I've got a two and a half year old yorkie and would like to breed her. However, I have never noticed her coming into season. How can I tell if I don't see any spotting like I have seen with my previous larger dogs? Also, perahps someone might be able to advise me where I might find a stud dog. Obviously I'm a complete amatuer!

Hello Iveetee :) First of all , welcome to the Forum :D Secondly , you need to make sure your bitch is an outstanding example of her breed and has had all the necessary health checks before breeding. The best thing to do probably , is to go back to your breeder and see what lines they were following.

Breeding is not for the feint hearted and can be a costly and heartbreaking experience. Maybe you could just keep your bitch as a lovely family pet rather than breed from her?

Melody :)

She is a really good pedigree and the vet says she'd be fine to breed. But the last thing I would want to do is risk her health. Some say it's best for a bitch to have a litter. What do you think?

The vet can only tell you if she seems healthy - you need to make sure she is checked against any genetice diseases/faults... like some dogs are testes for Hip Dysplasia? You need to check what your bitch needs to be checked for...else you could be at risk of producing "faulty" puppies :)

A bitch doesn't need a litter to be healthy and live a long and fulfilled life.

HTH
Chloe

I'll have to revisit the vet to get all this checked out. As for the seasons, can you usally tell if a yorkie's in season?

I don't know about yorkies - there will be someone along soon who does I am sure :)

Is your bitch KC registered?

No, she's not. I have always worried about this even thought I have been reassured that she is a total pedigree by her breeders. Her parents were - was it my responsibilty to do this? I am still in touch with the breeders.

If you want my honest opinion, I would stay away from breeding if she's not KC registered. It means you couldn't register her puppies, and that might make it difficult to find the puppies good homes. I bred a litter once with a lot of support from my breeder and my breed club, and I had 5 healthy puppies with no problems, and it still cost me an absolute fortune to raise them properly and a lot of heartache getting them good homes... and they were registered.

I would avoid it - keep her as a pet, get involved in the breed...and when you know as much as you possibly can then look at getting another (a really good registered example) to breed from in a couple of years :)

Hope this helps
Chloe

Hi again ....you really need to get in touch with a Yorkshire Terrier Breed Club I think :) I had a quick search on Google and there are lots of Yorkie sites ..on one of them I found the following text:

Yorkies are generally hardy and healthy and long-lived. Like many Toy breeds however, there is some incidence of heriditary/congenital disease in the form of patella luxation, open fontanellas, Perthe's disease and a smaller incidence of elongated soft palate and a tendency to collapsed trachea. *
* NB: The BVA/KC who conduct health screening schemes for inherited are now advising that Yorkies should undergo eye tests for PRA and late onset HC. These conditions are under investigation in the UK for this breed.

So you see , without the correct health checks , and knowing the health of both parents it would be risky to breed. It is generally accepted that a bitch does not need to have a litter in order to keep her healthy.

HTH

Melody :)

Hmm quite worrying really! Thanks for finding all that out for me. Glad I found this site before I went ahead. Cheers

Odd that her parents are registered but she isn't.....I wonder why not?

Ciuld be that the breeders of her parents didn't think they should be bred without reference to them to check that they were suitable,and had their health tests before breeding. ie they had their papers endorsed Progeny not for registration, which breeders use to protect their and the breeds integrity.

A more worrying reason could be that the mother had too many litters or was too young or old, or had been bred from on succeeding seasons , so the pups couldn't be registered!

Hi i have a female yorkie who i am breeding from and i know shes coming into season when she becomes a little more fidgity and then i put a large white sheet on my bed where she sleeps and wait for the spotting its not huge amounts but it is noticable. best of luck with whatever you decide.