Look for Drama in the show rings this spring and summer.
Look for Drama in the show rings this spring and summer.
On occasion, we will breed our studs to select outsiders that meet our requirements. However, we only breed each stud dog to a limited number of outsiders a year, so early reservations are recommended.
Your US/Canadian girl must be registered with AKC or CKC (CANADIAN Kennel Club). She must have full registration and breeding rights, be DNA profiled with her registry, be permanently identified with a microchip, and must have PASSING hip, elbow, and eye clearances, and be cleared of AMPN. We will, on rare occasions, breed to a female that is a genetic carrier, as long as all other criteria have been met.
Girls living overseas must be registered with their FCI member registry, have PASSING hip, elbow, and eye clearances, and be cleared of AMPN. We will, on rare occasions, breed to a female that is a genetic carrier, as long as all other criteria have been met.
You also must send us copies of her title certificates, a copy of her 3-generation pedigree, and copies of her health clearance certificates, either OFA or overseas.
For girls that do not live in the US or Canada, we require individual health testing since CHIC is only OFA.
OR
OR
OR
OR
OR
On rare occasions, we may consider stud service to a girl who has not obtained any titles, but this is on a case-by-case basis.
Because a breed is only as strong as the weakest genetic link. Our goal is to improve or at least maintain the breed’s genetic strength, and we can only do this if our dogs are bred to quality partners. When mediocre or poor quality girls are bred to our stud dogs, this does nothing to improve the breed. Breeding up takes generations of sub-par dogs being produced, and that is not in the breed’s best interest. Titles and health certifications help to show a dog is genetically sound.
We get asked this question quite frequently. The answer is NO. This is simply because there are too many mixed-breed dogs looking for homes as it is. We have seen too often where breeders produced a mixed breed litter attempting to create a working line (for instance crossing a GSD with a Doberman or a Malinois or crossing a Malamute and a Siberian)
On occasion, this mix might turn out the way you hope, with all the puppies inheriting the best traits of both breeds. But this is the exception to the rule. More often, the opposite is true. The puppies normally inherit the worst traits of each breed and a diluted working temperament. Often the puppies, as all mixed breeds tend to do, grow up with an identity crisis of sorts, due to conflicting genetic temperaments. When this problem happens, the puppies are dumped in rescues, causing more overcrowding.
As for unregistered and pet registry dogs, there is a reason she does not have legitimate, (or any) papers. Often it’s a case of a dog that has legitimate registration but was sold with no breeding rights, so the owners either register with pet registries to get breeding registration or say she is unregistered to circumvent the breeder’s non-breeding clauses. Or she was stolen, or the product of hung papers. At any rate, a lack of legitimate registration does not scream ethical breeding practices, and the dog is likely a sub-par dog, or the owner is scamming someone.
Fill out the stud service questionnaire, and send it back to us along with all of the documentation required above. Now is the time to review our stud service contract. We ask for your veterinarian information because we want to contact your vet to ensure that we are on the same page since we ship the frozen semen directly to your vet clinic. If your normal veterinarian is not performing the insemination, you will need to send us the information for the veterinarian who will be doing it. We will fill out and send you a deposit contract, which you need to sign, notarize, and return along with a $1,000 deposit. Once we receive this, we will review each document and your questionnaire, to determine which of our stud dogs best matches your girl, and what the remainder of the stud service fee will be. You must pay the remainder of the stud service fee in time for the payment to clear at least 21 days before the beginning of her cycle. When we receive your balance due, we will email you photocopies of his pedigree, health testing certificates, title certificates, scorebook pages, and photos and videos of him.
Do not fear, because if we do not have a stud dog that will be a good match or we decline your questionnaire, we will refund your entire deposit.
On the first day of physical signs of her heat cycle, you need to take her to your veterinarian for testing and call us. We will fill out and send you a stud service contract that you need to sign, notarize, and send back. We suggest this being sent overnight mail. Once we receive this, we will make arrangements for the semen to be shipped to your veterinarian. Please remember that some of the tests take time to get back, so it is important to begin testing on the first day of her heat cycle.
Your veterinarian needs to notify us of the following progesterone levels: 0.94 ng/ml, 4.09 - 5.66 ng/ml, and 10.06 - 20.13 ng/ml.
As soon as the progesterone levels begin to climb and reach 0.94 ng/ml, we make arrangements for the semen to be shipped to your veterinarian. At 4.09 ng/ml, you girl is ovulating and we use that as a baseline for Relaxin tests and ultrasounds, plus whelping dates. She should not be inseminated until the progesterone levels reach 10.06 - 20.13 ng/ml, as before this, the eggs are not mature enough to be fertilized. We require a written statement from the veterinarian showing progesterone levels at the time of insemination.
