This is a question for breeders.

How often (if ever) do you use a stud dog that you have never seen before? What criteria do you keep in mind when using a dog you've never actually laid eyes on?

With video cameras so cheap these days it amazes me that more people do not take the time to make video of their stud dogs. There are a few studdogs I'm interested in but are quite a distance away. I don't want to fall into the trap of breeding to something that *sounds* good but maybe isn't as good as its photos or reputation.

I know one example that sticks out in my mind is there was a dog here being campaigned in AKC who became one of the top dogs in the country ... even won groups and BIS wins. The dog in person was ghastly! But he photographed alright and had a big name handler that was responsible for WHY he did all the winning he did. Lots of people used him at stud without ever laying eyes on what he really looked like (perhaps they did not actually care...?)

Anyways, I curious if many of you use stud dogs you haven't seen and if so, on what basis?

This is a recent thread kinda along the same lines:

http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/showf...rue#Post4166997


But really, good video is a *job* to produce! You need at least a good handler, decoy ( if you're filming bite work ) and a video guy that knows what he's doing - anyone dropping the ball in that team can make a good dog look bad.

The best video to see? My pick would be a video of a dog doing the trial routine that lead to one of it's titles - from that you could judge a lot.