I have NEVER bred a female under 22 months. BUT I have an 18 month old who I am dying to breed to 10yo sire. Proven mix of the lines as I did it before with this girl's mum. Resulting in dead tie between my best two litters of all time in all ways (temperament,health,type,tainability,workability,etc..... Male will give me everything I want. I would probably keep the entire litter this time! Kick myself for letting any go.

1) I am just so reluctant on a younger bitch
2) I don't want to miss the chance to use this dog again
3) Waiting 6 months is a 50-50 as he may be viable or
not

Clearances for us here never get worse with age, only better

What do you think?

I would say this is one of those times when you know best what could or should be done. I was wondering if you could reserve frozen on him? Maybe enough for 2 breedings? I have bred a 24 month old, but not younger.

Don't get handcuffed by someone elses guidelines. You are not looking to overbreed or exploit this bitch. You have legitimate reasons and should only be considering whether or not you feel ok with it.

I personally wouldn't hesitate to do the breeding. In Canada hips and elbows can be certified at 18 months and in some European countries at one year. You are not talking about breeding a bitch on her first heat without any health clearances or concern about who the stud is. This is a well thought out litter. If you feel your girl is mature enough (physically and mentally) to handle it then go for it! Good luck and enjoy the litter!

I'd wait the 6 months and sleep well about it.

Its a chance you take if he's viable at any age. I don't understand why the 6 months is going to make or break it.

I have a boy here who I pray hangs in long enough to breed a bitch I have here. I tell him so every day. I am thinking about having him collected and frozen, just in case. If it takes all the straws I can get to inseminate just one time, that will be OK with me.

I am not sure why folks wait to collect/freeze a good sire until he is old. The best time to collect/freeze is when a dog is in his prime. Then you do not put yourself into a corner with these types of dilema's.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

You have three options; You can breed her now on her prelims, wait and hope he's still viable next heat, or collect and freeze for later. The choice is yours. You are the one who has to live with it, you and your girl.

If you want to do it, but are afraid what others think, don't let that be the deciding factor. You breed for yourself, not everyone else.

As a general rule, I don't recommend breeding a girl that young. Then again, there are always exceptions to the rule. Humans made the 24 month rule, not mother nature--otherwise she wouldn't even be in heat yet.

I'm sure you can find pros and cons to each side, but at the end of the day, you do what's best for you and your breeding program. Sounds like an exciting litter!

Prelim her & go from there! If she's clear breed her

Breed her! You could be sorry if you wait.

Or be sorry you didn't wait just 6 more months. Freeze him then breed when you know, too many dysplastic Labs out there already to risk it. But we all have our own set of standards & priorities.

Breed her if she's mature enough and has at LEAST a good rating on prelims.
I have once bred a 19 month old bitch because the stud was visiting from another country and leaving soon.
Worked out great and all was well.

Not a good idea to freeze a ten year old dog.
Ask a specialist. The best time to freeze is in their prime young years, not senior years. It could be very costly and senseless. I did it.

thanks for all your kind input. It is a big decision on many levels. I have never had less than a good or Excellent prelim or final in my personal dogs. Nice line that only gets better with age! I will ponder and ponder, but she may come into season in the next couple weeks. I have x-rayed in season and gotten Excellents. Thanks again for all the advice.

Have a good day. i will keep you posted.

Don't jus think about collecting & freezing his semen......... Do it!!!! ....... before it's too late ...... if he has produced that nicely in the past.

I'm sorry to speak-up in middle of this to a nother listee......

OP ....... I would get straws from that dog ...... let your bitch mature be for you breed her .......... No matter what .... if it were my bitch witch it isn't ....... I wouldn't breed her ......... not at 18 mo. A tough decision ...... for you....... Have you ever bred a bitch that young b4?

This is JMHO and what I would do ........ you can do it whatever way you want .... and as someone else said ....... only you need to live with the decision ........GL .............

Whoa. What about your girl? I think it is important to think about how mature she is -some bitches are just way to immature to have a litter at 18 mos. They are still babies at this age and having a litter is a lot to ask. If the sire is healthy, I'd wait

I bred an 18 month old girl on OVC clearances. She had a very fast delivery, and delivered 10 beautiful puppies. She was very nervous with the first sounds of them, but after whelping was done, and she was cleaned up, she layed with them and never wanted to leave them.
She was the best mother I've ever had.
Her second litter went as smooth, and again, a great mother. I retired her early, placed her in a wonderful home. She deserved it.

Do you belong to a club that has a code of ethics? Our club's Code of Ethics says you will not breed a bitch prior to 2 years of age.

Do you people think that 2 years is a magic number? Interesting that the magic numbers are different in different countries. Guess hips are different around the world. And then there is the PennHIP number of 4 months. I guess you wouldn't think that counts as one of the magic numbers.

Why does this remind me of Cinderella?

Yes I do. I belong to several. Other than the Canadian Kennel Club , there is the code of ethics outlined here for just one that I belong to:
http://labradorowners.com/code.html

It states not before 18 months of age, and states clearances must be in place. OVC hips and elbows were certified at 18 months of age. Eyes were CERF'd as a 7 week old puppy and at a year old, subsequently again without any problems at 2 years of age, and so on.

We know the code of ethics and abide by them. I must not belong to the same club you do.

Our dog was physically mature, and physically sound. Would I do it with just any girl? No. I have a 25 month old female here with all her clearances, but she will not be bred on her next heat. She has so much more "growing up" to do first.

See also when the Seeing Eye starts and ends breeding. A former vet for them, a repro specialist, says they start younger than most hobby breeders, using Penn Hip, and do back to back for a few years, then the girl is retired from breeding with a long life still ahead of her. The Seeing Eye is leading research in our breed, for I doubt that we would have had Optigen without them, after they bred blind dogs by focusing too tightly (pun intended) on great hips. Most of our codes of ethics would not allow for the common practices of the largest Lab breeder in NJ. I don't know what the other guide dog/service dog schools do, and my info is secondhand. The subject came up when I talked about just such a situation with an older boy and a younger girl with prelims. I didn't do the breeding, due to other considerations in my life, but it made me think. If the girl is prelimmed and /or Penn Hipped, and the boy is healthy, you could go for it if after carefully examining the dogs, the pedigree, and the economy/puppy market, etc. I have yet to breed a young girl, but you have better reasons than many breeding an older girl.

Actually I think more like 3 years is the magic number. Clearances done, has matured some, been showing, doing obedience. Getting to be a Labrador.
Can be a mother later. Like we think this girl will have the perfect pup for us. She has time.