Question about back to back breeding. (breeders only question) - Page 1

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by REAGANSABRINA on 02 February 2016 - 03:02

Hi all ,I was wondering..is back to back breeding Ok ,see I've had a small litter of 5 pups recently and i was thinking about going again on the next heat as I've been reading that this may actually be beneficial for the dam i was wondering thoughts on this..
baring in mind the litter i have is small healthy no problems mother is in good shape? thanks in advance for any opinions :)

Jenni78

by Jenni78 on 02 February 2016 - 04:02

Repro specialists recommend frequent breedings while the bitch is young, then retire early. There is no benefit to a dog to skip cycles unless she is not well enough to carry a litter. Their uterus ages with every cycle; waiting between litters merely means you're breeding an older uterus, not sparing the bitch any wear and tear like people think.


Mike D

by Mike D on 02 February 2016 - 12:02


Interesting. Thanks Jenni.

Does that go so far as to recommend 3 in a row? I have heard back to back then 1 heat off, and have done that with no problems.

Just wondering as I have a bitch I am considering breeding for the 1st time, but I may also continue furthering her titles (she is a IPO 1) and I am trying to think of ways to coordinate trials and heat cycles.

Mike

by Bavarian Wagon on 02 February 2016 - 15:02

It really depends on how the female recovers after whelping. If she bounces back quick, you're still keeping her engaged, doing other things while waiting for a heat...I don't think there is any issue breeding cycle after cycle. Some females though take longer to recover, clearly look pained during whelping, not the biggest fans of that type of lifestyle...probably shouldn't be bred heat after heat.

Medically...there isn't much risk to continually breed a bitch. I think most people just have issues with it because the bitch ends up pregnant or whelping for 8 months out of the year. They don't get to live like they once used to...probably don't get to work or train much, and so it's more of an animal rights thing than a medical issue. Some people will definitely have negative feelings about a breeder who is just breeding litter after litter and never giving a female a break...others won't care or won't even realize it. Kind of all depends on what kind of reputation you want to have within the dog world and possibly your inner circle.

Jenni78

by Jenni78 on 02 February 2016 - 16:02

Mike, yes, it does, again provided that they whelp easily, recover well, don't look like they're on death's door when the litter is weaned, etc. I have bred one bitch 3x back to back to test this theory/research (I re-acquired her at 4) and all went well and I noticed zero difference in her appearance, litter size, ease of whelping, etc. Her litters were 8, 10, 9. So, nothing telling me her body was saying she wasn't strong enough to feed a larger litter. She then got a year off and is having her last litter next month. She is 6 and absolutely stunning- excellent shape, not gray, does not look worn and used at all. She seems to love being a mother.

People think their estrus is like a human menstrual period and it's just not. Their bodies go through the same hormonal shifts and uterus goes through the same aging, bred or not. I think it's better to breed often and younger, personally, and the medical research supports this. The key is that they are able to keep up with the nutritional demand of nursing pups. So, a whole lot depends on the breeder and the female's health. I think less of a breeder who only breeds once per year and takes poor care of the female all year than a breeder who is up on the latest research and aware that what is best for the bitch is often not what is popular among PETA fans, and takes excellent care of the bitch.

And BW makes an excellent point about how the dog does- is she happy whelping and rearing pups? Does she prefer to train more? As the pups mature, there is more time for mom. Make sure mom gets fun/work breaks and I think it goes a long way toward a happier dam, and thus better temperament for the pups, as she is imprinting them with her own behavior.

Jenni78

by Jenni78 on 02 February 2016 - 16:02

The link to this is broken but I saved a copy a while back.

Revisiting back to back breeding
February 5, 2011 By Dr Kate Schoeffel
Source - http://dogbreeding.net.au/revisiting-back-to-back-breeding/242


It is frequently claimed that breeding dogs on every heat or “back to back breeding” is bad for a bitch’s long term health and well being. However the research in canine reproduction shows that not breeding a dog when it comes into heat can in fact be bad for its health.

Scientist have shown that pseudopregnancy ['phantom pregnancy'] increases the risk of mammary cancers which are the second most common cancer in dogs after skin tumours and are 3-5 times more common than breast cancers in women1:

Pseudopregnancy often occurs when a bitch is not bred. She will show signs such as nesting, weight gain, mammary enlargement and lactation – usually about 6 to 12 weeks after oestrus. Pseudopregnancy represents the extreme of the changes which normally occur during the oestrus cycle and it is suggested that it is a hang over from dogs evolution from wolves. Subordinate non breeding pseudopregnant female wolves in a pack can help to raise pups by nursing the litters of other females” 2

In 1994 Donnay and his associates showed that there is a relationship between the number of pseudopregnancies a bitch goes through and the development of mammary cancer – see Table 1 below3. Verstegen and Onclin (2006)1 have also studied canine mammary cancer and found that a large number of bitches presented for mammary tumours also show pseudopregnancy, that a large percentage of these females had had frequent pseudopregnancies and that the bitches with recurring pseudopregnancy at each cycle tended to develop mammary tumours significantly earlier than other animals.

Both of these authors say that there is need for more research but clearly bitches which don’t breed are likely to become pseudopregnant and pseudopregnancy increases the risk of cancer.

Pregnancy protects against life threatening uterine diseases. The most common uterine disease in the bitch is cystic endometrial hyperplasia. It is linked to several serious uterine diseases including the potentially life threatening disease “pyometra” (literally – a uterus full of pus) which affects nearly one quarter of dogs under 10 years old which are not desexed4 . According to canine reproduction specialist Dr S. Romagnoli “bitches whelping regularly throughout their reproductive life almost never develop pyometra, while those who whelp rarely or never in their lives have a greater chance of developing this condition”. Furthermore a standard textbook of veterinary internal medicine notes that uterine diseases are less common in kennels where bitches are bred and conceive regularly indicating that pregnancy has a protective effect on the lining of the uterus or “endometrium”5,6

Given that artificially restricting bitches, which haven’t been desexed, from breeding is bad for their health, it is not surprising that many breeding dogs bred have reproductive problems. If they are show dogs they often don’t start breeding until they are three years old, and have finished their show career, and then kennel club rules and even government regulations require that the bitch is only bred on every second season. Frequently older bitches need veterinary intervention to reproduce, and good bitches may end up being bred well beyond 6 years of age when their fertility is beginning to decline.

No responsible breeder who cares about their dogs would breed their bitches until they are exhausted, and rules certainly need to be in place to ensure that irresponsible breeders don’t exploit their dogs, however the current regulations in place in some states do not take into account the biology of the bitch. Breeding should be regulated by limiting the number of litters a bitch can breed or the age at which they should be desexed and retired.

Breeding dogs regularly while they are young, followed by desexing and rehoming them early is in the best interest of the bitch and a good pet breeder can use this knowledge to work with the natural biology of their animals.

Breeders must be aware of and comply with any government regulations regarding dog breeding in their state and unfortunately in Victoria, NSW and QLD current regulations do not permit this approach to dog breeding.

vtgsd

by vtgsd on 02 February 2016 - 20:02

http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/documents/HutchinsonSeminar.pdf

http://www.rutlandmanor.com/uploads/5/6/3/1/5631556/_back_to_back_breeding.pdf

And there are many more...

"It really depends on how the female recovers after whelping. If she bounces back quick, you're still keeping her engaged, doing other things while waiting for a heat...I don't think there is any issue breeding cycle after cycle. "

Agreed.


Mike D

by Mike D on 03 February 2016 - 12:02

Thanks Jenni and BW,

Good info.

Mike





 


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