Female heat question - Page 1

Hi All,

I am the proud owner of a female GSD
(http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/dog.html?id=1320138-gerda-von-den-nieplitzwiesen),
who was imported from Germany to Pakistan when she was 1.5 years old. She is 5 years old. She was coming into heat on a regular basis (after every 5-6 months). But she has not been in heat for the last12-14 months!

I do want to breed her, but have not been able to in the past mainly due to the fact that the time she has been in heat the climate has been very hot and would put too much strain on her as the temperatures are usually well above 40 C. And also due to some personal problems I have not been able to mate her.

Can anyone of the experienced breeders please inform me:

Why she has stopped coming into heat?
Is it advised to bring her bring het to heat artificially? If so, what process is recommended?
Is she too old to be bred at around 5.5 years?
Finally, before breeding what extra diet, food supplements should be given?

All help would be much appreciated. Thank you all in advance

Regards

Shaz

First off, I myself would not breed a dog over 5 that has never had pups unless she is in extremely good shape, ( that is just my own personal feeling).
As far as her not going in heat, are you sure she hasn't been. I have several females that, but for my male dogs, I would not even know they were in heat.
I have no clue why some show clear signs of heat while others don't.

I wouldn´t try to breed her, too. Something is wrong - she either is sick or the surrounding changed ( besides that as Kitkat mentioned 5 years is pretty old for the first pregnancy ).

In the first case you need to vsit your vet, in the second case it is what it is.
Did you move? Did anybody else take care of her during the last year? Did you get another dog, especially another female? Did you change anything else ( food, kennel, whatever ) ?

There always is a reason.

I would not breed a female at 5 *for the first time* especially if she is having hormonal issues. A supplement you can try for health reasons (not necessarily fertility) is Standard Process Symplex F, but regardless, I would get a full blood work-up done to check for any medical reason she may not be cycling regularly.

There are medical reasons for a female not coming into heat. You really need to get her checked out by a vet. And 5 is pretty old for a first pregnancy. Many ethical breeders retire their bitches by age 6, as they are past their prime and the number of problems with the pregnancies increases..

My females do come in heat, they just do not show signs like some of the others do.
Am I the only one lucky enough to NOT have the usual (if in England, would say as the English say) bloody mess associated with a dogs heat? I know i am not in England, just adding a little humor, but seriously, but for the males, usually the yorkie males first, you could very easily miss a heat cycle.
These same females, when bred usually have between 8-12 healthy pups..
does anyone else ever see this?

It's really impossible to detect "invisible heat" for a breeder who tries to find the most suitable stud for the bitch, and doesn't usually find him in his own backyard.