What are the rules regarding registering litters within a twleve month period. The reason I ask is that I have had a lot of enquiries asking if I am going to have another litter this year, but my girl came into season early last time so the next season is likely to be about March therefore if I do mate her the litter will be born a month earlier than her last litter in July. Hope you can understand what I mean. I am in two minds although all the homes are good homes but I might be tempted to keep one and I kept three from the last litter.

If i don't mate her this year she have no more litter as my girl will be four this March and I will have her spayed.

Check with the KC, but if you apply for permission before you mate your bitch & send an accompanying letter from a vet saying she is fit for mating, permission will probably be granted.  As long as you haven't registered 5 or more litters in the preceding year you should be OK.
Don't know your breed, but 4 isn't normally considered old for a subsequent litter.
Oh - I'll take a wild guess - Danes?

The kennel club rescinded the rule about 12 months between litters needing position.  this only now applies to thoise breeders requiring a breeders License (breeding five or more litters in any 12 month period).  You will now be able to register your 11month gap litter without a problem.

I have a copy of the article printed in dog paper if you wnat it.

The kennel club do not enforce any rules about having two litters within a year as it is contrary to an animal welfare act, and in their words it is not up to them to police said act, but breeders should do it themselves! They also said that any such information would be available for all to see in the BRS should any body wish to prosecute!
Could you not wait another six months and breed you bitch then? If she has had a litter already, four is not too old at all, but obviously that is up to you, you know your bitch. You also have to think whether her last litter was of such a size as to take more than this long for her to recover, it should be at least a year between litters to allow for such.
Hope that helps

Grace :D

Interesting post G. I also believe that breeders should question why they feel it urgent to breed so soon, if it is purely to meet demand from puppy purchasers then I am not sure if thats a good enough reason to possibly compromise the health of the bitch. Personally, I wouldn't breed so soon, and I would only breed from a hipscored bitch and dog.

also one of our breed club codes of ethics says ..I quote   "No bitch should be bred from at consecutive seasons; at least one full season should elapse between matings and then only if the bitch is in good health"

So there you go....

Grace :D

My biggest concern with breeding is finding good homes for the pups. I would be very concerned if I were to have a large litter, as when I do breed from Phoebe (dependent on hips etc) I would only want to keep one....but I'm confident my breeder won't be able to resist having one either ;) :D

Also it is all well and good people saying they would like a pup, but if that is the only reason for having a litter and the people then say they have got one elsewhere, what then?

Grace

Yep - its the biggest concern with breeding danes.

I'm talking myself out of it!!! :D

;)  :D

Thanks for all your replies. As I said I am in two minds so that means I shouldn't do it, I have what I wanted and I waited seven years for this litter and I do want to get back into showing this year so if my people are that deparate for a puppy they will either have to wait or go to another breeder. Yes I have made up my mind no litter this year.

Good for you :D

...and if you leave it late enough in the year who knows who else might be tempted ;)   (Although I really wanted a blue but Toly is sooo handsome :rolleyes:)

Grace doesn't do blues. I keep trying to tell her to get a nice blue bitch but she won't!!

C...you find me a nice blue bitch, from hip scored parents and I'll buy it ;)

I'm on the case!!

He may be handsome, but he is also very lazy :rolleyes:

How is Dizzy doing now...all okay? And the other pup??

Grace

lol - just emailed you another photo of my own lazy one but she's outgrown that collar and on the second notch of the next one already :rolleyes:

When she's not sleeping (and not on the settee unless the kids forget and leave the door open) she's running riot and going hyper :D Can't wait til we hit a nice happy medium when she's awake but calm... do they ever get to that point

Chloeh - I'll just take Willis then ;)

I've packed his bags and he's ready to go. He's insisting on bringing his heater though...is that ok?

Heater is fine but I draw the line at ear muffs and electric blankets ;)

You have to plug it in by the tv, and he whacks it with his paw when he wants it turning on. He then lies right next to it, snoring, with his eyes shut. Is that OK?

Oh god not another snorer! :rolleyes:

Dizzy snores and dribbles when she's asleep then when she wakes it's a stretch and a fart... reminds me of my hubby sometimes ;)

Hi I may have read this wrong but I think she has had a season in between her litter and this next season and that it was then that she came in earlier than expected? Gillian

You could be right Gillian, but I do still think it would be too soon to breed the bitch again, but that's just my own humble opinion :D

Grace

Satincollie what I meant was she has had a season as she should but it was five months after the litter not six so if she comes into season even six months after the last one and I had a litter (but I have decided not to mate her) they would be born before a full twelve months of the litter last July.

