Stud Service

Blindfaith Retrievers offers yellow,  black and chocolate  stud service using very well bred and accomplished males. At the present time we offer  Morgan (QAA, HRCH, MH, yellow, no chocolate, no Lean Mac), Tru( QAA,MH, yellow, no chocolate, no Lean Mac), Bustin’ (JH,  Chocolate) and Linc (HRCH, MH, Black, yellow factored, no Lean Mac). Linc is now owned by Joe Wilkens and resides with Joe in southern Louisiana. Linc, Morgan, and Tru  are OFA excellent with normal elbows, CERF clear, CNM clear (For more info on CNM, Centronuclear Myopathy , go to www.labradorcnm.com) and EIC clear ( For more info on EIC, Exercise Induced Collapse go to www.cvm.umn.edu).  Bustin’ is OFA  good with normal elbows, CERF clear and EIC/CNM clear by parentage. All four are DNA profiled. For complete info on these fine males see our Guys section or call for more specific info and/or references.

NOTE: Frozen semen from Morgan is now available and is stored at the University of Illinois. We hope to have semen from Tru stored at the University as well in the near future.  Call for information.

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Note: Check updated ( 5/06/2013) stud fees.

Note: We have changed a few things about our stud service program. Please read this page carefully as some of it has changed. Call ( 217-247-2754) if you are planning a breeding to Linc, Morgan, Tru or Bustin’ in the near future. THANKS!!

For many years we were only involved with breeding our females and, while we met many wonderful stud owners, we also encountered practices that were distasteful, sometimes feeling as if they were doing us a favor by accepting their large stud fee. When we started breeding males as well, we decided to do it right, charging reasonable fees and trying to correct the flaws we encountered when breeding our own females.. We treat your female as if she were our own.

OUR PLEDGE TO YOU:

WE WILL DO OUR VERY BEST TO GET YOU A NICE LITTER OF PUPPIES. WE WILL TREAT BOTH YOU AND YOUR FEMALE WITH TOTAL RESPECT AND WE WILL CARE FOR HER AS WE WOULD ONE OF OUR OWN. IF WE HAVE PROBLEMS WE WILL KEEP YOU INFORMED AND SEEK YOUR INPUT WHEN NECESSARY. NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS YOU WILL KNOW THAT WE HAVE GIVEN OUR ALL TO GET YOU YOUR DESIRED LITTER OF PUPPIES!

Over the past 7 years we have not charged any upfront fees unless it was for veterinary fees of some type. We love being involved with Lab owners and enjoy helping them put great puppies on the ground. As we have become more involved with our own dogs and now have more dogs than before, we find ourselves in the position of trying to save time wherever and whenever possible. We lead active lives and have little spare time especially when we have pups of our own for which to care. Having a female or females in season for lengthy periods of time is a lot of work…housing and airing them separately, juggling our males to avoid conflict and all the normal issues of having a ” boarder” or two or three on the  premises.

In addition Marcia and I are conscientious about getting your dog bred. While the males almost always get the job done on their own, things don’t always work out perfectly. To avoid missing a breeding,  we often find ourselves trying breedings early in the cycle.  If you are early you wait. If you are late then the ball game is over!  The problem is when a female doesn’t allow a breeding over a period of days and we are left to wonder whether we need to resort to more extreme measures or to do an AI. All these concerns and waste of time and energy ( dogs and human!) can be eliminated by progesterone testing (PT). We know that some folks will not want to spend the money on progesterone testing and may have a vet who does not deal with a lab or hospital which does the testing so we want to accomodate as much as is reasonable. Some folks only contact one vet to inquire about PT and either findout that it isn’t done there or will cost a small fortune to be done. If you research the issue it is almost always possible to have PT done at a reasonable fee. Some vets have an arrangement with a local hospital to have testing done at a reasonable price and ina timely manner. Vets who specialize in reproduction can almost always help. Getting results the next day ( when vets send the blood draw to a an outside lab) is not usually a problem although it can mean a little more expense. When you do PT the window of opportunity for successful breeding rermains the same as when you are doing it the old way, you just know when the window is!

With that in mind we are now handling our breedings in this way:

1. If you have progesterone testing done before you bring your female to us, thus keeping her stay with us as short as possible in order to get the breeding done, there will continue to be no upfront fees unless veterinary care is needed. This will usually involve two, or possibly three, tests.

2. If you do not have progesterone testing done prior to arrival, then you will be charged a nonrefundable breeding fee of $100 payable when you pick up your female. Of that $100, $50 will go toward the stud fee if you get puppies. Thus if the stud fee is $600 you would owe $550 when the pups are whelped or soon thereafter.

