Summer or Winter Litter? - Page 1

I am planning to breed my female for the first time, if her hip rating comes back good. I can have her bred so that the puppies are ready to go at the end of June, or I can skip one heat season, and puppies will be ready to go at the end of December. Please give me a piece of advice, which is better? (We live in Georgia) Also, for her summer litter, she would be 21 month old when bred. Is it too early?

Makosh, my preference are Winter litters, and we live in Southern Maryland. In Winter, we do not have parasites and no heat. You know how hot it gets here. It is easier to heat a whelping area than to cool it down. In December, it is still relatively mild here, the coldest months are January and February. In Georgia, it is even milder. But in June, it can be very hot already. Plus, people are more interested in Summer vacation than in puppies. That is a fact up here. And to comment on your personal situation: I do think that 21 months (although permissable at time of breeding) is a bit young. Just my opinion. Greetings, Chris

I also think 21 mos is too young. In the US, OFA won't certify before 24 mos.

Dear Makosh, you once posted a question on the board asking for kennels near frankfurt. I took the trouble of writing you an answer but could not send it, as I was not registered at the time. Other people have asked you on my behalf to contact me, so that I could send you my reply. You never bothered to do this. As it is very disturbing still seeing it registered in my files, I take the libery of posting the letter here for your convenience: "Hi there Makosh! You might wanna try the website: www.schaeferhunde.de and also the link to the summary of the “Golden Breeders”: www.schaeferhunde.de/10_zucht/zucht_13/htm Mentioned are some of the best breeders in Germany with their names, addresses and so forth. (Look for the ones with “LG 8”, which means “Landesgruppe 8”, the region around Frankfurt. The adjacent LG-numbers are not too far away from that city either. Germany is a very small country!) Should you want to contact them by mail, the chances you will get a reply are quit small. You will need a very personal approach to actually get in touch with them, let alone getting the chance of buying a pup from them. What do you expect? They’re very busy with their dogs! If you’re travelling in August, of course you should go and see the “Siegerhauptzuchtschau” which is held in Karlsruhe this year. It’s not too far away from Frankfurt. (Willi Koch lives in Karlsruhe, his address is on the list, and he is very nice man.) My rough estimate would be that it’s only about a 100 miles south of Frankfurt. The finest dogs will be there, and… their owners/breeders! Call on me if you want further info."

Thanks guys! I guess we going to wait a little and go with the winter litter. You all are uniform about 21 months being too early. I did the “a” stamp though, so it can be done after 1 y. o. Jantie, I am sorry that message has skipped my attention somehow; I would definitely contact you, as I was very interested in your reply. Thank you very much for the link, I am positive it will be very useful for me in the future. I did visit Germany, and it is a very beautiful country. I visited one of the kennels too, and we now considering getting a Quantum Arminius puppy from them. It was awesome experience for me. I met several very famous dogs, as well as people, I took a glance at their handling and training of their dogs also. The people are very nice, but it is true, they will not let the best pups leave their kennel, or country! Unfortunately I could not stay for the Sieger show because of my schedule.