Cocker Spaniel Stud Service - San Luis Obispo county, California

We get many inquiries from people who have a female Cocker Spaniel and are interested in having a litter of puppies. Our boy, Dodger, is available for stud service... but there are a few things you should know before planning on using our male stud to breed with your female Cocker.

First off, a little about Dodger! He has fathered two litters of puppies so far... a litter with our girl, Reese, in February of 2007... and a litter with our girl, Joanna, in August of 2007. Dodger turned two years old in November of 2006 and passed health tests for hip and eye diseases shortly after that. He has an "excellent" rating from the Orthopedic Foundation For Animals.

Dodger is a happy, friendly, and energetic boy who lives for chasing tennis balls and jumping through obstacles in our yard. The Cocker Spaniel breed standard says that Cockers should be "merry"... and Dodger certainly is. If you meet him, you can't help but be impressed by his enthusiasm and and happy spirit.

Dodger's mother (Abby) is the best dog we ever owned, his father is a champion show dog, and three of his four grandparents are champions, too. Check out his pedigree. His name comes from one of the most famous Cocker Spaniels in the show world... Champion Empire's Brooklyn Dodger... who just happens to be his great-grandfather.

The logistics of breeding your dog to our stud

If you're thinking about breeding your girl to Dodger, you're probably wondering about how this all would work. How do we get the two dogs together, how much does it cost, etc. Here are the details.

Your girl needs to be within driving distance of San Luis Obispo county, California. You'll need to bring her to us, and leave her here for about a week during her heat cycle. Dodger doesn't make house calls... you have to bring your girl to him. We don't want to get involved in artificial insemination, or have dogs shipped here via the airlines. Basically, this means rules out just about any female dogs outside of California... unless maybe you want to drive your RV here and camp out at the beach until the two dogs get the job done!

Because it's critical to get the timing just right... we need you to leave your female dog with us for about a week. We want her here beginning about 7-10 days after she begins bleeding during her heat cycle. This will ensure she and Dodger get together at the most fertile part of her cycle. We want the dogs to "tie" several times before your girl goes back home. While a "tie" is not an absolute guarantee of pregnancy... we've never seen a "tie" that didn't result in a litter of puppies!

The stud fee is $500 and this is payable only if Dodger and your dog successfully "tie". If they do "tie" and your dog does not end up pregnant, we will try again for free on her next heat cycle. In addition to providing stud service, we will also be happy to publicize your litter on our web site and forum… which may make it easier for you to locate good homes for some of the puppies.

A few important requirements

Because we are responsible breeders, we won't allow Dodger to breed with just any dog. We expect you to follow the same basic rules of responsible breeding that we follow for all of our litters. Therefore, your dog must meet a few important requirements:

1. Your dog must be AKC registered, a purebred American Cocker Spaniel, and she must be a parti… not a solid color. This will ensure that the puppies will be properly marked.

2. Your dog must be at least two years old. Dogs younger than two should not be bred yet.

2. Your dog's hips must be certified as being free of canine hip dysplasia by the Orthopedic Foundation For Animals. What you do is have your vet take some hip x-rays and then you send the x-rays to the OFA for certification. If your dog is certified as having "excellent", "good", or "fair" hips by the OFA, we consider her suitable for breeding. Dodger's hips are certified by the OFA as "excellent". The reason we require your dog to pass a hip test prior to breeding is to ensure that we do not create a litter of puppies that will inherit a genetic hip disease.

3. Your dog must pass an eye exam by a Veterinary Ophthalmologist to ensure that she does not have cataracts or other inheritable eye diseases. This test cannot be performed by your regular vet… it must be performed by a Veterinary Ophthalmologist. We will need to see a copy of the exam results. If you'd like, you can send the results to the Canine Eye Research Foundation… but we do not require that. We simply want to see the results from the Ophthalmologist. The reason we require your dog to pass an eye test prior to breeding is to ensure that we do not create a litter of puppies that will inherit a genetic eye disease.

4. You must have your vet perform a Brucellosis test on your dog, and you must provide us with a copy of the results indicating that your dog does not have Brucellosis. This is the canine equivalent of venereal disease. The test is simple and inexpensive. We suggest you get this test done a few months before you expect your dog to go in to heat. The reason we want this test done on your dog is for the protection of our dog… we do not want him to get Brucellosis from some infected female.

In short, we ask you to have these tests done as part of being responsible breeders… so we will have a high degree of confidence that the puppies we make will be free of genetic health problems. These are the same requirements we impose on our own dogs prior to breeding.

If you have questions about stud service, or want to make arrangements for Dodger to breed with your dog... contact me.

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Cocker Spaniel Stud Service If you are looking for a stud dog for your female Cocker, here is what you need to know

The logistics of breeding your dog to our stud

A few important requirements

Cocker Spaniel Stud Service
If you are looking for a stud dog for your female Cocker, here is what you need to know