Breeding?

[Lorraine Bromley]

I am curious to know what the best practices for breeding a female are? I am not a breeder nor will ever be this is just to use in questions for prospective buyers.

How often should a mom be bred and how many litters should she have and when should she start?

[Elizabeth & Cosmo]

I am not a breeder, either, but here is a statement from the Australian Labradoodle Association of America (ALAA) Code of Ethics:

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I shall not purposely breed from any bitch kept by causing it to be mated before it is twelve months of age or after six years of age.

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You can see more of the code here:

http://www.ilainc.com/CodeofEthics.html

[Carol Brand]

I am a breeder of Poodles.  I believe that bitches should not be bred before age 2.  OFA will not certify hips before age 2.  Pennhip can be done much earlier, but even Pennhip acknowledges that hips can change as a bitch grows and matures.  Tests such as CERF (eyes) are not only looking for problems but for changes in the eye that occur as the bitch ages.   In Poodles, there are also a number of health issues that we can not test for, so it is prudent that we take a wait and see approach to determine if the bitch remains in good health as she matures.  I would much rather see a 7 year old bitch being bred than an 18 month old bitch.  After all, what is the hurry to breed, unless it is to make money.  There are other things to do with bitches than fill their uteruses.   Perhaps a breeder could make good use of the extra time to work or train her breeding stock to prove that it is worthy to go back into the gene pool.  I would think that this is especially true when  "trainability" is supposed to be one of the hallmarks of the breed.

 

How many litters?  I think you have to ask what is the point of breeding.  I don't breed just to produce puppies for a pet buying market.  As a breeder, I'm looking at the long term viability of my breed.  When I breed I am looking in each generation to find a combination that fixes/improves conformation or one that produces certain temperament/working characteristics or one that moves away from a known health issue.   To this end, I think that 4 litters is the outside number.  If I can't get what I'm looking for in 4 tries, then the bitch is likely not a great producer and it is time to try a different strategy. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lorraine Bromley]

Thank you for that explanation. I have been looking around the internet again as my interest was peeked by the new DK member looking for the Australian Labradoodle. This is one of the questions I would hope to ask a prospective breeder of my future furry friend. But not knowing the answer to it doesn't help if you ask it! I was asking in hopes to educate not only myself but others. Do moms have litters every year? Or I should say can they safely? Or what would be a red flag in looking for history of breeding? I noticed on one site the mom had three litters one year apart and that got me thinking.

[Carol Brand]

Bitches all cycle differently.   My foundation bitch cycled every 20 weeks!  My current bitch is running on a 28-32 week cycle.  I know some bitches who only come in once a year.

 

Standard breeding practice is usually to breed every other cycle.  This lets a bitch rest in betweeen.  Some bitches really need to recover from caring for a litter.  Others, like my foundation bitch, are so fat and sassy after taking care of a litter that they need to go on a diet.  Some breeders use the threat of pyometra to justify breeding back to back.  I think this is a red herring.  I know plenty of breeders who successfully wait to breed their bitche or who skip numerous heat cycles.  There may be compelling reasons to breed back to back, but as a standard practice, based on what I see, breeding back to back is more often than not about maximizing production out of bitch. 

 

So 1 litter a year for 3 years?  Not an issue.  Sounds like a well thought out breeding program.  3 litters in 1 year?  Yikes!  Give the girl a rest!

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

Here is a reply I got when inquiring about lab puppies for my MIL

Hi   I sell my puppies to homes starting at 8-10 weeks depending on litter size etc, my pet puppies are 1100.00 plus tax.

My girls usually start breeding at 2 yrs old sometimes 3, boys start between 14 months and 2.

I usually have 6-8litters a year with usually not more than two at any given time,

My girls are finished breeding and go to retired homes at 5-6 yeas old,they usually have 2-3 litters , in their life time. my boys are finished between 6-9.

My retired labs are spayed or nuetered before going to their new homes and range between 700-1000.00 depending on age etc.

I do have some older smaller black females for sale that are great for older people. Will mature around 58-60 lbs.

We like to meet potential clients and interview before allowing adoption.

Thanks Laurie