breeding labs

Question
I am planning on breeding my 3 year old female labrador soon. she will be ready to mate soon. i have found this male labrador and he is in great shape and a wonderful dog with no health problems...  but he is 14 years old. is he still fertile? or does that pass with age..?

Answer
Both dogs should NOT be considered for breeding unless:

1) they have some sort of title to prove their merit as a breedable specimen of the breed.
2) passed all their health clearances....Hips, Elbows and Heart checked by appropriate vet and results registered with the OFA (www.offa.org), eyes checked annually by a canine opthamalogist and results registered with CERF (www.vmdb.org/cerf.html), and eyes checked for PRA by a blood test sent to Optigen (www.optigen.com).

If your intention is the breed these 2 natually, you will need to have both of them checked for Brucellois a week or so before breeding.  It's a sexually transmitted disease and if the female has it, it can cause the loss of the WHOLE litter.

Who knows if the 14 year old is still fertile.  That's what vets are for.  You take the male to the vets, tell them you need to have his semen's viability checked, and they will do a collection and look!  They will tell you if his semen quality is still good.  There are young males from certain lines that have gone sterile before the age of 5.  So you never know.