It is critical to inform us at the first sign of progesterone levels rising. Once we notify our repro vet to get ready to ship the semen, they need 24 hours to charge the tank. We have to make arrangements with Delta, as we ship all semen through Delta Dash, versus Fedex, UPS, or USPS. We have found that the semen does not always arrive on time or in usable condition when shipped with commercial shippers. If you are needing the semen shipped during busy times for shipping (before Christmas, for example) we must have as much notice as possible, so we can ensure your semen arrives on time.
We cannot be held responsible for missed breedings because semen did not arrive on time.
If you are local, we suggest you use Lake Alfred Animal Hospital in Lake Alfred, Florida. This is the repro vet we use, and they are aware of our policies. Also, if you are local, we will consider a side-by-side AI, versus frozen semen at this location. We also have semen stored here and you would not need shipping arrangments to be made.
The stud service fee varies from stud to stud but normally starts at $2,500. However, the fee can vary depending on the stud dog. The balance due must be sent in when you send us back the signed contract.
This fee covers the cost of the stud service itself, litter registration fees, and shipping semen to your veterinarian or our travel to our repro vet. This fee does not cover the cost of the insemination or any of your dog’s testing. That needs to be discussed with your veterinarian. It also does not cover any cost of her care, or the litter care, individual registration of puppies, or DNA testing (mandatory for AI litters). These are extra costs.
If you do not ensure that your veterinarian returns the tank to International Canine Semen Bank promptly, there will be added fees for tank rental (late fees or tank replacement). These fees must be reimbursed in full to us before litter registration will be signed or authorized. You must ensure your veterinarian understands that the tank must be returned immediately.
We send 1 vial per stud service. That is all that is needed if your timing is correct and your female is healthy and fertile. More than that is simply a waste.
No. You must pay for each stud service that you want. If you want two litters from the same stud dog, you must pay for 2 stud service fees. If you decide to split the semen between the two, but only pay for one breeding, the second litter will not be registerable, as we will not sign the litter registration forms, and we will notify the registries that the second litter was unauthorized by us. If you were to do this, we would not allow you to use our stud dogs again.
We get asked this quite frequently, and the answer is yes. We rarely do multiple stud services at the same time, because having multiple litters on the ground at the same time is a nightmare. However, we will give a 25% discount for additional stud services for repeat breedings between the same pair and 10% for other breeding pair combinations.
No. We do not allow this practice because it does not allow us to monitor what girls our studs are bred with. If we allow you to purchase semen in advance, we cannot control who you inseminate. This is a problem because if you choose to use this semen on untitled or unhealthy girls and the puppies have issues, it makes our stud dogs look bad. With that said, if we have a stud dog who is older, sold, or deceased and we may not be able to get semen from him again, we do allow you to reserve the semen with a $1,000 deposit if you have a young female that looks promising. However, we do not allow you to purchase the semen until she is shown, titled, and health tested. If she does not grow up to par, we will refund the deposit.
Nothing. When we book your stud service, the stud service fee is locked in. If his fee happens to change for whatever reason, you will still pay the same fee.
As we are doing artificial insemination, obviously, you will need to do progesterone tests to dictate optimal breeding dates.
We are not concerned about diseases being passed to our stud dogs, as we do not do live covers, but if you want a return service in case of a failed breeding, you must obtain the following:
Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory Brucella Canis Panel (IFT and RSAT), (For more information, please visit: https://tvmdl.tamu.edu/ test code 1557 (test is not listed on the website)
HealthGene Molecular Diagnostic and Research Center CP16 Canine Lost Pregnancy Profile (For more information, please visit: www.healthgene.com/canine-dna/testing/canine-lost-pregnancy-test
Guarded cervical culture
We will allow breeding without all three tests or any positive or suspected positive test, but there will be no return services if all three tests are not 100% negative. As you submit the samples, you need to make sure that the results will be sent directly to us or to your veterinarian to be sent directly to us. We will not accept test results sent by you.
This is a frequently overlooked issue. Stud dogs should have certain tests regarding their ability to sire a litter. Every time we collect from our stud dogs, we do a sperm count and motility on that sample. This assures us that we are not wasting time storing bad samples. If a sample shows a low sperm count or low motility, we discard that sample and collect another the next day. If the second sample shows low count or motility, we pull him from breeding, increase supplementation, and try again in a week. If he still is not producing a good sample, we pull him from our breeding program and test him for medical conditions. If we cannot find the reason for his low counts, we permanently retire him, and do not attempt to collect any longer.
