continued from part three

yes, we actually have one (more info here), ask other breeders if they do!

This is an ancient breed that needs a little care in raising and breeding.

We generally do not breed from a bitch more than once in her lifetime (yes, there have been exceptions).

We no longer offer dogs at stud (again except under extraordinary circumstances), and we are careful not to allow any one of our dogs to sire a huge percentage of pups in any one era.

There are limited numbers of bloodlines, Clumbers, and buyers and we already offer young stock and stock suitable for breeding for sale. We can see no reward for the breed or Erinveine in watching others make money from puppy sales sired by our dogs when a litter outside reduces the potential use of that sire within our own kennel, and we will have puppies by that dog to offer for sale also.

We do actually breed to yield a pup for our own kennels in every litter produced. Thus we will always take our “pick”; however for the newcomer to the breed we are happy to make suggestions as to possible suitability of a particular litter or even individual.

If you have stated specifically (on the booking form) you are after a show quality Clumber then we will strongly encourage you to take one we feel should have this potential. Be aware that many things can occur to living animals and we are not sharmen and there is always the potential of a problem arising that can effectively disqualify this animal from the show ring – be it a bee sting causing scarring, an accident while playing or even the bite going wrong after purchase.

As with many, many breeds Clumber bites can move from reasonable scissor bite to undershot – the reasons have not been identified, but our experience indicates a strong nutritional link. With each litter bred we are more confident about bite quality, but nature can destroy everyone’s dreams! This is just another reason we raise the pups until they cut their adult incisors.

We recognize that the Clumber Spaniel have had the worst hip score on the British Veterinary Association scale (which is used in Australasia also). However, we do not actually x-ray our breeding stock at this stage for several reasons

  1. Erinveine dogs already scored have a lower score than Australasian Clumbers, which score considerably less than the world average
    Willis report Dec 1992 world breed average 44.68, Australasia 31.33, Erinveine 29.80 – the lower the score the better; we are currently trying to get a more recent analysis by Dr Willis has now retired and no one else seems to offer this service.  You are welcome to check our current, unedited, and fully verifiable record
  2. Clumbers have been prone to anaesthetic shock or reactions, this matter has been reported to the University of Melbourne researcher, but Dr Brock has not contacted us; it is also a phenomenon that has been noted across the Clumber population worldwide; fortunately the incidence rate seems to be falling, perhaps with IV fluids, perhaps with better anaesthetic techniques
  3. The x-ray technique means genital organs are irradiated
  4. The scoring system was developed for German Shepherds, Clumbers have a different angulation and bone quality
  5. We are very conscious of conformation in choosing our breeding stock, including hindquarter angulation
  6. Although not statistically identified in Clumbers, the environmental conditions (feeding, surfaces, etc) can contribute to hip dysplasia development; for that matter pups are not born with hip dysplasia, it develops
  7. The prohibitive cost of screening dogs unless of course buyers would like to pay more for their pups!
  8. We do hip score if there is another non-emergency reason for a dog to undergo a general anaesthetic.