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I don't know if it makes any difference to breed to a stud that isn't CHed? Does it? For the poll ,the question is does it influence you to choose one if it is CHed or GCHed?

Studs - does having a CH or GCH make you more likely to use it?

No		61.19%
Yes		38.81%

The only thing that a CH/GCH influences on my studs is that the studs in my basic can't be put up if they don't have a CH haha. Other than that it couldn't really matter less to me - though that might just be because I'm in some less popular breeds where showing just might not happen so no dog really has a title.

This is very difficult to answer I think; there are a lot of shades of grey.

For myself - I will breed to a non-champion stud if I feel it is a good match for the female I have in mind. I will use one also if it has an exceptional trait - one which is lacking in the breed generally in order to introduce it into my line - in which case the decision is influenced by the question of how much damage will it do to the other traits at the same time.

One problem with non-champions is that they are generally invisible. I don't have time to go through everyone's kennel and check out every male in it. The [view] does not show the SOP nor the 'Call Name' to catch my eye. Very few bother to advertise their males, champion or not.

Of course with rare breeds/colours there is sometimes very little choice.

Then there is the question of why it has not got its championship. Is it young still? Is it a victim of "OldBoy", an abandoned kennel?

And this takes me back to the beginning - it doesn't matter how good it is if I don't know about it.

Got logged out.

So, I went back and voted 'Yes', having a championship will influence my choice of a stud because it generally determines how aware I am of its existence.

The stud list thankfully shows the SOP, but we all know that SOP is not all there is to the quality of a stud.

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Last edited by gaylanstudio on 9/14/2015 8:06:20 PM

Interesting poll

For me - a dog being a GCH or CH doesn't have a great deal of influence in my decision to mate with him.

Yes - gaining titles on a dog can be taken as a measure of the dog's worth and betterment - however I have seen a lot of dogs who have gained titles that in my opinion aren't the best specimens of their breeds. (I've also seen a lot of people stack shows to gain titles on their otherwise crappy dogs, even when there are large numbers of dogs showing at the time - and hence no real reason to stack).

I will use one of my own dogs to explain my point of GCH and CH titles not always showing a dogs breeding-worth:

Take GCH CH Aurora - Path to Greatness:

www.showdog.com/dog.aspx?id=14153924

He is one of my own dogs (in one of my kennels in my Family Account).

His SOP is 92.95% and he is 66 days old. He has currently won 114 GCH points, 26 BOBs, 1 BOS, 1 BIG, 2 BISS, and 1 RUBISS - so for all intents and purposes he has been a brilliant dog and I am still showing him.

His biggest winning factor is his 10.0 Gait - which in our breed is only just starting to pop up due to my Gait Project in my Northern Lightz kennel (Prefix = Aurora).

Now - if you were to look at his titles, wins and # of GCH points - you would assume that he would be a great choice to breed your bitches to.

However - if you look at his pedigree you will notice that his 10.0 Gait has not been represented by his parents/grandparents etc.

All 14 dogs in his pedigree have a Gait score ranging from 10.4-11.6

The only reason he was born with a 10.0G was a fluke! :P

His parents 'GCH CH Ariege - The Kings Speech' and 'Aurora - Unbroken' have been an absolute dream team when it comes to producing some really random and totally unexpected Gaits, hahaa!

I have repeated the mating between those two several times and they have produced:

2 x 10.0 G
2 x 10.1 G
3 x 10.2 G
2 x 9.9 G
3 x 9.8 G

Which is fantastic - however because no one else in their lines have such nice gaits it means that these dogs being born with 10.0G's won't pass on their traits to their offspring UNLESS they are mated to other 10.0 Gaits as the trait is not strong enough yet. (But that in itself is going to be an issue lol - as the only dogs that I know of that currently have 10.0's in gait are my own - so the COI% will prevent decent matings).

However - despite the fact that Kings Speech and Unbroken have been so good at producing Gaits, their son 'Path to Greatness' will most likely never pass on his 10.0G to any of his offspring!

So - even though 'Path to Greatness' appears to be such a great dog on face level and in the show ring - when it comes to breeding - he sucks! LOL :P

He has has 4 litters to different bitches so far and has another 4 litters on the way - and so far - as predicted - he hasn't passed his Gait onto a single pup!

But hey - thats all part of the game hahaa!

I have also seen lots of dogs that have either failed in the ring, or never made it to the ring - but have produced AMAZING pups - so it all just depends

In one of my other breeds there is currently a top winning, high SOP dogs that has been mated 10 times and hasnt produced anything interesting. lol!

For me - I do look at the SOP, the titles, the show results etc - but I mostly focus on the dogs individual traits and what the other dogs in the pedigree have to offer in the mating - and how well that stud will complement my bitch

My no is biased because this kennel is broke and so I tend to go for cheaper studs before I go for CH/GCH because of what I can afford.
I mostly look at sop/compatible traits that arent 100 a pop

No - I work on traits when picking studs. I have had some great puppies from studs never shown, or not yet titled.

I will often use a non champion but I prefer to see showing history. Those who take forever to finish (assuming correct handler choices) often don't produce as well - even if the numbers 'look' as good.

As SOP rises in a popular breed, show results will give me an edge of which excellent stud to choose.

JMO!
K

For me when picking studs titles hold no meaning, I'm looking for a stud with traits I want/need or are just overall good quality.

Don't care about titles, not everyone shows. I look at the traits and if they are in the right dog, I will use him, regardless of title or SOP (unless it's a lot lower than what is currently successful in the ring).