Skip to content

Allergies and Breeding

Breeder Talk
  • I have a question for the breeders and everybody who thinks he/she has an opinion about this :D

    Would you use a dog/bitch if he/she is or was bothered by allergies. Why (not)? And does this include all kind of allergies?

  • Hi.
    Now I am not in a possition of judging breederd who are using dogs with alergies in their breeding, but I can say for sure, that it is one of my first health tasks on breeder - if parents of my future baby have some alergy…it will be so bad to have alergic puppy at home...it is horrible when dog with food alergy can not eat well. I think people should not breed with dogs with really bad atopic dermatitis or so, just because also pregnancy could make it all much worse....but for example some season alergic reaction for some flowering plants is qiute normal and it disapears in few hours or days and I don?t think it should be the reason of not breeding.....

  • @Janneke:

    I have a question for the breeders and everybody who thinks he/she has an opinion about this :D

    Would you use a dog/bitch if he/she is or was bothered by allergies. Why (not)? And does this include all kind of allergies?

    I think that it depends on the rest of the health of the dog, along with temperament, soundness, conformation. And depends on how bad the allergies are… if the dog has allergies to many things and really suffers, I would not recommend breeding. If just to something like corn or wheat.. the everything else being considered OK, I would use the dog. I would also want to know about the sire and dam, siblings and the dog/bitch that it was being mated to. All of these considerations will give you a better picture on if a breeding would take place.

  • I agree with Pat. It does depend on what type of allergies. I wouldn't use a dog with multiple allergies, but if it's to one certain item, then yes, I would use it.

  • it depends on the kind of allergies we are talking about, and how bad that allergy is, when a dog has a single allergy and the allergy is for example for one kind of food, I dont see any problem not breeding with that dog.
    But with severe allergies for plants, humans ( yes that exicsts ) or a lot of food I would not breed with that dog.

  • I agree with what the other people say,

    Buana is allergic to one kind of ingredient in some (cheap) kind of kibble.
    The ingredient that some use to make it dry.
    It's a sort of ingredient they like to use because it's cheap and easy to use.
    Example Royal Canine, Pedigree, Bonzo and the cheap samples what you buy in the grocery he can't stand. But Farm Food, Hills, and lots of other kibble, he doesn't mind.
    When he was a pup (that's when he got kibble), he had trouble with mosquito's but last year he had much mosquito bites and no trouble.
    We know now, after a short test he is only allergic to one sort of ingredient.
    I won't mind breeding with him, he has much quality's and did all the health tests thats were all with good results.

    When a dog has good quality's but much allergy's in bad conditions I won't breed with that dog.
    Allergy is a bad thing for owners and their dogs.
    The way to the result of what they really allergic for are sometimes so long and not really cheap.
    When I worked at the vet, we had at least one case of allergic reaction with a dog a week.. They first had to recover from their reaction (mostly with injections etc) and then they had to come back a few times to see what's the thing he's allergic for..
    (test with al kind of possible allergy's injections on their skin, putting them on high hypoallergetic food or BARF when that don't change OR give a reaction, owners have to change their cleaning material at home, buy all new blanckets and toys etc etc)
    Big problem with those tests are the owners, they try to give the hypoallergetic food to find out if it is the food, but forget they can't have anything else (no leaves, no sticks, no human food no snacks)

    We once had a dog, that was allergic to new fleece blancets…
    After all, not a big problem... but a very high bill with the vet..
    (the owners, removed every blancket and toys.. but it was the fleece blanckets that were on the owners bed..)

    That's one of the reasons I won't breed with a "high" allergic dog, the way to the results are so frustrating... for the dog AND the owner..

  • I had a Westie, that past over the rainbow bridge late March, that was allergic to storage mites. Storage mites are basically in anything stored on shelves in warehouses or stores for longer periods of time, like dry kibble, flour, grains and the like. So essentially he couldn't eat any dry nothing, so we went on raw and he did great. Of course he was also allergic to mold and flea saliva. Mold allergy and living in Houston, TX is a bad combo, it is everywhere, due to the humidity we have, and of course that also makes fleas very hardy. Bogus was on frontline and advantage together most of his life, that was the only way to keep fleas off of him and fur on him. He lived to be 13 years, which for me is way too young, but for a dog that has been on steroids and several meds throughout his life, realisticly it is not short. Either way, he clearly should not have been considered a breeding dog, even thought he was a beautiful example of what West Highland White Terriers should be like. My point, it depends on what type of allergies the dog has and the severity of them, in my ever so humble opinion..