We also administer a
Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory Brucella Canis Panel (IFT and RSAT), (same as females), and a
HealthGene Molecular Diagnostic and Research Center CP10-Canine Semen Profile: www.healthgene.com/canine-dna-testing/canine-lost-pregnancy-test test to each stud dog yearly, ensuring that he is free from diseases that can affect his potency.
When we send your semen to your veterinarian we also send the report with the sperm count and motility test results and his current brucellosis and CP10 test, proving that at the time of storage, the semen sample is quality and healthy enough to produce a litter.
No. We have discovered through trial and error, that bringing outside dogs over for a live cover is not in anyone’s best interest.
First of all, she is used to your home, your schedule, and your family and pets. Shipping her to a strange location around strange people, and strange animals, is traumatic when her hormones are all whacked out to begin with.
Second, we do not have the time or energy to cater to a strange dog used to living in the house, eating a certain food at certain times of day, or playing with certain toys.
Third, we do not feel like dealing with the responsibility of a strange dog hurting someone, or getting stolen, lost, hurt, or killed. This is more than we are willing to take on.
Fourth, is the disease and parasite risk. While she may be perfectly healthy in all aspects, she can still carry diseases and parasites that she is not showing symptoms of. Exposing all of our dogs to this is not our idea of responsible breeding or ownership.
Fifth, is the cost. A round trip plane ride, $50 pick up and delivery fees for us, and boarding costs of $50 per day (she is in season so we have to take special precautions) add up. It is cheaper to have frozen semen shipped to your vet and have her inseminated.
All in all, letting her stay home with you, and taking her to the veterinarian to be inseminated is the better choice.
With that said, there are some exceptions. If you are local to our repro vet (Lake Alfred Animal Hospital in Lake Alfred, Florida), we will be open to discussing you meeting us there for a side-by-side AI. If we are not planning to travel there during what you believe will be optimal breeding time, we do have semen stored at their facility.
However, if we do one of these options, you are responsible for all fees associated with this choice. You must contact the veterinarian clinic in advance and either prepay all of the fees or put a credit card on file for payment. We will not travel without fees being paid or a credit card on file.
Fees include office visits for your female and our stud dog, your female’s exam, all lab work, progesterone test, collection, storage, and insemination.
And since it’s asked a lot, even for local meet-ups, we never allow a live cover. We only allow insemination, as the risk of diseases and injury to both dogs is too great.
We are also asked often about meeting at a show to breed, as this is quite common. If the show has an ICSB trailer set up, and they will agree to do a side-by-side insemination, we will allow this just like we would a side-by-side at our repro vet. Again, any expenses incurred for collection and insemination are your responsibility. And again, there will be no live cover allowed.
We do not have any preference about the insemination method. Surgical, trans-cervical, and vaginal all have their pros and cons, and you need to discuss this with your veterinarian to determine which is better for your dog.
A lot of vets say surgical insemination is the only way to produce a high puppy yield, but that is because many vets are not well-trained in vaginal and trans-cervical inseminations. If you are uncomfortable with the thought of surgical, you can find a reproductive vet who can do non-surgical inseminations.
We are aware of this practice, and even if it was common in our breeds, we would choose not to do this. When you are paying for a stud service, you are paying for a service (the breeding) and a product (the sperm). You get the same service and the same product if you end up with 1 puppy or 12 puppies.
The fact is the stud service fee is set by us based on our stud dog’s value as a breeding dog. When you pay based on how many puppies your girl has, this means that his value as a stud dog is only contingent on how many puppies she can have and keep alive.
People forget that the girl and her owner are the ones who dictate how many puppies are born and live. She drops limited eggs, can absorb or abort pups, not adequately care for or even harm her puppies after birth, causing their death. You may not notice a problem and get her a needed c-section in time, causing death to the puppies. Why would our stud dog be worth less as a breeding dog if your dog can only have 1 or 2 puppies than he would be if she had 10, or if she cannot keep her puppies alive?
We also have had enough issues with people deciding not to pay after the fact, that we stopped that. Too often we were told, “I can pay in 2 weeks, but she’s ready to be bred now and has all the tests.” We allow the breeding, then 2 weeks later, no payment. Just “I can pay when the puppies are born and I have deposits.” Litter born, deposits are taken, still no payment. Then it’s “Well, I can’t pay until you sign the litter registration so I can register the litter and prove they are registered before the sale.”
Then we get served with a summons to court because we would not sign the litter registration application. We would always win, but it was too much headache to deal with this brand of drama. It’s much easier to say pay upfront, and then we send the semen and don’t have to worry about headaches later.
