[Tink]

Janet, that's what I did when I was raising GSDs; bred every other heat cycle. Now I'm being told that's not the best route because it invites a couple of different types of female cancers. I had one GSD female who got a horrible mammary cancer and had to be put down, so It scares me to think of going through that again. I think it's much like many other theories... it keeps changing and you just hope like heck you follow the right study.

My vet is telling me it really depends on the condition of the individual female. If she's back to good weight, her blood looks good, etc he says breeding as many as 4 times in a row and then retiring them is a good way to go. Because these labs aren't 2 yr olds, I only plan to try once more with Montana, and maybe twice more with Canada since she's younger. After that they'll be spayed so the hormones won't be a threat.

Greg has really fallen in love with the pair of them, so he agrees with me that we need to keep them even after we spay.

Diana, I can certainly understand the guys motivation too. His dog has a reputation locally and has Kellogg pointer lab bloodlines, so if what he's telling us is true, it makes sense. I'm not real knowledgeable about lab lines, but Montanas ancestry is supposed to be very good as well... something about a college professor in the Dakotas having bred her and he's some hot shot in the hunting Lab circles. Anyway, that's the lines this guy is looking at.