A few years ago, reproductive specialists recommended breeding every heat cycle til the female is around 5 years old. Then have her spayed and retire her.. I have not followed up on that research. I would not ask my vet for his/her opinion about my breeding practices except in an incident when I had a need to use the vet the previuos whelping. I love vets to death, but, many vets have no additional training in the practice of breeding healthy animals. They are wonderful and absolute necessities when a critter is sick but I find that other occasions I get more valid info from other breeders and research on computer.
To me, it depends on the bitch-her size, health, and the number of puppies she has each time and what the whelping and nursing take out of her. I bred my last female 3 times in a row-2-3-3 puppies per litter. Puppies were healthy and small and mom was in tiptop condition. I had planned her retirement at a certain age and I wanted another baby that resembled Jesse. Well, repeating the exact same breeding does not produce the same features. Midori, the dam and Shorty, the sire were both retired at the same time and no more babies from them. She is 6 and Sire is a bit younger..I am not suggesting anyone compromise their standards or philosophies and maybe we need to agree to disagree. |