when is too old to breed

[sea4th]

I posted re: the fading puppy sydrome in connection with a friend's dog who was bred for the first time at 7 yrs. old.

 

Personally, I would not have done it. I have 2 breeds, BC's and Caucasian Mountain dogs, and I've talked to knowledgable people of both breeds (with the mountain dog, Russian breeders), who felt perfectly comfortable with breeding a bitch for the first time at 6 and 7 yrs.

 

Myself, last year, I bred a 6 yr. old for the first time & she had 6 pups, but after the fourth went into uterine inertia and the 5th & 6th pups were still born.

 

It appears to me that the mindset on this subject seems to differ from ours on the other side of the Atlantic.

 

Any opinions?

 

Vicki

[Jordi44]

I'm not a big breeder or anything, but bred my sheltie 3 times. She was around 2 the first time she had pups, and I had her spayed when she was 6. Especially with larger breeds, I would be very nervous of breeding one past 7, let alone doing it for the first time. I worked for a vet for 8 years, knew several breeders of various breeds, and most of them bred for the first time when the dog was relatively young (say under 4, some waited until they were "done" showing, some didn't - these were AKC breeds like cockers, etc.) and I didn't know any of them to breed them much past 8 years of age. Just my opinion and what I observed, but I know our vets didn't recommend it, either (course, like most vets, they recommended spaying for most since they were pets).