Rights and Responsibilities of the Stud Dog Owner

Dale Martenson of Touche Japanese Chin joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive on the rights and responsibilities of the stud dog owner. The two long-time breeders break down the top five considerations for owners to consider as they decide whether and with which females to breed their male dogs.

Compensation

Stud dog owners typically will choose to either receive a stud fee or the choice of a puppy from the resulting litter in lieu of a stud fee. The amount of the stud fee, timing of when it’s paid and choice of puppy are all items up for discussion amongst the parties, Martenson noted, but whatever is decided should *always* be put in writing in a contract.

Pick and Choose

Owners of popular stud dogs will be in a position to select the ideal mates for their dog. But that requires having specific criteria, knowing the broad background of the breed, the pedigree of both dogs, the health, temperament and potential disqualifying faults and, finally, the ethics of the breeder with whom they are doing business.

Popular Sire Syndrome

Knowing what the “bottlenecks” are in a breed are part of the stud dog owner’s responsibilities. Population genetics come in to play as stud dog owners balance a desire to see beneficial aspects of their dogs used to strengthen the breed with a question of when does that become “too much” and impact the long-term health of the breed as a whole.

Preservation Breeding

Within small gene pools and truly rare breeds, owners of stud dogs will often make different decisions about allowing their dog to be used than owners of more popular breeds. For breeds with these “gene puddles,” the implications of using or not using a particular stud dog carry significantly more weight simply due to the sheer numbers or lack therof.

Relationship Building

“Establish a relationship (with the stud dog owner),” Martenson said. “Because I think right now, breeding requires more of a relationship than it did before. I think that you have to have that. You're just not going to take a phone call and someone comes by with a brucellosis test and breed their bitch and take their check. That's just not today's environment.”