Breeding Frequency for Female Dogs - Page 1

How often should a female German Shepherd be bred?  My dog was born 2-19-10 and his mother has had other litters on 8-23-10 and 3-05-11.  Is that excessive or just the way an ethical breeder handles their  females?

 Depends on lots of factors. Some say it's better to have several litters right in a row because it's easier on the body to get in shape for pregnancy and stay that way than it is to have the hormonal ups and downs of breeding every other heat or every year. Some argue that bitches should have all their litters early on in life and right in a row and then be retired young as opposed to being bred once a year for 8 or 9 years or more. And then some think a bitch needs a break of one or even 2 heat cycles in between every litter and should only be bred a couple times.

I don't think it's so much a question of ethics as what one personally believes is best and healthiest for the female, but I will say that there is little, if any, research clearly proving a serious detriment to the health of a HEALTHY, well cared for bitch simply from having several litters in a row. Personally, it would depend on my objectives for that female, her age, health, physical condition, temperament, interaction w/pups, etc. I like to have them finished younger and to that end, I may breed a couple in a row. I haven't seen a decline in condition from mine at all; I think more has to do with how a dog is kept and cared for than how often she's bred. 

So, to answer your question, I see where you're trying to lead this topic, but I don't think that in and of itself is the problem you're trying to address. Someone breeding every heat for a couple in a row because it's healthier for the bitch (in their belief) is different than someone who hasn't given it a second thought and is breeding every single heat because they can and because it makes them more money. 

At least one repo vet, Hutchson, says it is OK to breed on every season as long as it is well cared for. Objection is not founded. Nature is right.

I won't if a bitch has a large litter.

Most of the modern theriogenologists are saying that  if a bitch is healthy and well cared for that it is not detrimental to expose her every heat cycle. That is what would happen naturally.  If she has recovered well from a previous litter and all is well she will probably conceive, if not, she won't. This could be "the bitch knows best" .

An occurance that we do see happen repeatedly in the veterinary hospital is the higher percentage of obstetrical problems in the older bitch. Just from our practice experience over the past 15 years, bitches over 6 years old seem to be way more likely to have problems, need C-Sections, have a torsed uterus, delayed expulsion, mastitis, etc.

I retired our 6 1/2 yr old bitch after her last litter in Nov. 2010. she did not recover as well as previous litters, she was not as attentive to the last litter as previous litters. From the experiences I have had at the vet office, I would feel awful if i bred her again and she had problems. I cannot imagine reputable people breeding a bitch who is 8 or 9 years old. That would truly be like having your grandmother having a baby.

I would just add to the above (good) posts that I think a number is hard to say what is "too old". Depends on the individual. Some dogs are old at 7, some not until 10, some look like crap at 4. It's not so black and white.

I, personally, would prefer to breed back to back and retire earlier. When my bitch stops having huge, healthy litters, and being a great mother to them and bouncing back as if she never had them, then I'll quit breeding her, regardless of age. 

Here in Finland breeding a bitch systematically from every heat  is considered a really, really bad thing, a worst kind of a puppy mill, bad cruelty towards animals as a repeated MO. Nowadays Finnish kennelclub has set limits to breeding a bitch. One bitch is allowed to have max 5 litters so that the progeny can end up in normal registry and the bitch can bred in a row from two heat cycles max only once. Other possible litters (that should not happen at all) should end up in a not-to-be-used-to-breeding registry, that does not allow the progeny to be used in registered kennelclub breeding. Registering such a litter costs 3 times as much as normally and can happen only once if I've a correct memory of the rule. And the breeder can face repercussios, for example not be allowed to register puppies  for a lengthy time. We do not as of yet have any systematic rule as to the earliest breeding age but we already do have a rule, an 8-year-old or older bitch has to undergo veterinary examination and get a clean bill of health in order to the breeder to be able to use the bitch of that age in registered breeding. Anyhow I do not really even know that to have been any kind of problem. What I'd really like to see we get a rule against the use on clearly underage bitches. 18 months should be the minimum age. I guess it depends now on the breed and the rules in various breeds. If the breed has a rule about what kind of requirements are a must before breeding, that's a diffrerent thing.

Our breed club does not give a blessing to a planned litter where the bitch in question is at the time under 22 months old. Of course it's quite "legal" to have a litter under that age and the progeny are registered; no-one has to ask or receive breed club's blessing for his/hers litter to get the litter registerd.

