Page 72 - K9News_Issue12_July2020

Brace’s

BIT
BITS & PIECESS & PIECES

Are Breeders Hasty

With Male Puppies?

by Andrew Brace

Some months ago, Richard Edwards made, where to go for a new stud dog in the future.
a lengthy post on Facebook in which he
expressed great concern for the lack of numbers That set me thinking and I have a notion as to
in males, and more importantly top quality why this should be. Most of our breeders are
males, being shown in his breed, the Labrador these days small-scale breeders who do not
Retriever. Richard is one of the most level- run large establishments which were in the
headed of commentators with an unrivalled
commitment to his breed and anything he writes
should be read carefully and thought about.
Richard mentions the lack of large kennels that
in the past would have fielded a team of stud
dogs, along with the ever-increasing requisite
health tests as two contributing factors but
as this problem is not confined to Labradors I
believe there is another valid reason for breeds
suffering from a lack of potential stud dogs.

A few years ago I judged three breeds at one of
our general Championship shows with decent
entries for the current climate and wondered
whether it was entirely coincidental that I left
each ring having come to the same conclusion,
that being that there was no depth in the male
classes but the bitches showed some strength.
One of the breeds was a breed with which I
have been very involved and I pondered that,
were I still breeding, I would be at a loss to know

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K9 NEWS DIGITAL / JULY 2020