As I understand it the bitch has had a season between, but comes in slightly more often than every six months.  Not all bitches read the books and normal inter season intervals can be from 4 to 12 months.

Grace,

Went through a load of BRS back copies once to research this ......... a lot of your breed club members ignore this ;) !!

M.

No 4 is not old at all,chiko had first litter at 4,she was and is now in fab health,just back from getting her annual check up,Sandra.:)

IMO you should maybe direct these people to another reputable breeder and give your girl a chance to recover properly.

Puppies are lovley but you have to consider what would be best for your bitch.

Hi Wishfairy Danes has made up her mind on what is right for her and for her bitch which is great, but am I the only one who is wary of rigid and at the heels of the hunt often arbitrary, dates, gaps period between etc?

My 3yo bitch came off her litter 6kg heavier than before she became pregnant (none of it is fat!). She had a small litter for her breed with no problems in pregnancy rearing or whelping, appeared to enjoy her pups and showed no stress at all and is fully integrated back into her normal routine.

As things are, I don't intend to breed her again for until she has a final litter in about 2 years, but I do not honestly think I'd be doing her a pin of harm if I bred her again within a year.

Hi Jas,
It was Dozeydanes with the question, not Wishfairy...different person altogether.

Each situation must be taken on it's own merits but breed ethics are not drawn up just for the sake of it, and they are usually done by people with an awful lot of knowledge, so when they say wait at least a year, then I at least will go with that. Should you feel that you bitch would cope with being dealt with differently then so be it, but seeing as you say yourself you do not plan to breed her, then I don't really see your point??

Grace

Hello Grace, yes, I realised that. Just trying to keep the thread easy to read. Hopefully Ethics of Breed Clubs are "drawn up .... by people with an awful lot of knowledge" but we also seem to have an increasing number of 'must dos' and must don'ts' that seem to me arbitrary with no room at all for individual or breed differences.

I used my own bitch as an example of one who IMO would come to no harm by another litter within a year or les, but I was actually thinking of a friend who is breeding a bitch who sailed through a small litter with equal ease at her next season. I would not like him to be made feel he is doing something "wrong" because imho he isn't.

Hello Jas,

Like I said it was just my opinion. I wouldn't offer it if it wasn't asked for and I stand by it. Sorry if it came over a bit strong :)

I'd never tell someone else what's best for their dog, just as I won't listen to everyone who tells me what's best for mine - especially the ones who tell me I should breed from her (she's only 12 weeks old for crying out loud!!!)

If you think your dog it up to it then she probably is, but she might suffer complications or the litter may not be so big or thrive so well if you were to breed her so closely. Again this is just an opinion but there are reasons behind the recommendations.

My girl has also piled on the weight since her litter in July and now I have to try and get it off so that I can start showing her again. She happily reared six healthy puppies but I would not have another litter on the next season after welping. Except the two girl puppies, I have two other bitches of "breeding age" but they will not be having litters, one because she is very nervous and she will be spayed this month and the other I don't consider to be a good standard for the breed.

My bitch filled out no end after her litter and looked all the better for it, but it made her even more idle than she was before, so that was the end of her showing career :rolleyes:
I have also taken the decision not to breed from anything that's not hip-scored...something that isn't done much in Danes but certainly should be. There are only two breeders that I know of that score all their breeding stock, and that to me as a newbie (ish) to the breed is terrible. If there were no incidences of Hd in our breed then fair play, but not so.
Soap box away ;)

Grace :D

Grace - as you are aware from my problems I am a strong believer in scoring, I think you are making a commendable decision to score. Frankly, anyone who doesn't is these days leaving themselves wide open to the possibility of legal action if relevant tests are not carried out.

"Sorry if it came over a bit strong"

Not at all Wishfairy :)

Wishfairy,I've been very busy and not had a chance to catch up,how is your baby doing?
For everybody else,when chiko finished rearing pups she was thinnish and that was her getting fed up,but we caught her re-gurgitating for the pups and even when pups came back for a visit at 12 weeks she wanted to feed them,what a good mum she was.

Hi DozeyDanes

Sometimes when a bitch who is normally a 6 month-er comes into season five months after a litter she waits a little longer before her next season so it may be that her season is later than you expect.  I have a mother and daughter who seem to have settled into a more or less 5 and 7 month cycle over the last couple of years.

Lilly was brought into season early because her sister came in early and then all the others came in.