Feb 24 2009
How Often To Breed
It seems like breeding questions are popular. Here’s another one.
I have two yorkies, the female is almost four and the male almost two. They have had two very successful litters of puppies no health problems from parents or puppies. They have sold asap and I have had several request from people wishing to purchase a puppy from me. My question is should I allow these two dogs to bread at will or should I space the breeding apart? Thank’s for the help.
Definitely don’t breed at every opportunity. Pregnancy and nursing take their toll on a dog’s body, and breeding too frequently can adversely affect their health. Without proper rest, the body may not be able to handle another pregnancy and you may increase the risk to the mother and puppies.
I normally recommend breeding no more often than every other heat cycle. That means breed on one heat cycle, rest her on the next one, and then breed on the one after that. You can wait longer between cycles, but I wouldn’t do it sooner. Keep in mind that your bitch is a living creature, and not simply a puppy factory. You shouldn’t let market demand force you to breed her more frequently than is healthy.
Also keep in mind my previous discussions about whether or not you should breed in the first place. Just because the parents are healthy doesn’t mean that they’re good breeding quality.
When I was breeding dogs 20 years ago, the AKC recommended that a bitch only be allowed to have no more than 3 litters of puppies for her entire lifetime. It was to ensure that dogs were not over bred for health reasons.
Because I was a breeder I was often offered a breeding bitch for free. The bitch the I remember the most had champion international bloodlines but was not show quality herself. I bred her to my stud and found out after she had a litter of 7 pups that it was her 6th litter. I was also informed that it was her largest litter and that at least 2 or 3 pups died from each of her prior litters. I had then realized that I had rescued a champion bloodline Chow Chow from a backyard breeder with no morals other than dollar signs. The female was then recruited to become a spayed house pet and lived with me until she died of old age at 16 years.
I really wish that people would just stop breeding dogs all together unless they have a plan and money to show the dog and improve the breed. There is NO market just to breed pet dogs. Just look at how many there are at the local pound.
How about “Breed no more often than you are willing to afford fresh brucella tests for both parents”? That would cut down the rate a bit for most hobbyists. I like your advice above, though. While it’s good to have people waiting eagerly for the next batch, and determined they want one of THOSE puppies, they shouldn’t be able to pressure you into baking up that batch at the expense of your dog.