Stud Services

Bare Minimum Requirements of the Female:

There are some requirements we have and require for any potential female to even be considered for breeding. If these bare minimums are not met, the female will not be considered, no exceptions or discussion. The female must be AKC registered with full registration. If the female is on limited registration, she does not have "breeding rights" per AKC meaning that litter cannot be registered. If you own the female with full registration and co-own with anyone else, we need to know who the co-owners are as well as that they approve of this potential mating. If there is not a united consensus from all owners and co-owners on this breeding, we will not move forward - we don't want the drama, so make sure everyone is on the same page before reaching out. The female must have full health testing completed to CHIC standards for Australian Shepherds - this means eyes evaluated by a veterinary ophthalmologist with clear eyes, hips and elbows being evaluated and sent to OFA with a score coming back as "good" or "excellent" for hips and "normal" for elbows; we also accept PennHip scores for hip evaluations. We will require proof of testing and the results before moving forward - just your regular veterinarian giving a "clean bill of health" is insufficient for proving a dog is worth breeding. We also require genetic testing be done testing for the most common genetic diseases for Australian Shepherds. Depending on these results and the results our dogs carry will determine if this is a suitable match and would be something to discuss prior to breeding depending on the dog used for stud. We also require that the female get brucellosis testing just prior to breeding - this is for the safety of a potential litter as well as for our male. If the female has not been tested, no breeding will take place - we will not risk the safety of our dogs and their health, so if you need to travel for a mating to happen, make sure you are doing this with sufficient time to get results before breeding would take place. Brucellosis testing should be done before each breeding, so if your female has had this done before a previous litter, it needs to be done again before breeding to another male. Again, everything listed above is a bare minimum to even be considered; if your female does not meet all of these at a minimum, please do not reach out until she does meet these standards. Everything above is non-negotiable and not up for discussion. 

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Considerations for Breeding:

If at a minimum meeting the bare minimum, then there are other areas we look at when considering if we would be willing to let our dogs pair with a female. We want to know about your female: is she titled in anything, what is her temperament like, what is her structure like (with pictures and/or videos), does she meet the written standard for Australian Shepherds/does she have any disqualifying faults, is this her first litter or has she whelped a litter before (if so, how was her whelping and how was she as a mom; how was she during actual breeding - was she receptive or aggressive with the male at all?), is there anything you are looking to improve with this mating based on your female, what are your female's biggest strengths you are hoping to pass on to the next generation? We do prefer females that having some sort of titling or way to prove themselves - while just being a lovely pet is definitely a great asset for a family, we want to see a little bit more to show your female is worth breeding quality in order for one of our males to be used. If your female has any aggressive tendencies towards a male in regards to breeding time, then we do not recommend live cover with us; we do not have a good reproductive veterinarian close (within 2 hrs) should she be aggressive to our stud and AI be needed. 

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We also want to know a little bit about you. Is this your first litter or have you whelped litters before? What is the puppy raising and whelping area set up like? If this is your first litter - do you have a mentor guiding you; what sort of help do you have lined up for the whelping and raising? What are your goals with this particular breeding? What interests you in using our male to sire your litter? Do you already have a wait list for this litter or families already interested in a puppy from you? How do you plan on finding suitable families and what is that process like? Do you intend on selling puppies with "breeding rights"? What puppy contract is in place for new puppy owners and can we see a copy of the contract you have puppy owners sign? Do you plan on keeping a puppy back from this litter? Do you have an social media accounts that show what your life with your dogs is like that we would be able to see?

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These are just a few of the things we want to know before moving forward. If you are interested in using a male and reach out, reach out introducing yourself, your female, and as much of the information above as you can. If we just receive a message saying "interested, how much?", that doesn't really open us up for much discussion and frankly, just raises red flags that might just result in you not receiving any message back. Ethical breeding takes time and consideration - if the only thing that matters to someone is if a male is available and the price, then we may not be the right ones to work with; we expect a little more before even moving forward with potential breeding. And once we start interacting, there will be discussions to make sure this will be a good fit. We want to make sure our male is a good option for you as much as we want to make sure the female is someone we think would be good to pair with and the owner would be a good breeder to work with. 

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Contract Highlights:

We do require a signed, legally binding contract before breeding will take place. You will receive a copy of the contract ahead of time to look over, but we will require signatures and initials in person at time of breeding. If you want to send back a digitally signed contract, that is fine, but we still will have you sign one in person. There may be some variations to contracts, so below is some things you may expect to see in a contract. Some areas may be up for discussion, while others may not be. The items listed below are not all inclusive to all parts of the contract - again, this is just highlighting some areas. 

