STUD SERVICE

Blindfaith Retrievers offers yellow stud service using very well bred and accomplished males. We will do no breedings to any dogs that carry the dilute gene or any dogs owned by breeders who promote in any way the idea of Labs of any color than Black, Yellow or Chocolate. At the present time we offer  Morgan (QAA, HRCH, MH, yellow, no chocolate, no Lean Mac—-Frozen semen only), Tru ( QAA, MH, yellow, no chocolate, no Lean Mac—Frozen semen only), and Kid ( MH, will run Quals and possibly HRC this spring and Summer). Morgan, Tru and Kid  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).  Our dear chocolate male Bustin’ has passed away and Ten is no longer breeding so we no longer offer chocolate stud service. All three are DNA profiled. See The Guys page for additional clearances.  For complete info on these fine males see our Guys section or call for more specific info and/or references.

Kid has had a Brucellosis test and he has sired 11 litters. 

We NEVER breed to a female unless we have a recent negative brucellosis test in hand! NO EXCEPTIONS!

NOTES:

Frozen semen from Morgan is  available and is stored with Dr. Debra Sauberli (CIVS). Call for details.

Frozen semen from Tru is now available here in East Central Illinois. Tru’s semen quality is excellent.  Call for information.

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Note: Check updated ( 05/03/2023) stud fees at the bottom of this page.

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Note: We have changed a few things about our stud service program. Please read this page carefully as some of it has changed. Call ( 217-474-7122) if you are planning a breeding to  Morgan, Tru, Ten or Kid 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!

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ALL BREEDINGS ARE SUPERVISED! Your female will NEVER be left alone with one of our stud dogs! ALL ties are strictly supervised!…that means that we hold them not just watch them!

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DILUTE GENE…

We will not knowingly do any breedings with females who carry the dilute gene  or whose owners promote in any way, shape or form the ideas of  “silver” or “white” Labs. We will not be a part of this movement and we strongly urge those who feel differently to study the history of the Lab carefully and seek advice from reputable breeders and scientists. Feel free to call us to discuss this concept.  Ask yourself this question: Where was the dilute gene in Labs for the 100 plus years prior to the past 20 or so?

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Over the past 10 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. This is especially true when it is not usually necessary to do so!

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 found ourselves trying breedings too early in the cycle. Not only does this result in waste of time but often the females do not respond well to “early” breeding and that is often not pleasant. To avoid that we are only doing breedings in which progesterone testing is used to time the breeding. Another 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. Progesterone testing pretty much eliminates that problem or at least makes it much easier to deal with. If you are early you just wait  but if you are late then the ball game is over!

All these concerns and the 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 accommodate as much as is reasonable. Some folks only contact one vet to inquire about PT and either find out 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 in a timely manner. Vets who specialize in reproduction can 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 remains 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. When 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 or four, tests. Preferably we want the Prog. number to be 5 or very close to , before we see your girl.

2. We usually keep your female two or three days but if your female has to be here for more than 5 days, you will be charged $20 per day for all days after the five days. Thus if your girl is here for 7 days you would be charged $40 in addition to any other fees, again payable when you pick up your female.

3. Ideally we would like for your female to be ovulating when she arrives ( P = 4.0 – 10.0 preferably >5.0) or very close. Call to discuss. A lot will depend upon how far you have to travel and some other things.

4. We would appreciate getting the stud fee within 14 days of the birth of your puppies. Please call for exceptions.

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.  In general if you count back 63 days from the date when an earlier litter 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  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/too 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 85% of the time) 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 usually have resources available locally to handle the breeding.

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

We can get prog. tests done locally for a reasonable fee and we 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).   One or two tests is usually sufficient. While this may seem to be an unnecessary 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 do progesterone testing for all of our own breedings even when using our own studs. We can discuss this possibility at the time.

A PROGESTERONE SUCCESS STORY!!!……….and there are many…call to discuss.

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 on Friday morning and said that he was going to do PT probably 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 later 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! Brucellosis can be contracted without sexual contact so that the fact that your female has not been bred before is irrelevant.  Test must be done within 30 days of the breeding.

( 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).

We also strongly recommend that your female be OFA ( Hips and Elbows) and ECR ( Eyes, formally CERF) cleared. CNM and EIC testing is also recommended especially if your female has known carriers in her background.