Suggested Topics

  • Can You Breed for Temperament?

    Breeder Talk
    8
    1 Votes
    8 Posts
    3k Views
    tanzaT
    @donc - Not true that breeders traditionally breed for conformation only. Breeders (responsible breeders) breed for health, temperament and conformation. Health/temperament is at the top of the list. Breeders do of course look for certain conformation but that does not exclude Health & Temperament.
  • Breeding for the first time?

    Breeder Talk
    32
    0 Votes
    32 Posts
    14k Views
    diff_eqsD
    Thanks everyone who has shared their knowledge and opinions on the matter! I got all the tests done, just waiting for the results from the OFA. Say all the results are good/clear/negative/etc. I already spoke to a couple breeders, so I have a couple of potential studs picked out. What are some of the other steps involved, i.e. registering the litter, etc.?
  • Dew Claws and Responsible Breeding

    Breeder Talk
    13
    0 Votes
    13 Posts
    8k Views
    lvossL
    As I said at the beginning of this thread, the presence of dew claws in the United States has a high correlation to the lack of health testing, use of contracts, etc. That doesn't mean that in other countries it is the same. As for everyone saying that they are a "natural breed", it is not an uncommon practice in the Congo for basenjis to have their tails docked, so even in their country of origin, they are not always left unaltered.
  • More Breeding Plans

    Breeder Talk
    2
    0 Votes
    2 Posts
    2k Views
    L
    Oh it begins….as the summer ends the breeding season starts.....good luck this year Pat... I hope everything goes nice and smooth...can't wait to hear what these two produce. :)
  • Oldest to breed males

    Breeder Talk
    2
    0 Votes
    2 Posts
    2k Views
    tanzaT
    @satieo: I was just curious, I saw the thread about ages of bitches but what about males is/should there be a cut off age for them? Obviously they shouldn't be younger than 2 for proper testing. No cut off age… as long as they are potent... I used a 14yr old with one of my litters and it was a natural cover.
  • Interested in breeding

    Breeder Talk
    5
    0 Votes
    5 Posts
    5k Views
    lvossL
    I got my first basenji about 8 1/2 years ago. I wanted a dog that I could try lure coursing and maybe agility with. I was not interested in showing but agreed to try a a match or two before making a final decision and getting him neutered. At first Nicky didn't really show much interest in lure coursing and I couldn't find any agility classes near me so I entered Nicky in a match. We had fun and I decided I would give showing a try. When Nicky turned about 20 months old he finally decided the lure looked like a whole lot of fun so we split our time between showing him and coursing him. Nicky finished his AKC and ASFA Field Championships fairly quickly and when he was about 2 1/2 years old we decided we wanted to get him a companion. When his breeder was a planning a litter with black and whites expected I told her that I wanted on the waiting list. Nicky was 3 years old when Rally joined the pack. Rally has always been an enthusiastic courser and had that elusive "show attitude" that Nicky lacked she became my first Champion. During this time I also became active in my local breed club and in rescue. I learned a lot about the history of the breed and about how many people get basenjis because they are attracted to its small size and "barklessness" without understanding about its intelligence, sense of humor, and ability to scream bloody murder when upset. It was a big decision to decide to breed Rally. Being a responsible breeder means being responsible for the pups you bring into this world for the rest of their lives and means breeding with the best interest of the breed at heart. I decided to co-breed a litter out of Rally with her breeder because I felt that Rally had a lot to offer the breed as a whole. She has a healthy pedigree that is not over-represented in the gene pool, she has a fabulous temperament that has charmed many a person, and she is a lovely example of a black and white basenji. It took a year of planning and some bumps in the road but in the end we had a nice litter of 4 pups. I am very proud of all my puppy owners for keeping their puppies active and participating in lure coursing with their dogs. We had really hoped for a black girl in Rally's first litter but she gave us a black boy and only red girls. So we started researching again and after nearly 2 years of planning we bred her to an Avongara. Please take time to read about the emergency c-section that we had to have when one of the pups was mispositioned. It was heartbreaking to lose one of the pups and so scary to think that we could have lost Rally. Breeding is a labor of love. There are so many things that can go wrong and so much screening to make sure the pups end up in homes that will cherish them forever and understand what it is to own a basenji. Basenjis are not for everyone and as much as I love the breed, I have seen many end up in homes that should never have had a basenji and some were homes that would be great for the right breed just not a basenji.