If it is an FCI litter, we sign the breeding application/transfer of semen ownership at the time that we send the semen. We mail or email that directly to your veterinarian so he or she can fill it out so it can be submitted.
As for AKC or CKC, your vet must fill out the Frozen Semen Litter Registration Application at the time of insemination. You may send that to us now, or wait until the litter is born. After the litter is born, we will sign it and submit it to the registry directly.
We submit it directly for a few reasons. We have had cases, where we sign and return the litter registration to the female’s owner, and they photocopy and alter it, to register additional litters falsely using our stud dogs.
Also, we prefer not to deal with the whole, “I lost the application/it got destroyed/it didn’t get submitted, and the breeder assumes we have nothing better to do than sit around and fill out application after application.
We have mixed feelings about this type of breeding. Yes, it can be a good way for a girl to have fewer litters, but still get all of the breedings your desire. In a perfect world, the litter would be split, with half of the pups from each sire.
However, we do not live in a perfect world, and there is no guarantee that both studs will sire puppies. Too often the breedings are not timed properly and spaced too far apart so all of the puppies are sired by one stud dog or the other. When this happens, the breeder wants a return service since technically she did not have puppies from the one sire. However, the case can be argued that the other stud dog probably would have sired at least some of the puppies if the timing had been better. Even if the timing is ideal (semen mixed and both inseminated at the same time) often the sperm from one male will dominate the breeding, due to age, health, vitality, and other factors.
Because of this, if your girl is bred accidentally or intentionally to another male during her heat cycle, we will not offer a return service if our stud dog does not sire any of the puppies.
If your girl was inseminated when her progesterone levels were between 10.06 and 20.13 ng/ml, AND she did not reach her 6th birthday before the whelp due date, AND you obtained all health testing we required for return service, you will get a free repeat stud service.
You must get a Relaxin test done at your veterinarian, done on day 28 after ovulation (progesterone levels of 4.90 - 5.66 ng/ml) If this is negative, this means she did not conceive and one return service will be automatically granted.
If the Relaxin test is positive, but she does not deliver puppies, you must have a dated ultrasound taken 55 days after ovulation (progesterone levels of 4.90 - 5.66 ng/ml). If the ultrasound shows no litter, we will grant one return service.
Relaxin tests and ultrasound must have your girl's name, microchip number, date, and the veterinarian’s name and license number.
We will grant one return service between the same breeding pair, at the next heat cycle. You must notify us when she comes back into heat, and we will send semen to your veterinarian for a return service. All you have to pay is the semen costs. If she has reached her 6th birthday before the expected whelp date, OR you did not obtain all health testing, OR if one or more health test results were positive, OR if you did not inseminate when progesterone levels were between 10.06 and 20.13, you forfeit the right to a return service.
If your girl is not available during the next heat cycle, or if your veterinarian determines that breeding at the next heat cycle will be detrimental to her health, the return service will be held until she is available and healthy enough to be bred. If she cannot be bred again, we will grant the return service to a different girl and different stud dog, provided she meets our criteria.
If the second service to the original girl does not take, we will grant one more service to a different female at ½ price.
If a different girl is used she will be your choice, provided she meets our criteria. She may or may not be bred to the same stud dog. In the case of a different girl, the return service has no expiration date.
And since it's asked quite often, we do not give a return service for a 1 or 2 puppy litter. As we said above, when you are paying a stud fee, you are paying for a service and a product. That is the breeding and the semen. You are not paying us to ensure she has a large litter. When she gets pregnant, even if for some reason the pups don’t survive, or she only has 1 or 2 pups, the breeding was successful, and we have met our obligation. It is on you to ensure that she has the proper dietary and other care to maximize her chances of having a litter, and after birth, making sure that the pups have the maximum chance to survive and thrive.
Our stud dogs are all screened for genetic and other health problems. Each dog has been fully screened for any issues that can be passed on to puppies. We go above and beyond breed club and OFA recommendations for health testing our dogs. However, this has occurred in the past.
Sadly, 90% of the time, birth defects or congenital health problems are related to your girl's care. Improper nutrition, exposure to toxins (including flea and heartworm prevention and vaccines) and other causes often affect the growth and development of the fetuses. When this happens, even though it is a sad day for everyone, this is not something we have control of.
In the case that puppies are born healthy, but develop health problems later in life, this is often the result of care of the pregnant or nursing girl or care of the puppies later in life. Issues such as dysplasia, often begin in the whelping box, not genetically.
