How often to breed? - Page 1

Hello!  I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!  Just wanted to ask a question about how often you breed your females.  I have never bred earlier than 2 years and hip certifications, and never more than once a year if the female is of good health.  I'm not what I would consider a professional breeder, but I've recently run across a 2.5 year old female who is on her 4th litter and this seems a bit extreme to me.  Am I wrong or missing something?

4 litters at 2.5 is nuts. sounds like puppy mill practices!

This is what I thought.  I have heard that sometimes in Germany, they breed as early as 18 months- but even at that- this girl would still be wore out!  Thanks for your thoughts...

18 months is one thing, but 4 litters at 2.5 equals back to back breedings for every heat the dog has had since her first heat, which likely was ALOT younger than 18 months... disgusting.

A dog's hips cannot be Certified until its 24 months old.

Any breeding without certified hips and elbows is unethical!

That being said, a bitch that is bred once every 12 months seems about right to me.

No more then once evey 12 months.........

Purchasing a puppy from uncertified parents is stupid.

Stop hip and elbow dysplacia now!

dogs in germany can get hip/elbow cert at 12 months.

john

a dog's bones have not completed forming until well after 12 months

a dog can pass a german certification and will still fail the OFA. WWW.OFFA.ORG

do we want to rid GSD's of HD or not?

breeding dogs with any amount of HD (normal fast) is wrong.

if breeders keep breeding for HD, we will completely destroy the breed, we are closer then you think.

let's not turn this into a HD thread...

We will never rid the GSD breed of CHD, plain and simple.

4 litters at 2 and a half...that poor girl. Shame on her owner.

4 litters at 2.5 years old?! That's not good at all.  One litter per year would be all I'd want for one female.  It would have to be very special circumstances for 2 litters a year and that would be only a one time thing - like a special male available for a limited time only.