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Why Breed?
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It seems there are two reasons for breeding Bulldogs and French Bulldogs, the right reasons and the wrong reasons.
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- to improve the standard of the breed
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-to breed show winning stock
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- you think it's a good way to make a few bucks
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- you think your pet bitch should have a litter before she is spayed
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These comments may seem harsh but are quite definitive from my experience thus far. There are the genuine, responsible breeders who make the effort to exhibit their dogs and attempt to always better what they have and are accountable for the pups they produce, and then you have the "back-yard" breeder who puts two dogs together and hocks the resultant pups off for as much as possible and doesn't want to know any more about it.
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If you are considering breeding from your bitch, you need to figure out where you fit into this circle. Are you in it for the long haul? What will you do if the purchaser of a pup turns up a year later with a dog with hemi-vertebrae, hip dysplasia or some other disorder? There is much more to breeding than whacking a dog and a bitch of the same breed together, and generally there is little or no money to be gained. All of my litters thus far have cost me several hundred dollars, all my vacation time, two weeks of no sleep and a further three with very little sleep. But at the end of the day I have attained a special pup with my kennel name on it's pedigree, and there is no finer feeling than campaigning that pup through to it's Championship title.
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Starting Out
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The first step to establishing a kennel is the acquisition of a satisfactory foundation bitch. If you do not yet own a Bulldog you shouldn't be considering breeding yet anyway, but you should take the time effort to obtain the healthiest, best conforming bitch pup you can find. She is going to be the foundation of your lines, and needs to be of the highest quality possible. The best way to do this is to attend as many dog shows as possible and approach the successful exhibitors for advise. If you are going to be a responsible breeder as described above you should campaign your bitch at the shows and let the judges advise you of her breeding potential by their placement of her.
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In my opinion, it is not until after your bitch is titled, that you should consider breeding from her. I say this because it is not until you have titled a dog that you realise the time, effort and expense involved, and this will give you an appreciation for the dedication required of a responsible breeder. I also believe that a bitch requires at least 2 years to fully mature before she should be mated, and this is my policy.
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Approach the breeder of your bitch for advice on the best selection of a suitable stud. They will have the greater knowledge of their own bloodlines and will make your decision that much more effective.
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Stud Selection
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Selecting a suitable stud for your bitch is a complicated procedure. There are many things to take into account:
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- compatibility of the bloodlines
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The first step is to evaluate your bitch honestly against the standard. You need to select a stud that does not share her weaknesses. He must be strong in those areas she is lacking. Double faulting will only make the fault more prevalent among the offspring. Do not look for and exaggeration in one area to compensate for lack of a feature - such as top-line. i.e.: do not think that if you breed a dog with a camel back to a bitch with a flat top-line that you will get puppies with all nice roach backs. You will likely get puppies exhibiting both faults. The dog you use should be correct, no more.
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Next consider the health of the dog, does it or it's parents have any known health problems? If so, it is best to find a dog of better health even if the conformation is not quite so good. A sickly Bulldog will not win any prizes, only angry and frustrated puppy buyers who have a poorly bulldog to care for.
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Temperament is very important also. A dog no matter how gorgeous, will not win any prizes if it cannot be handled or is aggressive.
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Now look at the dogs pedigree. There is a lot of information on a pedigree. Although a dog may have a lot of Champions behind him, it does not necessarily mean he will be or will produce champions.
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There are basically three types of mating:
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Line-breeding is the mating of dogs which are distantly related. Dogs resulting from mating of cousins and further removed relatives are what I would term line-bred. Line-bred dogs have have similar pedigrees, and share common ancestry over the last few generations. The benefits of line breeding are that you tend to produce more consistent litters, but of course you must be working with very good stock or you will probably not improve your lines significantly. This is more of a "polishing" process. Most highly successful dogs are the result of line-breeding.
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Inbreeding is the mating of close relatives - Grandsire / Granddaughter etc. I would not recommend this type of mating to the novice breeder. You need to have a great deal of knowledge about the dogs in the pedigrees as any faults or health problems will be substantially magnified. It has the potential to produce a stunning specimen or a terrible specimen, and is best avoided.
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Out-crossing is the mating of effectively unrelated dogs. The type of mating produces more variety amongst the offspring and generally weakens the type of the either Parent. If the parents are of similar proportions and symmetry however, then this may not be the case. Out-crossing is bit of a pig and a poke, as they say, as you can never be certain what will come of it - the genetic potential is much greater as there is a more diverse gene pool.
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When you are starting out, you will need to out-cross initially to bring more bloodlines into your kennel. If this is the case you need to forget the pedigree and evaluate the dog on it's physiology and previous stud work. IMO the best dog to use is a dog which has been line bred. This kind of dog has a much more chance of throwing typey puppies, and replicating itself than a stud that was itself a product of an out-cross.
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Performance of the stud can be an issue, some dogs have low sperm counts etc, but if the stud is proven you should have no problems.
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Be sure to get a written contract describing the stud fee, and any obligations of either party, so that there is no misunderstandings and problems afterwards.
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Mating
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Mating Bulldogs is easier said than done.
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First you need to determine when the bitch is ready to be mated. Generally, most bitches have about an eighteen day cycle, with the bitches ovulating at 10 - 12 days. However, there are many exceptions. We have had bitches ovulate from between 4 days to 15 days from the first signs of heat. The best way to predict when a bitch is going to ovulate is to perform progesterone tests. These characterise the bitches heat. The values obtained are compared to a standard curve of progesterone levels for a typical heat cycle. The can then estimate how many days from the last test it will be before the bitch ovulates. This technique generally gives you a few days notice so that you can organise the mating easily.
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Other techniques in use are simple microscopic techniques, to examine cells scraped from the bitches vagina. The cells change shape as ovulation approaches. Or to simply rely on the dog's ability to sense the correct time, this surprisingly is the least accurate technique. One bitch of ours ovulates at 15 days and by this time the dog is no longer interested.
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Now you need to organise a time for the mating. It is generally a good idea to perform two or three mating to span the bitches ovulation period.The mating process can be difficult as males can be awkward, or tire before they have mounted successfully, or bitches may be non-receptive. It is common practice in many countries, to opt for AI's rather than natural mating. There are many reasons for this some good and some not so good. The benefits are:
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