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THE STUD DOG

by Rick Beauchamp

A conscientious builder takes great pains and invests considerable time and money to lay the best possible foundation for the structure he is erecting. He would certainly not risk this investment and his reputation on shoddy, bargain-basement materials when it comes to the rest of the building. Nor would he purchase his materials hastily or just because they could be obtained easily near-by.

Neither would an intelligent breeder jeopardize his carefully laid foundation by breeding to a dog which had few or unimpressive credentials. (That foundation, in case you may never have read anything else I've written, is the best bitch or bitches you've been able to get your hands on.) The clever breeder is just as selective in stud dogs as he should have been in assembling that critically important bitch line.

What is a stud dog? When I have asked fanciers for their definition of a stud dog they assume it is a trick question. It appears they believe the answer is so obvious and elementary no one would ask the question if there wasn’t a trick in it somewhere.

There’s really nothing tricky about the question at all. When I ask, I really want to know. The reason I want to know is to help me learn why some fanciers take their magnificently bred bitches and breed them to what I call, "just another dog."

The only stud dog the hobby breeder should ever consider using is one which not only has proven his ability to produce exceptional quality, but one that has an undeniably great track record for producing quality in the area where the bitch needs help.

Quite frankly, most breeds would be extremely fortunate to have more than one or two sires of this kind available to you at any one time. As much as we might want to think differently, and at risk of incurring the ire of male Boxer owners far and wide--let me say, Boxers are no exception.

A logical question one might ask here is, "Well then, with so many male dogs available, why would there be so few stud dogs?"

What Is a Stud Dog?

The answer to that question is that a stud dog has no less importance in breeding dogs than a herd sire has in horses or the stud bull has in cattle. Although there are many male horses and cattle born, very few are used as herd sires. The role is far too important to be filled by any animal less than the very best. Always remember the following:

A stud animal is a male of the species that, by merit of his genetic prepotency, has been proven able to consistently sire offspring of such high caliber they help alter the course of the species in a positive manner.

I realize of course every stud dog was once young and unproven. There is no way possible to know if the youngster will produce well unless he is test bred. But the young unproven dog is not a toy for the unsophisticated breeder to experiment with. He is for the seasoned breeder who knows the background of the youngster, to use. If the hobby breeder is only going to have one or two litters a year why shouldn’t he stack the odds in his own favor and breed to the dog he knows is producing the qualities needed?

The established breeder usually has firm ground on which to anticipate the producing potential of a young male and it would only be upon the recommendation of the experienced that any beginning breeder should attempt to use an "unproven" male. Now, by unproven, I am not speaking of a dog that hasn't sired puppies--he is out of the question for the beginning breeder--I mean the dog that has not established his ability to produce that superior quality I've been talking about. The fact that a dog can produce puppies proves only one thing to me--he's fertile.

Show Dogs and Stud Dogs

So, by this time I am sure you can see that a stud dog is not simply a male dog. Neither do show records or championships have much of anything to do with a dog’s producing ability. Winning in the show ring proves the dog has the quality necessary to win. Siring outstanding offspring is the only thing that proves a sire's ability. A dog can be a truly great show dog and a poor sire. A dog can hate the show ring and never win a point and be an outstanding sire. It is just as simple as that.

The biggest mistake breeders, novice or veteran, can make is to confuse their show dogs with their breeding dogs. They can be the same. We hope they will be the same. Often they are not.

There are those who say show wins are the indicator of a dog’s value to the breed. In other words, if many judges agree a particular dog is the current ideal in its breed they are saying in effect that it should be bred to. I agree--in theory.

You can get every judge in the country to agree that the dog of the hour is the dog of the hour, but that same dog can be a complete disappointment in the breeding department. If a dog’s quality is not realized in the whelping box, all we have is a scrapbook full of ribbons and a box full of win pictures.

This is not to say a winning dog can not also be an outstanding producer. Records prove otherwise. But I can not stress strongly enough that it is the producing ability that must be looked to and not the show record!

Even the outstanding sire can be misused. Most breeds have had those truly wonderful show dogs who develop records that become the envy of one and all. Unfortunately they become the envy of too many who feel if a dog is good enough to win every award in sight, he must be good enough to breed every bitch that has seen lightening or heard thunder.

Many of these fine dogs produce well only with certain kinds of bitches. In a way the popular stud dog that produces well only with certain bitch lines can be very destructive to a breed. A few excellent youngsters emerge from the right combination and the parade begins. Every breedable bitch in the country arrives at his doorstep but the percentage of quality produced is minuscule. The breed takes a big step backward.

The truly great sires are really few and far between. There’s an old saying I heard somewhere along the way that goes something like, "You can breed that one to a fencepost and you’ll still get good pups." They are the rare ones, the ones that any breed is lucky to have.

This will probably come as utter heresy to some but even the mighty "Bangaway" has done as much harm as he has good. His fault? Not entirely. Bangaway brought us elegance, charisma and refinement. All well and good except that his contribution brought us dogs that are that and only that--elegant, charismatic and refined, they are, however, not Boxers.

A dog can not do it all and even if he were able to do it for some you can rest assured he can not do it all for all!

But what about the just plain "good" sires--the ones that must be used carefully. They have their place and if used properly can do a breed a world of good. Bitch owners must be careful not to use these sires indiscriminately and the stud owners should be able to advise the bitch owner on the kind of bitch most suitable for the dog.

No dog should ever be bred to indiscriminately to begin with. If you are going to use a dog for breeding you should have a very specific reason for doing so, and I don’t mean to get puppies! He shouldn’t be used just because you own him, or because he’s related to something you like--these are not valid criteria for using a dog to produce a quality litter for you.

Make sure the stud dog you select doesn’t represent a total departure from what you have been working for. Make sure he fits the blueprint you are working from. Don’t put a colonial frame on a ranch style foundation. You can tinker with the parts within the correct framework with each breeding but you won’t get anywhere by bringing together two individuals who oppose each other in all respects just to improve one single characteristic. Your object is to improve, not reconstruct!

How Much Is "Too Much"?

While no dog is perfect, a stud dog must be basically well made overall and should excel in some respects--again, hopefully in the area or areas in which the bitch needs help.

This brings us to a term called "breed exaggeration". There is a school of thought that believes no dog, whether stud dog or brood bitch, should be exaggerated in any respect. I don’t know if I can go along with that.

While I am not a proponent of "if a little bit is good, a lot more is better," and I certainly don't want a dog to be a caricature of the breed, I do want a stud dog to look like he has enough to give away. If the stud doesn’t have enough for himself its hard for me to believe he’s going to have enough to give to the bitch.

Thus far what we’ve talked about is what the bitch owner should be doing when looking for a stud. But what about the breeder who comes across a dog which he feels is, for whatever the reason, has "all the right stuff?"

We'll talk about that next time.