# When is a stud dog deemed to be too big?



## lipsthefish (Mar 17, 2012)

This is really just a random question that popped into my head at 4 am this morning 

We've no intention of breeding, Angel is spayed and Alfie, although entire will never be impregnating anything other than his much loved teddy bear 

I was just wondering how it's decided that a dog is too big, for example if you had a dog and bitch of the same breed, similar weights but the dog was taller than the bitch would he then be deemed as too big to mate with her?

If the dog was the same breed but heavier and bigger in general than the bitch would he then be too big to use?

Or is more to do with having the dog and bitch of different breeds where the dogs build is much different to the bitches? I'm thinking in my head that trying to breed a dog of maybe a Rottie size with a bitch of say Border Collie size would be an absolute disaster 

So is it one of these situations or all of them?

Thanks guys, I might get some sleep tonight if I get some answers (more likely I will come up with some other strange and wonderful questions instead)


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

The breed standard sets out specific heights, so for Labradors, the dogs should be 22-22.5 inches and bitches 21.5-22 inches high at the top of the shoulders. Although they're not measured in the UK when shown (they are in other countries) it would be obvious if a dog were hugely oversized or undersized when stood against others in the show ring.


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## kodakkuki (Aug 8, 2011)

F*#+^^g sizes! my current annoyance, lol! 
In yorkies, there is a Huge size difference between biggest and smallest- they can (but shouldn't) be as small as 2lbs an as big (again but shouldn't) as 20lbs! But as the standard says up to 7lbs then IMO the stud should never be over this. Wit such tiny breeds it is always safer to breed a small stud to a bigger bitch- so if I do breed poppet (who is over the standard at 10lbs- a throwback) it will e to a male who is no bigger than 5lbs; although with popp being so beautifully leggy goodness know where we will get him a stool from! But with kuki, 5.5lbs I bred her to a 4.5(?)lb stud as any bigger would have been dangerous given she is so small. And bambi (3lbs) should only ever be bred with her teddy bear- the ont man ever to be in her life! :001_wub:

I've heard of people breeding small yorkie girls to spaniels and larger terriers, which I believe is just asking for trouble- bordering on cruel; beer mind the possible huge pups, but durin the mating think of the size difference between the lock and key! :yikes: 

Ammm, I'm not sure that answered anything!  did it?! Lol


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## Wilmer (Aug 31, 2012)

This I would also be quite interested to know, having been rather shocked at an advert online for a litter of springer spaniel x newfoundland where the spaniel is the mum :yikes: 

Surely that must be approaching a 40kilo size diff?


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

I was shocked at the size of the cockers in the show ring, they are described as a medium breed in the BS, with the height of 15.5-16 inches for dogs, the ones I saw seemed much smaller!


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## lipsthefish (Mar 17, 2012)

kodakkuki said:


> Ammm, I'm not sure that answered anything!  did it?! Lol


Yep it did  Much clearer in my mind now. I didn't realise that there was breed standard sizes for dogs  you can tell we've never had a pure breed 

Like Wilmer posted I'm often astounded by some of the cross breeds for sale, I have nothing against cross breeds, all our dogs have been crosses but they've always been crosses of similar size and build dogs (apart from the 'Yorkshire Terrier' my Mam got from a rescue centre, he must have been crossed with a Great Dane the size of him now  )

Thanks guys


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## mastiff (Sep 25, 2012)

it can be a hard one to answer realy as in toy/small breeds yes you do get smaller males than females which makes it possible to mate a bigger bitch with a smaller male, however in larger breeds the male is noramlly bigger, for example my breed (bullmastiff) the males can be quite alot bigger in both hight and weight, girls tend to weigh between 41kg/50kg yet the males can weight 50kg/59kg which means there can be a 18kg difference both within breed standard. i would tend to go with the male that best suits my girl, however this would normally give you a bigger male as you want the best type/breed standard, if i was to try to find a smaller male i would be comprimising getting the best out of my puppies as it would mean getting a boy who wasnt the right confimation to the breed, males also tend to have larger heads/skulls in my breed to and that has to be taken in to thought but again you couldnt just go for a smaller framed male. not much help realy lol x


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## CavalierOwner (Feb 5, 2012)

People always used to ask me whether I was going to breed my dogs before they were neutered!  My reply was "no I will not be breeding them, there are already far to many dogs and IMO Alfie is far to big to have pups with Ruby anyway" there reply was "he's not much bigger and surely the pups would only grow as big as her belly would allow"  

Ruby is a tiny 5kg, she is very petite and only has a small frame....Alfie is just over 8kg, he is a couple of inches taller than ruby and his head and body are twice the width and he hasn't got an ounce of fat on him. I know nothing about breeding but I'm sure that he must be to big to have pups with her.


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## chichi (Apr 22, 2012)

The size of the stud doesnt always reflect sizes of progeny....you have to look at the breeding behind the stud too...theres a lot to take into account.


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## Firedog (Oct 19, 2011)

I know what you are saying Chi Chi,there was a champion in our breed that was perfect size and comformation and he fathered many puppies,one of which i owned at one point.However talking amongst other people in my breed many people said that first and second generation from this stud were coming out way too big.My dog was a perfect example of this.


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## catlove844 (Feb 15, 2011)

Someone near me recently had a litter of staffies (about 15 inchs high) and a german shepherd (About 27inchs high?) The staffie was the mum  was a 'accident' the builders let them together and never told them  But they decided to go ahead with it even though mum could have died 

Then someone I see online mated a border collie to a basset hound her 2nd litter to him 

Makes me so angry!


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## dexter (Nov 29, 2008)

i've seen stud dogs of a small breed standing on telephone directories to give him more height


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