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Registration:

All puppies should be registered with AKC and this should be done prior to puppies going to their new homes. Puppies should be sold on limited registration (no "breeding rights"). If you are selling a puppy on full registration ("breeding" and "showing" rights), we expect you to also be a co-owner of this puppy and that this is a puppy meeting the standard as a potential show quality puppy. If you do not actively show in conformation or performance level sports to a high level with your dogs, then we will not be open to you selling puppies with full registration unless you have another way of proving that you can not only properly evaluate puppies at that level, but also show you know how to vet potential owners so this puppy does not end up in an unethical breeding situation - we do not want our lines associated with unethical breeders. 

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Progesterone Testing:

We prefer progesterone testing be done on the females prior to coming to our male to make sure she is in an optimal breeding window We understand that progesterone testing is an added expense to the female owner, but it can be helpful in making sure a breeding takes. If you do not wish to progesterone test, then we will not guarantee a litter. A mating can still happen, but if the female does not become pregnant, then you will not be granted a retry on her next heat cycle or a refund on your stud fee if progesterone testing was not done to try to find the optimal level of breeding. 

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Docking & dew claws:

In the United States, the Australian Shepherd breed standard states that rear dewclaws are removed and the tail should not exceed 4 inches, whether that be natural bobtail or docked. We breed to the Australian Shepherd breed standard and expect females we breed with to also breed to the standard. If you do not dock or remove dewclaws, this can be up for discussion, but we need to really have a serious discussion about it. The female must absolutely be meeting that standard in all other areas first and foremost. If the excuse is for performance sport reasons, such as agility, then we expect to see that that female has competed at a high level of titling in agility (just titling in novice or open levels would not be sufficient). We also want to know that you already have homes lined up that are wanting a puppy with tails and dew claws in place; it could be harder to sell a puppy that isn't fully meeting the United States Australian Shepherd breed standard and most people here don't see Aussies with tails - we need to know you already have a plan for making sure these puppies go to suitable homes and aren't held back for longer than necessary just because of an ethical quandary in terms of docking and dew claw removal. If a puppy doesn't have tails and dew claws removed, they also don't meet a show standard, so we would not allow a puppy from that litter to be sold with full registration - all puppies would need to be sold on limited registration. 

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Pick Puppy Option:

There may be an instance where we really like this pairing and would like to keep a puppy from this litter. If this is the case, we reserve the right to second pick of the litter second only to the dam's owner. If the dam's owner is not wanting to keep a puppy back, then we get first pick. In this instance, we also would get the puppy on full registration and without a co-own requirement. We also would use our kennel name is the prefix in the registration name, e.g. "Lightning Rnd's Cute New Puppy Name". If this is an option we would want to pursue, we also would purchase the puppy at a price equal to the stud fee with no additional cost. For example, if the stud fee to use our dog was $1000 (not our fee, just an example), then we can purchase that puppy for $1000 and will not be charged a price higher than the stud fee. 

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Location of Breeding:

In general, for live cover breeding, the dam would need to come to us in order for a breeding to take place. I work a full time job, have kids and other dogs to care for, so travelling for a breeding isn't always the most feasible, especially if it's going to be long distances. If we are going to be competing somewhere else and it's feasible, then we may be able to do a breeding when the stud is done competing for the day away from the show site in a safe location, but in general we don't travel to the dam. For us to do so, would add a very significant cost to the stud fee, so AI would be a better option and more cost feasible option if the dam is not willing to travel. 

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Communication:

We care about where the puppies our dogs help sire end up and what their future is. We do require that we receive a list of names, addresses, and contact info of new puppy owners to have for our records. If any puppies from that litter receive any sort of titles, we also want to be notified. If any puppies develop any health issues, we also want to know as this may impact our future breeding decisions if a major health issue has popped up in a litter. We do require that the dam owner has a puppy contract in place for puppy owners and we do require a copy of that contract as well. We also do require the stipulation that should anyone from that litter no longer want that puppy, then the dam owner needs to be willing to take that puppy back; we do not want any puppies arising from a breeding we are a part of to end up in a shelter or unsafe situation. Part of ethical breeding is ensuring future generations don't end up in shelters or in unsafe living conditions and this is a responsibility the dam owner/primary breeder takes on when breeding a litter. 

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Pricing:

Pricing can vary depending on the dog, as well as a number of factors. However, the pricing will be discussed prior to any agreements taking place and that price will be listed in the contract for both parties to agree on. We require the full stud fee paid in full in cash at time of breeding. We don't want to chase money or deal with any back and forth when it then comes time for signing the registration. We don't do payment plans. Have the full fee ready and in full at time of breeding or it will not take place, period. 

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Again, the items listed above are not all-inclusive of everything in our stud contract. But they do highlight some things to consider. Our stud contract is a legally binding document. Some things for us are non-negotiable, while some may be open to discussion before a final contract is signed for stud services. We want to provide some information up front and if you reach out wanting to use our stud services, it is under the assumption you have already read this page and the information within it. 

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Males currently available for live cover stud services to approved and select females: Stitch only at this time