I have a flat coated retriever dog which i wish to breed from. However, i am struggling to find a bitch in the sussex area. Can anyone help? Thanks.

Welcome to the forum Lyndsey Leigh

hi lyndsey,
returning a reply to your message about finding a bitch for your dog.to go to stud,well first is he a pet or a show,working,has he had is hips scored,eyes tested,how old is he,are you a member of the flatcoat socitey,and why do you want him to go to stud,the owner of the bitch ask the stud owner to use their dog not the other way around,the stud owner have to help out the bitch owner in away of after care of the sale of the pups.its not very easy to be a stud dog owner or a breeder without problems,i have 4 flatcoats which i have been in the breed for 14 years, and only breed 1 litter two years a go,my stud dog has gone to stud 4 times and i help out all the bitch owners from mateing to the sale of the puppys,if you have any problems i am the area rep for the breed,so if i do not know, i konw someone who will,
ps what is his pedgree,what colour,and where about in sussex do you live,

Welcome to the forum briedog Leigh

Hi Lyndsey,
I am in a similar position, I have a stud dog, and no bitches to mate with him at present. I work my dog to the gun and he is a really good picking up dog so people do make enquiries about using him at stud. I always like to invite potential breeders who wish to use my stud dog to come and see him working. Show dogs have a high profile in the show ring, so their owners will get enquiries.
If you want to breed a litter and do not show or work your dog there will be little interest in the resulting puppies, unless the bitch he is mated to is a good example of a working or show bitch. So you will probably find you will have to buy a puppy bitch and wait until she is old enough to breed from. Older bitches in the breed are very hard to find as they are usually kept by their owners.
Before you breed any flatcoats you MUST ensure that both the male and female have been tested for Primary Glaucoma, under the British veterinary Association / Kennel Club scheme. They Must also be hip scored under the same scheme. I can give you more details about these schemes as I am involved with eye testing and know plenty about hip scoring,.... infact I can even be boring about them! lol
For eye testing your nearest contact is Mrs Rona Dixon email ronadixon13@btopenworld.com
Or my session at Haddenham Bucks on October 9th with Prof. Bedford.
I would suggest very strongly that you join the Surrey group flatcoats, they train throughout Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire. The contact for Surrey is Sue Clarke on 01628 825691, or Jill Whitwell 01483 416982. They are a very good group which will help you with your dog and perhaps help you in the long run find the right bitch for him. What breeding is your dog? Is it working bred? I would be interested to hear more about him.
Ring me if you prefer after 1pm during the week on 01844 299508 or email foxpath4@yahoo.com I have had flatcoats for over 20 years, so hopefully may be able to help.

First of all i would like to thank all of you; Polly, Briedog, and JoFlatcoat for all your replies. I thought i would answer all your questions together. The reason why i wish to breed from my flatie is because as my dog gets older i realised that the only dog i would want in the future would be another flatie. My dog is such a sweet natured dog that i would love to breed from him once to keep one of his puppies. He is black and will be 7 on the 29th of November this year, so i want to breed from before he gets too old. He is registered with the Kennel Club, his registered name is Moja Mti but we call him Mo! Both his parents have had their eyes tested and hips scored, will he need the same? His 5 year pedigree shows that he has been bred from many showing champions through the generations. To name but a few: PARKBURN DEEXTENZING OF CASUARINA, CREEKSIDE BUBBLES OF CASUARINA, PARKBURN BRANDY BOY, THE PARK DAWN, PARKBURN DEEXTENZING OF CASUARINA, TORWOOD TRADER, WITHYBED COUNTRY LAD, (G.G.G PARENT) SHARGLEAM BLACKCAP - SUPREME CHAMPION AT CRUFTS 1980, SHARGLEAM FIELDFARE. Does any one recognise these? Looking at his pedigree i noticed there are some intials beside some of the dogs: SDC-A, SDC-B and FTA, what do these mean? His sire is Scheindubh Orrin and his dam is Kesho of Hickstead. He was bred by Mr and Mrs Delves from Hickstead.
As you can see he has excellent show bloodlines but we got him purely as a pet and have never wanted to show him at a professional level.
We live in the East Sussex area and are looking for someone who owns a flatie bitch and wants to breed. On talking to my vet, i found out that he to owns a flatie and wants a puppy but his dog is 13yrs and so is too old to breed from. He said he may have client who may want to breed from her flatie bitch and if so he would like one of the puppies too.
So it looks like my search could be over, fingers crossed! Thanks for all your help and any more advice will be gratefully received.

Your dog is from lines which are very well known in the breed. SDC A and SDC B are Shooting Dog Certificate winners the A and B are differing grades and are valued within the breed. FTA is and unofficial title which means Field Trials Award winner. The only thing I will say to you is that much as you may want a litter from him, at his age he may not be able to respond.

Regards, John

Lyndsay - I'm sure you must have realised that you really must have your dog's hips scored and eyes tested - the problem with this in an older dog, and come to that, any flatcoat, is that you need (according to another post of Leigh's) a general anaesthetic for the hip score, which puts your dog at risk. Flatcoats have a known sensitivity to anaesthetic, so you have to be really careful which vet you use.

Also, goes without saying, don't just accept any old bitch because the owner is willling - there may be apparent financial attractions for them. Again, I would be very willing to come over aand help on all of this if it helps.

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

I think we would all be fascinated to know of your dog's breeding. If you contact me by e-mail, I am often in the Brighton area, and live in Haslemere, so could pop in and see you if you like. Polly and Briedog have mentioned everything else you need to know.

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

jo have you guest who is briedog ?

Oh Yes! Thinly disguised, briedog!!!

Took Tilda for her first day's picking up yesterday with Noof and her Mum - behaved beautifully.

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

Hi Lyndsey,
Having looked at your dogs pedigree I would suggest you contact the Burrs who own the sire of your dog. They live very close to you! tel:01444 892357. They will have specialist knowledge of your dog's lines and will be very helpful I am sure. I will let them know you may be ringing them. I agree with Jo about getting the bitch as well as your dog eye tested and hip scored.
Polly & the Foxpath Flatcoats.

I would just like to thank everybody again for all their replies and advice. The information you have given me is helping greatly with my search. Those of you that have been kind enough to leave contact numbers and email addresses, i will be in touch shortly. I was very pleased to find out that my dog has a good pedigree. If we do breed from Mo, we will definately have his eyes and hips checked first. I'll leave another message here as soon as i have any more information on our progress. Thanks again. Lyndsey.