Cdnjennga

I know this has come up on various threads, but I thought it would be good to have one thread where it's discussd. For anyone who doesn't know, back to back breeding is when you breed a bitch one season after another, without a break in between.

So... What does everyone think? What are the points against and in favour for back to back breeding?

PonkiPoodles

I'm against back to back breeding. If you have to breed then I think at the very least you want to allow at least one unbred season between breedings. To have puppies takes a lot out of a dog, even if it doesn't seem that way.
I think a dog that whelps often (every season) will produce weaker puppies.

cbrand

I think there might be good reasons to do it.

What if a bitch is not bred until quite late in life. Our Gracy was not bred until she was 6 yrs old. We only bred her once (because it was too hard on her) but if we had bred her again, we would have had to do it back to back because of her age.

Some bitches only cycle every 10-12 months. How much time is not enough between breedings?

Some bitches cycle really often. My Sabrina cycles every 20 weeks like clock work. If you look at her breeding history, you will see that she whelped a litter January 2006 and December 2006. What you don't see is that she cycled in between.

Some bitches are just machines. My Sabrina was a fat pig by the time her puppies left at 8 weeks. We had to put her on a diet. People could not believe that she had whelped a litter. Why would a breeder not breed a bitch like this back to back?

My issue is more this. A Poodle is a pet. It is not a uterus on legs to make a breeder money. There are other things to do with a bitch than breed her. I want to see that a breeder is doing some kind of training, showing, therapy on top of breeding.

KPoos

I don't know anything about breeding dogs but I've had a litter myself (I have 5 kids) and it takes a lot out of your body to give birth and recover. You lose vitamins through pregnancy and nursing your child so I would think it would just be nice to give the bitch a break to recover before putting her through it again. The older you get as a human the harder on your body it becomes. Also the more kids you have the harder it becomes. While it might not hurt the dog to breed her back to back, I don't see the point in it.

Fluffyspoos

Tell that to this family.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18_Kids_and_Counting

Poodlepal

Also, litter size has an impact. Bitches who whelp and raise 12 puppies have a bit more stress than those with small litters. I have known many a bitch who had a small/medium size litter who were back in full form by their next season. When you have a superb bitch who you might start breeding later in life, you only have a few chances.

KPoos

AHAHAHA! You tell them that.

Purple Poodle

My issues with back to back breeding is what do you NEED another litter from that bitch so soon?

If you breed your dog you should have a goal in mind for that litter and as a breeder you should use that breeding to gain a puppy that will continue that line. If you get sub par puppies from that breeding I would not breed the dog again. If you get an excellent litter I would keep more then one puppy, not breed another entire litter.

The only way I would be for a back to back breeding would be if the litter was small (1-3 pups).

cbrand

Sometimes a combination doesn't work the way you had hoped and you go to another stud dog.

I kept a boy from my 1st litter and grew him out to age 8 months or so. He wasn't what I was hoping for so I placed him and bred again to a different stud dog.

Keeping more than one show puppy in coat is almost impossible. First it takes a lot of grooming time. Second, the puppies play and tear at each other's hair.

ArreauStandardPoodle

I do not agree with back to back breedings unless there is a good reason for it, as mentioned here- not being particularly happy with a puppy from the previous breeding.And then, only if the dog is young (2 or 3 years old). But back to back to back??? YIKES!! That is horrible. I also do not agree with breeding a female before the age of two. From everything I have ever read, a dogs skeleton is not finished growing until then, so because a female CAN produce puppies does not mean she SHOULD. She needs to put her energy into her own growth and development, not nurturing the lives of her unborn offspring.