Quote Originally Posted by Officially Retired View Post
Factually-speaking, "too young to breed" can only mean one thing: she hasn't matured enough to come into her first heat yet.

The rest is just opinion and personal preference.

Jack

PS: I have bred many outstanding bulldogs (Champions, producers of Champions, etc.) using first-heat bitches. Gr CH Zukill came out of Zsa Zsa's first heat at 11 months. I believe Waccamaw's Ch Big John came out of Sabre's first heat as well. Eli Jr./Bullyson came out of a 10-month old Spook. Ch Mr. Serious ROM came out of LuLu's first heat. Gr Ch Awesome Beast ROM came out of a first-heat gyp bred by a woman who never rolled a dog before.

Conclusion: Breeding young bitches can produce every bit as good, or better, dogs as breeding "hard-checked" or even Champion-level bitches ... IF you have a truly well-bred bitch ... and IF you know enough about the dogs in the genetic background to breed them correctly. If you don't, then you shouldn't breed any gyp at all until you know enough about what's behind your gyp. (PS: Best practice, though, is to evaluate your bitches before you breed them, just to see if they have the traits you desire. You can only take shortcuts for so long before they'll catch up to you!)
Did anyone know the rationale of these breedings. Were they bred early because they were all that was available and were the best bred. Were they the stand out female in a early litter. I just wonder. Sometimes I feel if you are lucky enough to get a well bred female from a good kennel you breed it. It’s not like you have a deep roster to work with. I’m in a position like this. A good breeder set me up with a breeding pair. The litter so far has been really good. Out of the three females there were two I liked. One a mirror image of the father one looked like a blend of the two. They are still you. The one that looked like a blend clicked on and is a little monster. My gut says go with her. I get to work with them a lot I see her.

Did the breeding that made big john ever get repeated? I wonder how many times they do. Is it human nature to try to find a better combination.