[justus]

I am curious and appreciate other's Ideas on this subject. AKC (American Kennel Club) standard size is 4-7 pounds full grown as an adult. I have noticed that the majority of experienced breeders want to stick with the upper end of the size of female and the smallest in male that they can find of healthy status. For health of the mother giving birth larger are preferred but still within AKC standard range of weight . Of course there are the ones that breed for size more so, and want as small of a female as possible in the standard of 4 pounds or as close as they can get, hopefully not less than 4 pounds. They also want the smallest male they can find.
It seems that for a pet a female is preferred more often and as small as can be found with good health of course. Some say that females make the best pet, over a male. I think this may have to do the fear that males are harder to potty train and have less bad habits associated with that. Even with a male a person seeking a male will normally seek the smallest possible.
When it comes to breeding by AKC rules and regs, a male must be 8 months of age to be used as a breeder. Twelve months for a female.
If I recall correctly a male is allowed to stud 3 times in a year, or is it 2, without having a DNA on file with American Kennel Club? Or/and 7 litters may be produced by the male total without having a DNA done on the male and put on file. I do believe if the male breeds say in December of say 2000 for instance and the puppies are born February 2001 of the next year, the year the that the puppies are born is the year that it is counted on the male, not the time of conception.
So I wonder also if the reason I think more people seek females first is because the female must be 12 months of age to breed (due to regulations)and the male must be 8 months. To add to this our Veterinarian said that breeding 12 month old female was like breeding a teenager and he suggested waiting for the female's to turn at least 18 months. Anyway that is why we got our 2 females first is for this reason.
When we got our little man, the breeder told us that at that time there was a run on, of people seeking little guys. She said that was rare, but did happen from time to time. Especially when you are seeking the right colors, pedigree, size and unlimited rights to use as an AKC breeder.

Please jump on in. This is just our history of learning and a few things we have noticed. Thanks....justus