Tool Page - Puppies Knees, Breeding Conditions, Line Breeding

"Tool Page" the column designed to give you some useful "Tools" in running a successful kennel.

Note: This dialog was taken from a live forum with Dr. Page at www.usabreeders.com October 23, 2002.

Tool Page Questions:

Q: Is there anything to help strengthen puppy knees besides exercise?

Dr. Page: A good puppy food, moderate exercise and time...I think we are overemphasizing "loose knees" in puppies. They are naturally loose at a young age. They will tighten and strengthen with age and growth normally.

Q: I have a breeding question, all were breeding and settling very well when in outside runs (cocker spaniels). Now I have them housed in a nice climate-controlled kennel with indoor/outdoor runs for over 18 mo. now---breeding success has dropped off to probably 50% or less now! Any ideas on what the problem may be?

Dr. Page: Check your nutritional intake, have you changed dog foods? Check your lighting. Dogs require 12-14 hours of lighting inside the building DAILY even though you have inside/outside runs. This much light is required for a normal reproductive cycle.

Q: My vet told me to line breed, I don't feel I know enough about genetics to do so. Is this a good thing or not?

Dr. Page: Line breeding shouldn't be encouraged. You are specifically reinforcing all the bad qualities of the lineage simply by increasing the odds. Try to use unrelated dogs as much as possible.