I don't myself really like people who use young puppies in making more puppies. Only thing I'd say it's justifiable, if you have an old unused male and have managed to procure a bitch puppy which is  suitable for him, and that in the case the bitch is at least physically sufficiently developed in order for the breeding not to endanger the young bitch's own necessary delelopment - and it can vary individually. One can from a really early age be seen already very much the completed individual in physical growth and model, others take 3 years.. The positive for the whole breed kind of outweighs the negativ for the individual, because in small breeds the genetic pool is really in need of all possible worthy genetic material. But, only in such a case, the young bitch can be considered already sufficiently developed herself. Some bitches mature very fast physically, and for some it takes very long. A bitch should be let develop and become what it should without endangering it's own growth and physical well-being. 

Anyhow, a good thorough basical medical check up before breeding should a good thing as a requirement for any bitch. It really should be the minimum requirement in any age and any breed despite any and all other requirements that depend on breed and club and country in question.

Load of BS.

Show me studies supported or done by vets that says it's ok to breed a female in every heat.

It makes just no sence at all.

I work at a vet clinic and none of the vets I work with or we know support this.

These vets studied in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Maybe you breed them with diffirent uteri in America???!

 

Here you go Escobar...

My friend just went to the Dog Breeding Symposium that had been advertised on the AKC website for this weekend at MSU. One of the most shocking informational things she came back with, was that there have been scientific studies to show that it is WORSE for bitches to be skipped heat cycles, and once you have begun to mate a bitch that you should NOT skip any heat cycles until she is completely finished breeding. You know a bitch is 'done' breeding when their is a drastic decline in litter size.

I have heard that this is also common practice in European Countries.

The study followed 5 colonies of dogs (labs, min-pin, 2 other purebreds and 1 group of lab mixes) in the college research breeding program. 1/2 of each colony was bred every single heat cycle, 1/2 skipped every other one.

After they were finished breeding, the bitches were spayed and their uterus dissected. Those showing most stress, and damage were the ones that had been skipped, since it is NATURAL in the wild for dogs to be bred EVERY HEAT CYCLE it is what their bodies were meant to do.

The SCIENTISTS and DOG EXPERTS explained that the skip every other heat program was an myth, probably started by people trying to impose their human emotions on to their dogs. Women try to get back their girlish figure between pregnancies, and that is not a priority for dogs.

Anybody trying to seriously claim such science here in the northern european countries would get such bs and hate and all possible negative sentiment at them, they'd not even dare express such things. The attitudeclimate obvious and clear here. Only the most irresponsible and detested, money-hungry people who don't give a cent's worth about their animals would breed all the time from every heat, heat after heat, or every year. (=puppy mills, people who don't care about animal welfare, who only care about money, make puppies to make money and operate a "factory"). The most someone dares, is to do it once for some particular reason, but to do it repeatedly, no way. It's not even possible as a MO anymore nowadays, if one breeds within Finnish kennelclub to produce normal registered offspring.

It's quite astounding how human people as a species is so enormously capable of finding justifications for just about anything that he wants to as long as it benefits him. There always will be "scientific results" to prove just about anything. Where's need, there's will, and where's will, there's a way.

I do not think it any benefit to any litter to have a mother who's just had a litter also from a previous heat and also from the last before that etc.
The mother can not possibly anyhow have replenished even her own nutritional needs and get the surely well-earned rest, let alone have replenished enough to give all needed to always yet another batch of new life without endangering her own well-being, and the puppies suffer from it. It's not to the benefit of offspring or the customers, the new owners of these new dogs -  let alone the mother, - only the seller who gets the cash. I know I'd never buy a puppy from a mother who's just previousy had a litter from the previous heat. From any point of view. The female is not only a puppy-machine. It's a living breathing individual that has a right to more that just that.

I've emailed a couple of reproductive specialists and asked if there is any research on the subject. The initial response is that there is not, but I will report back once I get more information.

If a female is in good shape and has 6-8 months between heat cycles, I will occasionally do a back-to-back breeding then give the dam a year off. But I wouldn't recommend regularly breeding cycle after cycle.

I have heard it recommended by vets to breed "as many litters as you want" then spay the female while she's young. The problem is--what info/research are those vets working from?

I don't think anyone (other than a true puppymill) thinks it's a good idea to breed back-to-back-to-back without considering the mother's health and physical condition at every step of the way.

Christine