet has and go to someone that has a lot of experience with x-raying for OFA or SV.  I personally do not want to put a puppy through Penn Hip.  I feel OFA is adequate and reliable enough with an x-ray.  BOL  Nan