How many months between litters?

[Anthony8858]

I'm curious.

A friend of mine has a 7 month GSD. The mother had another litter 18 months ago. That would put 11 months between litters.
Is this normal? Is it healthy?

Thanks

[Konotashi]

I believe the consensus is to allow the bitch to have at least one heat without being bred between litters.

[Castlemaid]

This is often discussed on the forum, and I love hearing the breeder's side of the question, as always there are a lot of things to consider, answers are not black and white. From what I have gathered from the various past discussions, the short answer is: yes: this would be a back-to-back breeding of two consecutive heats, and that in and of itself that is fine.

The long answer:

There is a recognized study done on the reproductive health of bitches, and what it comes down to, is that regular breeding during the peak years of the bitch is healthier for reproductive health than sporadic breedings. However, owners of breeding dogs do concern themselves with the overall mental, psychological, physical health of their dogs, and thus prefer to skip a heat to give a breeding bitch a break from mothering duties (and maybe a break for the humans from puppy-raising duties). But the occassional back-to-back breeding is not harmful in and of itself.

[Konotashi]

Originally Posted by Castlemaid

This is often discussed on the forum, and I love hearing the breeder's side of the question, as always there are a lot of things to consider, answers are not black and white. From what I have gathered from the various past discussions, the short answer is: yes: this would be a back-to-back breeding of two consecutive heats, and that in and of itself that is fine.

The long answer:

There is a recognized study done on the reproductive health of bitches, and what it comes down to, is that regular breeding during the peak years of the bitch is healthier for reproductive health than sporadic breedings. However, owners of breeding dogs do concern themselves with the overall mental, psychological, physical health of their dogs, and thus prefer to skip a heat to give a breeding bitch a break from mothering duties (and maybe a break for the humans from puppy-raising duties). But the occassional back-to-back breeding is not harmful in and of itself.

This is why I love this forum. Learn something every day.

[Emoore]

This is one of those things that everybody on the internet has an opinion about. People expect a lot from breeders. Don't breed a bitch before two years old. Don't breed a bitch without hip/elbow/DM certifications. Don't breed a bitch without titles. Don't breed a bitch on back-to-back heats. Don't breed a bitch that's past her prime. Take time out from breeding to train and compete. If you add all that up, there's precious little time for actually having litters.

Some say you shouldn't breed on back-to-back heats. (Back-to-back would be six months apart if she's regular, by the way.) Some say you can breed back-to-back, but then take a year off. Some say you should take a little longer developing the bitch, breed later, breed her several times when she's young and healthy and in her prime, and then let her enjoy an early retirement.

My thought is this: If a breeder is a person of moral character who cares about the welfare of their animals, they probably know what's best for their dog better than I do. So long as the bitch is happy and healthy and in good condition, and it's not a puppy mill situation where she's breeding back to back to back from the cradle to the grave, I say leave it up to the people who know their dogs and understand canine reproduction to decide these things.

[Rerun]

Unless I'm doing my math wrong here, and I very well may be, 11 months apart isn't back to back heats. Most females go into heat every 5 - 6 months, some as soon as 4 months and some longer than 6. But 11 months, I would consider there was an extra unbred heat in there. Which IMHO is fine.

[BlackthornGSD]

Originally Posted by Castlemaid

This is often discussed on the forum, and I love hearing the breeder's side of the question, as always there are a lot of things to consider, answers are not black and white. From what I have gathered from the various past discussions, the short answer is: yes: this would be a back-to-back breeding of two consecutive heats, and that in and of itself that is fine.

I like your long answer, but thought I'd correct something here.

A litter of puppies born 10 months apart is not necessarily a back-to-back breeding--in fact, it likely was *not*.

If the bitch was on a 4-month cycle between heats, the breeder would have skipped a heat--so it wouldn't have been back-to-back. If the bitch was on a 6 month cycle, the puppies would have been born 8 months apart, so, either the female has very long cycles (of 9 months) or very short ones and the breeder skipped a heat.

At any rate, 11months is a more than adequate interval between litters.

[Castlemaid]

Correct away - I'm here to learn too.

[Anthony8858]

Good reading.

Thanks.

[Jax08]

I hope Carolina weighs in on this. I asked a very similar question to her when I met her and their (her and Dennis) answer made perfect sense regarding how often and when to breed a female.