No of Litters a Bitch can have.

[freundhund]

Well I think I have the right section this time. It was late when I posted this.


Hi I have another one of my questions.

How Many litters of puppies is it acceptable for a bitch to have.

Reason for asking the question. When I first went into breeding in the '80's I was always told that the Germans didn't recommend having more than 3 litters without permission of the breed warden.

Now the current Australian Kennel Club Rules for breeding bitches are:-
(i) Bitch must be minimum age of 18mths
(ii) Bitch must be under 8 yrs of age
(iii) Bitch cannot have more than 2(two) litters in a row. After that she must have a minimum of 1(one) year prior to next litter. Exceptions only on Vetrinarian certificate. (Hard to get <so I believe>

As I have always stuck to the principle of only ever having 3 litters I was stunned to discover German bitches having a lot more than 3 litters.

What are the board members views on acceptable litter numbers for bitches.

Now confession time I have a bitch that in her 1st litter had 3 dog puppies only and her 2nd litter had 2 dog puppies only (5 puppies altogether), if she only has males again I would like to have one more go at getting a bitch puppy from her before desexation.

Regards

Freundhund

Sorry to those who posted an answer before I put this in the right section

[whizzie]

Hi Freundhund,
I have copied my reply across from the previous location of your question, it would be interesting to get a few more thoughts together on this subject.

This is what appears on the litter registration application form in the U.K.

The Kennel Club will not accept an application to register a litter when:

i The dam has already whelped six litters, or
ii The dam has already reached the age of eight years at the date of whelping, or
iii The dam was under 12 months at the time of mating.

Relief from the restriction set out in Jii may be considered by the General Committee, normally provided the application is made prior to the mating, and the proposed dam has previously whelped at least one other registered litter. Any such application must be supported by veterinary evidence as to the suitability of the bitch involved in the proposed whelping and submitted on the Eight Year Bitch form.

My bitch has had two litters, each of 9 puppies, with an interval of 15 months. This recent litter has been hard work for her and she is just starting to build up again and get her coat back. With this in mind I certainly would not consider a back to back mating for her. She is four years old and they are now 12 weeks old.

One of our Springers whelped in January and only produced 3 puppies; she bounced back very quickly and would quite happily have done it again as soon as Nature allowed.

Like us, each pregnancy is different, but sadly some humans abuse animals' ability (and willingness!) to conceive at the drop of a hat and need rules to deter them.

If only our rules included a requirement to hip-score!
Although I hate red tape and petty bureaucracy, some things do need to be monitored .....

Regards, Jane. (aka Whiz!)

[JanisN]

This is a really interesting question and I have no hard and fast rules, because it totally depends on the bitch, her health, her liking for having puppies, etc.

In Germany, they certainly don't restrict to three litters. Peak breeding age is considered to be between 5 and 8 years and most breeders will breed back to back at least once during that period.

Rikki is on her third litter, but I'll certainly breed her again. She's recovering VERY well, she's lean and in excellent condition only 4 weeks post delivery. She has very small litters (4-5 pups each) and that definitely makes a difference. She's a good mom and actively enjoys her puppies, that makes a HUGE difference, too. Rikki's learning to be a companion dog and I honestly think that having the pups has taken a lot of stress out of her situation.

Enschi might never breed again. Although she's just six, she's had three pregnancies (a dead litter of two while in Germany for training/showing), a litter of 9 and a litter of 7. Enschi does NOT bounce back quickly after a litter, it takes a lot of work for her to recover. She also just doesn't like having puppies that much. I'll be absolutely devastated if she doesn't conceive again (she's not caught last two cycles) but it won't change how I feel about her. She's MUCH more than just a puppy machine.

I know that Enschi's mom was still breeding just a year or so ago and her GRANDMOTHER had her last litter two years ago!

So there's the hard and fast answer... it depends.<grin>

JanisN