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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  and HRCH titles. Tru’s son, Ten, now has his MH and HRCH titles and brings something a bit different to the table. Kid has now earned his SH title and is running Master and near Qualifying level stuff, has an outstanding pedigree and clearances far beyond most studs and will be running for additional titles after a return trip to Alabama training with Dakota Mealer. See complete info on these males on the Guys page.

As of May 09, 2016 stud fees using natural breeding for the guys are as follows:

Kid (MH)………$800 ( No chocolate (BBee), negative for the dilute gene (DD) and Clear on CNM, EIC, Cystinuria, DM, HNPK, HUU,PKD, prcd-PRA and SD2. Has sired 11 litters and has one on the way.

Buddy (JH) will be available for breeding as soon as we can get his eyes checked. Hips and Elbows have passed with flying colors.

Morgan is no longer available for natural breedings but we have a limited amount of his frozen semen available for purchase.

Morgan ( QAA, HRCH, MH)……Call to discuss Morgan’s stud fee ( no chocolate (BBee), no Lean Mac in this exceptional pedigree)…frozen semen breedings.

Tru is no longer available for natural breedings but we have a limited amount of his frozen semen available for purchase.

Tru ( QAA, HRCH, MH)…………..$900 ( no chocolate (BBee), no Lean Mac, son of Morgan by Ruff, aka HRCH Blindfaith’s Ruffian MH { FC-AFC Hilltop’s Hayseed x Blindfaith’s Renegade MH}).

 Ten is Tru’s son and arrived here at BFR after his owner Paul Shoemaker passed away on 9/06/2013. Ten had 7 Derby points including taking a 2nd at the age of 12 months. He also took a Qualifying 4th shortly before leaving Washington state to live with us here in Illinois. Ten ran AKC and UKC hunt tests during the spring and summer of 2014 and earned 4 Master passes and 6 Finished passes and has now earned his Master title by going three out of four in AKC Masters in April of 2015 and he passed his first Finished test to complete his Hunting Retriever Champion title. Ten also ran two field trials. In the first he was the only dog out of 26 to nail the 350 yard retired money bird only to be one of many dogs to take a big fall on the way to the final bird at which time I voluntarily picked him up in order to avoid any chance of injury. In the second trial he completed the third series but was not called back the fourth.Ten has run one Qual this spring making it to the third series.  He is light medium yellow and weighs about 67 pounds. While the bottom half of Ten’s pedigree may appear “weak” to the casual breeder, once you know some additional information about the dogs in that part you will see that it is much better than it appears! You can see this info on our Guys page.  Ten now has sired multiple litters and had his semen tested with an excellent rating!

Both Tru and Ten are very calm dogs on the line but do their work with a great deal of style and willingness to please!

Kid…Kid has been precocious from the start and he is a wonderful animal as well. Loves to retrieve, loves to work, has an excellent pedigree and has a strong desire to please. He passed four straight Juniors, four straight Seniors and then came Bill’s medical issues  and weather problems here at home and we did not run a single competition with any dog during 2018 ( First time in over 40 years!) We had him running strong senior land and decent water marks but saw in him what we assessed as strong field trial potential so on December 11, 2018 we put Kid with Dakota Mealer to move him along and that he has done! Time will tell but we are confident that he will meet our expectations.

Kid now has his Master Title and he has placed third in a 58 dog Qualifying ( That is a very large Qual). After getting word of his third we jokingly said that he was aQAA ( almost Qualified All Age)!

Stud fees are based upon a litter of four puppies for natural breedings when the female is less than seven years of age. For females seven and older three pups is considered a full litter. The stud fees for smaller litters are prorated. For AI breedings, three pups is considered a full litter for fresh chilled inseminations and and for frozen semen inseminations pro rata does not apply. We expect to receive the stud fee within 14 days of the birth of your litter. Please call for other arrangements.

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

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 nonrefundable deposit on the semen (The exact amount determined by which male is being used) 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. For frozen semen from Morgan,  as soon as we receive the deposit we will contact Dr. Debra Sauberli and authorize release of the frozen semen. Then you will contact Dr. Sauberli and/or The Arthur Vet Clinic  to arrange and pay for shipping of the semen.The AVC office number is 217-543-3533. Release of Tru’s semen is handled in the same way. Call Bill at 217-474-7122 to start the ball rolling!. 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.