3. If your female has to be here for more than 5 days, you will be charged $12 per day for all days after the five days. Thus if your girl is here for 7 days you would be charged $24 in addition to any other fees, again payable when you pick up your female.

The best way to time the breeding is by progesterone testing(PT). If you don’t use PT then you should  keep accurate records of your female’s past heats and/or breedings, or bring the female well ahead of time and let our males time the breedings. In general if you count back 63 days from when an earlier litte was born that will give you the date of ovulation.  By far the most common problem that we and, I assume, most breeders encounter is the female arriving late. Don’t assume too much. Your female may not be average. Even if your female has been bred before that does not guarantee that she will ovulate the same this time. Her first day may not coincide with first observable blood. You may have missed her first blood. The list goes on…… Also bear in mind that if you are having a vaginal smear done it is almost always best to have two done especially if your female is more in the middle of her cycle. Again we strongly recommend PT.

PROGESTERONE TESTING!

We try to give at least two breedings and that is usually more than enough when you do PT. If holidays or travel and the like prevent you from getting a “perfect” number for your girl then we will do an additional breeding(s).  For a number of very good reasons it is worth your time and money to have progesterone testing done by your vet if at all possible before you make the trip to BFR.

1. It makes our work easier( and probably the lives of your female and our stud dog) by eliminating attempted breedings too early/late in the cycle.  Some females will allow breedings very early and/or very late and a progesterone test or two will reduce or eliminate breedings which are fruitless.

2. In addition progesterone testing  nearly guarantees  getting a breeding or breedings at the “perfect” time thereby possibly increasing litter size. One additional puppy will more than make up for the cost of the PT.

3.In addition to giving you piece of mind that the timing of the breeding is right , an often overlooked benefit of progesterone testing is that you will know in advance ( within a day) when your girl’s litter will be whelped. You can plan for the litter with a degree of certainty you wouldn’t have otherwise.

4. A final benefit of PT is that we will know how long we can try for a natural breeding before we must decide whether or not to use artificial insemination. It does not happen often but it does happen.  Should that be necessary we would use the University of Illinois.

All in all we believe the added expense is well worth it!!

We can get prog. tests done at the U of I for a reasonable fee and may do that if we have any doubts at all about your girls progress while she is here.  It’s accurate ( quantitative not litmus) and quick ( results in a few hours). Only downside is that the first visit involves setting up a clinic number and an office visit charge which runs about $100. From then on each prog. test is about $55. One or two is usually sufficient. While this may seem to be an unecessary expense, if we can get one additional puppy ( and that is likely) by having at least one breeding at the most optimum time, it will pay for itself. We are now doing progesterone for all of our own breedings. We can discuss this possibility at the time.

A PROGESTERONE SUCCESS STORY!!!

We have recently completed a breeding that probably would have been missed had it not been for PT. Dam’s owner was checking for signs of blood diligently with kleenex for the past week since he knew his girl was due and he was running her in a hunt test and wanted to breed her. He noticed first blood on Sunday, called us and said that he was going to do PT probaly the following Monday, day #9.  I said that while that would probably be fine based on averages,  the Univ. of Illinois recommends doing the first test on day #6.  He made arrangements and had the first PT done on Friday ( day #6). He called me Friday afternoon to say that progesterone was 9.4 that morning…she had ovulated! He brought her over Friday evening and we got the first breeding and did a follow up breeding on Sunday (day #8).  Had we waited until Monday evening ( day #9) we probably would have missed fer fertile time entirely or caught it just barely!  This female ended up having a large litter! Not all dogs are average and the exceptions you read about do happen!

A negative brucellosis test is required. NO EXCEPTIONS!  Test must be done within 30 days of the breeding. We also strongly recommend that your female be OFA and CERF cleared. CNM and EIC testing is also recommended especially if your female has known carriers in her background.( For new breeders or those who have not researched Canine Brucellosis, a very informative article can be found in ” Sporting Group Update”, vol.7, no. 1, January 2010 of  TODAY’S BREEDER , publication of The Purina Pro Club ( www.purinaproclub.com).

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                                                                                                                         STUD FEES

After much consideration and researching the stud fees of Labs around the country, especially yellows with outstanding credentials, pedigrees and health clearances and consulting with numerous friends in the retriever world we have concluded that Morgan’s stud fee should be raised a bit to keep it in line with  comparable males. We could find no comparable yellow male with a stud fee as low as Morgan’s. If someone wants a pedigree very close to Morgan’s but at a lesser price, Morgan’s son, Tru, would be a good choice.  Tru is now Qualified All Age for field trials and has earned the MH title.

As of May 6, 2013 stud fees for the guys are as follows:

Morgan ( QAA, HRCH, MH)……$800 ( no chocolate, no Lean Mac in this exceptional pedigree)

Until further notice Morgan will only be bred to females who have had progesterone tests done to time the breedings. We won’t make an exception here. Call Bill for details at 217-474-7122.