Since we have no control over how you care for your girl and how you run your breeding program, or how the puppies are raised and cared for, we cannot ensure the puppies will be healthy. We have done our part to only breed genetically healthy stud dogs, and require your girl to be genetically healthy also, but you must do your part, and ensure your puppy buyers do their parts.
If your girl is not available due to health or soundness, we will hold the return service until your veterinarian deems she is healthy and sound enough to be bred. If she is permanently unavailable for return service, we will grant a return service to another girl, provided she meets our criteria.
If we have no more semen from the stud dog and cannot obtain more, (we run out of stored semen from a deceased or sold dog, or he has been retired for various reasons) we will choose another stud dog of comparable bloodlines that will be a good match for her.
This trend disturbs us. It is common in some breeds that stud dog owners try to exert too much control over the puppies that are produced. We have seen cases where stud dog owners force the breeder to set puppy prices based on what the stud dog owner thinks the puppies should be sold for, force the breeder to sell every puppy with limited registration, or require that the breeder allow the stud dog owner to screen all puppy buyers.
We have also seen stud dog owners that force breeders to put bizarre clauses in the puppy sales contracts like if a puppy buyer cannot keep the puppy, it is given to the stud dog owner at no cost. Not even counting the fact that maybe the breeder would like to get their puppies back. Or putting clauses in that the breeder will force their buyers to feed the puppies a certain food, or certain supplements, especially MLMs. We have also seen cases where stud dog owners put clauses in their contracts that every breeder must agree to never vaccinate any puppy produced, for any reason whatsoever, and enforce that with their puppy buyers.
We have also seen stud dog owners that force breeders to use stud dog owners’ kennel names in registered names for the puppies, or worse, force the breeder to let stud dog owners name all puppies.
We do not believe in this practice. The fact is that if we do not trust you to care about the puppies, we should not allow the stud service. You are the one raising the puppies. You are the one caring for them 24/7 from birth. You know these puppies much better than we ever will, and therefore you need to have the flexibility to use your judgment when it comes to the puppies.
Yes, the puppies produced are our stud dog’s offspring, and yes we care about them, but we are not the breeder of the litter, you are. As such, you are the one who has the rights and responsibilities toward the puppies. If you want to give all of the puppies away for free with full registration or charge $10,000 per puppy with limited registration, that’s on you. If you want to sell each puppy to the first person that has the money, instead of screening buyers and placing puppies in suitable homes, that’s on you.
These scenarios have no bearing on our breeding program, and trying to worry about and micromanage your breeding program would just cause us more headaches and stress as well as much more work.
We will assist you IF REQUESTED, in terms of writing up sales contracts, vetting, and screening homes, and give you advice IF ASKED FOR, regarding health care, vaccines, and feeding, but we will never, under any circumstances, force you to let us exert any kind of control over your litter.
We do require that you let us know the registered name of each puppy by the time the puppies reach 6 months of age. This is just for our records, so we can track and see what our stud dogs are producing, and what titles, if any, his puppies earn. This is only to better our breeding program and offer more customized stud service options when someone is looking for something specific.
This is a common question. We do not offer free or discounted stud service fees in exchange for puppies back any longer. We were finding too many issues with this arrangement.
First, as we very well know, breeding dogs is not an exact science. There is a good possibility that we will fall in love with your female, and agree to a puppy or two back for a reduced or free stud service. Then, lo and behold, as the litter is born and grows, genetics rear their ugly heads, and the pups are not our version of the ideal breed representatives. This would leave us with 3 options. Option A: Take puppies that we don’t like and don’t feel are good quality; Option B: Try to force you to pay for a stud service, knowing that you are not going to do that since you already have the litter and the signed litter registration application; Option C: Knowing we don’t want the puppy or puppies, and knowing that we will not get the stud service fee, wash our hands of the mess, and lose out a stud service altogether.
Second, when we have an agreement for 1 puppy back, and she only has one puppy. What happens? Per our agreement, we get the puppy, and you would get upset. Or, what happens when an unscrupulous breeder decides that instead of following the agreement, decides to give their brother, neighbor, and boss’s cousin’s wife’s ex-husband the first three picks of the litter, and tells us that those pups died, and leaves us with the last pick, and we still end up losing the stud service fee.
If we like your girl and feel that we would possibly like a puppy out of this breeding if they turn out like we want, we will consider discussing the possibility of refunding the stud service fee in exchange for a puppy out of the litter. However, if we do this, we must get the first pick of the available puppies (after you decide if you are keeping any). We require full registration, breeding rights, warranties comparable to ours, contract terms similar to ours, and the right to rehome or sell if we choose.
Copyright © 2024 SouthernStar Kennels - All Rights Reserved.