Dog breeding information and questions
Allowing your female dog to have puppies can be a great experience, but you need to understand the responsibility requirements. Overpopulation is a major problem. There many of both purebred and mixed dogs in shelters and pounds all over the world that must be euthanized every year. Unless your sure you can find every puppy a loving owner, you should have your dog spayed before she reaches sexual maturity.
Breeding dogs can be very expensive. Before you can breed your stud or bitch, they should be checked (x-rayed) for hip dysplasia problems, checked for vision problems, examined for thyroid problems and checked for several other congenital conditions that could be pass on to the puppies. If you have a bitch, the stud fee can be hundreds of dollars. Even if elect to give pick of the litter in lieu of a stud fee, that means you will lose the best puppy and any money you could of received for the sale.
Breeding dogs can have emotional costs as well. Can you handle the pain when your bitch has to go through a C-section or even dies while giving birth? How about when all the puppies are still born? Death is a large part of breeding your dogs and it’s rare when every puppy in a litter survives. If something happens to the mother, you may have to hand raise a whole litter yourself and this is not an easy task.
If you do decide on breeding your dog, then they should have all of the necessary certifications. It’s best to wait until the dog is at least 2 years old before breeding. For males this is not a real problem. However, for females it is. Since a bitch can come into heat starting as early as 6 months, you’ll have to keep a constant eye on her all the time. Frequency of breeding is not really a problem with most dogs, but a male dog can be less effective if used a stud constantly. All purebred dogs need the very best food and care regardless of how often you plan on breeding your dog.
A typical bitch will come into season every six months. It is highly recommended that you not her during the first cycle. many times the dog has not completely matured and dog breeding too soon can cause physical development problems. Her growth will stop and needed calcium may be transferred to pups instead.
If you do have a bitch that you want to breed, you must watch her like a hawk when she’s in heat. That’s because a single female can be impregnated by as many as a dozen different males during the same cycle resulting in puppies who all have a different father other than the intended stud. She shouldn’t be allowed out of site when outdoors, even in a fenced in yard. The urge to mate is strong and there many be dozens of male dogs in the neighborhood who would balk at digging under or climbing over a fence to take care of business.
The last thing you should do before you make a decision to breed your dog is visit the local dog pound in a large city nearest you. Question them on how many “purebred” dogs they kill every week. I think the information you discover there might be surprising.