Tru ( QAA, MH)…………..$650 ( no chocolate, no Lean Mac, son of Morgan by Ruff)

Bustin’ ( SH)..…..$500 ( Chocolate, probably no yellow)

Linc ( HRCH, MH)………..$500 ( Throws yellow, no chocolate, no Lean Mac…currently residing in Ms.)

Morgan, Tru and Linc are  exceptional animals with considerable accomplishments.  They each have all the traits we like to see in a Labrador Retriever…great style, marking ability, trainability, perserverance, strong hunting instincts and wonderful temperament. Their pedigees are really nice. Morgan’s pedigree, however, is absolutely outstanding. We do not believe that there is a yellow male with his ability and pedigree available for breeding at this reasonable stud fee.

Morgan is an exceptional animal with a truly outstanding pedigree. We decided to have a breeding soundness exam done on Morgan since he will soon turn eight and is bred frequently. That exam was done during the early part of February 2013 at the University of Illinois and at our vet’s office, East Lake Hospital for Animals in Danville , Illinois. Morgan was found to be in good breeding health and we even had additional semen collected and frozen. More info on Morgan can be seen on The Guys page of this website.

Tru is Morgan’s son out of our Ruff and, like Morgan, is a very fine animal. He is light yellow and a little shorter than Morgan. He runs with the same style and exuberance as Morgan. Most of Tru’s accomplishments are yet to come and that is why we were able to acquire him from our friend  Paul Shoemaker who was not able to campaign him for a number of reasons. With Paul, Tru had a JAM in two Derby starts and made it through the land marks in a Qual. Since being with us he is six for seven in AKC masters ( going out the final bird of the failed event, H.E.?) and was one of two dogs( out of 10) to complete the first two series of a Qual before the test was scrapped and we had had to scratch due to a prior commitment. His pedigree is also exceptional with Morgan as the top half and Ruff ( FC-AFC Hilltop’s Hayseed x Blindfaith’s Renegade MH) as the bottom. Tru sired one litter out west before returning us in mid 2011 and one of those pups, Blind Faith’s Ten Commandments aka “Ten” was running Derbies before age one and is now running Qualifying at 18 months. Tru has sired numerous littes here in Illinois and earned QAA designation by taking second in the Qaulifying at Ohio Valley’s Spring Hunt Test/ Field Trial.

See The Guys page for complete info on these fine Labrador males.

Bustin’ is doing well with his handling work and is a good competitive dog. Bustin’ has his Senior title and will begin preparing him to run Master and possibly some HRC events. He loves to hunt upland, has a great personality and is good in the house. He is a beautiful, deep ,dark chocolate, has a very nice head and a very muscular body. He has sired ten litters so far and from all reports pups are doing very well and are good lookers as well.

Stud fees are based upon a litter of five puppies for natural breedings when the female is less than eight years of age. The stud fees for smaller litters are prorated and for females older than seven, three pups is considered a full litter. For AI breedings, three pups is considered a full litter.

MORGAN is now available for natural breeding after being sidelined due to a problem with a vertebra ( bacterial infection, non hereditary).  Frozen semen is available at a reasonable price and TRU, Morgan’s son, is available with an outstanding pedigree and credentials. Call for more complete information.

Frozen/chilled semen:  Try to contact us as soon as possible if you are interested in AI breeding. We will need the full registered name of your female and all registration numbers and the name and address of the veterinarian who will do the insemination. For frozen semen breedings we charge a $200 nonrefundable deposit on the semen and for chilled semen breedings we charge a $100 nonrefundable deposit on the semen as well as any expenses we incur in order to do the collection. Call for more info. As soon as we receive the deposit we will contact the University of Illinois and authorize release of the frozen semen. Then you will contact Kim Kensel, clinic coordinator for reproduction to arrange and pay for shipping of the semen. Her office number is 217-244-1357. Remember that timing is everything with any AI so start early and stay on it! You may purchase frozen semen for future use for the full stud service price at the time of purchase.

We provide Purina ProPlan dog food, or you can bring your own. Please provide a collar for your female to wear during her stay and also bring copies of any info which will help us sell your pups such as pedigree, OFA, CERF, AKC/UKC registration, etc. We keep a file on every female we breed and we do try to help you sell your puppies.

Try to make arrangements in advance if at all possible. Watch for first signs that your female is coming in and let us know when you see them so we can try to accommodate you and your girl. We know how important a litter is to you and we want to do everything possible to help you achieve that goal. If you have any questions regarding the possible breeding or breeding in general call or email and we will try to help in any way we can. Good Luck and thanks for considering Blindfaith Retrievers.