[blueskies]

Originally Posted by amanda350

I would say that the pom mix probably had problems because she was bred with an 11 pound male. Your Gidget is 10 lbs which is in my opinion to big to breed and that combined with her recent health scares would make it a wise decision to spay her. I do have a question though. You state that your dogs are all raised as part of the family. Does that mean that you will keep Gidget, the pom mix, the older female, the new stud, the old 8 lb stud and still aquire a couple more breeding females or are you going to rehome the ones that you no longer use for breeding? To me that would mean that they are not part of the family if they are only temporary pets. I ask because you talked about not wanting a bunch of dogs. I have 4 and it is ALOT of work. I also have 3 young children. I cannot imagine having 7 or more dogs but I also do not believe in rehoming them after they are used for breeding. To me it is just as cruel as the people who say "I need to rehome my 7 yr old dog, I got him at 7 wks but I just do not have time for him anymore" JMO

I won't comment on the weight of the male/standard/breeding mixes, but I highly disagree with this, maybe it's not right for you but many reputable breeders do rehome their retired breeders. I think it is the responsible thing to do. If you keep all of them you become a hoarder, or if you only limit yourself to a certain amount you will box yourself in and eventually have nobody to breed until your retired babies pass away of old age. Sometimes you may have one or two that you just can never give up, and they remain with you as your pet, but in general I think it's great to rehome a retired dog, especially if they go to a home where they are the only dog or one of two dogs and can get more attention. Most of the time they adapt well. Just because you rehome retired breeding dogs does not mean they can't be family raised and just as loved. I think this comment was a little rude and inappropriate and I don't understand why you are naming all of her dogs, very unnecessary and off topic. All the other advice was great and this has been a very information thread that the OP has been able to grow and learn from...