Length Between Litter's?

PorkChop

PorkChop

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Morning, is it acceptable to breed annually from a bitch?

I am waiting for a litter of Rottweiler puppies to be born the middle of September, from a very, very well respected breeder in Ireland. I have noticed that the bitch had a litter about this time last year.

Is this acceptable practice? They will be retaining a puppy from this litter, and they certainly retained at least one puppy from the last, and I don't think the bitch had a litter the year previous to her last litter.

I would appreciate your thoughts please :)
 
how many litters has she had in total?? Its not unusual to breed a litter every year. The KC have recently restricted the number of litters a bitch can have to four in a lifetime but the rules are not the same for the Irish Kennel Club.

Will you be importing and transferring the pedigree?

If you are then why not ask what her general number of litters per bitch is then you can make a decision.

There are breeders that will breed on each season until the bitch is too old to breed :(
 
Thank you for your replies.

Yes I will be importing and transferring the pedigree.

I will ask how many litters she has had in total, you are right. I didn't realise the rules were different between the Uk and Irish KC.

I would be surprised if anything was amiss, just checking that this was standard practice.
 
There are excellent breeders in Ireland sadly they get the tarred and feathered routine because of all the bad ones same for Wales because of the encouragement by government to diversify into dog breeding. Good luck with your new pup :D
 
Which kennel, PM if you prefer (and apologies if you PM'd me on this issue before as I suspect you might have :p)

I spoke to a Deerhound breeder who said something which stuck with me, he said he bred even his best bitches once or twice during their lifetime, whereas most other people were breeding their rubbish bitches once or twice a year.
 
CaveCanem said:
Which kennel, PM if you prefer (and apologies if you PM'd me on this issue before as I suspect you might have :p)

I spoke to a Deerhound breeder who said something which stuck with me, he said he bred even his best bitches once or twice during their lifetime, whereas most other people were breeding their rubbish bitches once or twice a year.
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Thank you, I have sent you a pm.
 
Most breeders I know aim for a litter at around three when the bitch has some maturity & they know what they have in her. Then a gap of a couple of years while those pups mature so a second litter can have the sire choice tweaked by what the first litter produced.
With the rare breeds a third litter by a sire unrelated to the previous can be fitted in to keep what genetic variability they can.
I don't personally know anyone who has had more than four litters from a bitch but still remember the uproar when the earlier 6 litter limit was brought in. The IKC still allows 6 litters per bitch.
 
The breeder who bred Brax and will be breeding his sister (hopefully!) breeds every two years. She uses each bitch twice.
 
When I was more actively breeding I usually had 2 litters from a bitch, one at around 2 or 3 and then another a couple of years later. I never bred from a bitch later than 6 years of age. Evie was nearly 4 when she had Freya's litter this year, and as the sole reason for breeding was to get a bitch for myself she will be spayed next month.
 
cinnamontoast said:
Will the dog be docked as this is allowable in Eire?
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Yes, this particular breeder does dock, as is allowed. Not all of them in Ireland do though.

I know docking is a contentious subject, as long as it is done by a Vet I have no problems with it. I also have spangles which can still be docked legally in the Uk, albeit not as short as larger breeds are. My Vets anaesthetise the tails before docking.
 
MurphysMinder said:
When I was more actively breeding I usually had 2 litters from a bitch, one at around 2 or 3 and then another a couple of years later. I never bred from a bitch later than 6 years of age. Evie was nearly 4 when she had Freya's litter this year, and as the sole reason for breeding was to get a bitch for myself she will be spayed next month.
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If only all breeder's were as conscientious, there wouldn't be as many "discussions" about indiscriminate breeding.
 
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