Opposite to the other poster on too old, is 13 months to young I meet a lady at aquarobitcs today who is breeding her yorkie bitch the bitch is just 13 months old.

Edited too say I know little about small dogs and she assured me this was right for yorkies - anoter lady in the class has semi- booked a pup.

Karen

Hi Kazz

Not unusual for Toy breeds to be bred from 12 months onwards, usually on the season after they reach 1year old, most people wait till 18 months or till they reach 2years old though.   I have a toy breed and normally wait till they are 2year olds.
Regards
Joan

Toy breeds certainly mature earlier than more 'normal' (not meant rudely!) sized breeds, but I personally would prefer to wait until the bitch was 18 months.

Was going through the puppy register from the KC the other day and there were at least ten to fifeteen bitches that were mated at thirteen or fourteen months. Don't know if it makes it right or not but guess certain breeders have certain ideals and morals. Friend of ours bitch was mated at thirteen months and had to have a cesaerian in the end but don't know if that was because of her age or other complications.

With Cavaliers having Syringomyelia which can manifest at any time upto the age of three, breeding from younger bitches could just be adding to the problems that Cavaliers have & spreading the gene further than it already is in the breed

And of course there are some hereditary conditions that don't manifest themselves till later on - for instance, if a dog hasn't developed idiopathic epilepsy before its 4th birthday, it is unlikely to suffer from it ..

My Pom's yes I would mate at about 14 months, to have pups after 16 months, though my Spanish I would not allow to have a litter until they were 2 yrs old.

Thanks all, the bitch in question is 13 months now and dues in season anytime it seems, I am glad you are all positive in this because my gut feeling abot this lady was "she has common sense" and I am glad I was not wrong, in thinking  she wouldn't do anything wrong so to speak.
Karen 

With boston terriers some breeders breed on their 2nd heat, but I prefer to wait till their 3rd heat. I Just felt at that age they are more mature. :)

Kazz,

It is very common in smaller breeds for mating to be 2 nd season if they are over the 13 months.

It is believed that they whelp easier at this time.

Thanks all. I vaguely recalled something like that in the back of my head. But thought I'd ask on here :)
Karen

Yes, in my opinion 13 months is a little too young. What's the hurry? If the bitch has her, probably second heat at 13 months, why not wait until the third - which should be when she is a little over 1,5 years old. At that age she's more mature mentally, and if she's of a working breed, there's more time to work her and make sure that she's good to breed from. I breed working Jack Russell Terriers myself, I have a bitch that is 12 months old right now. She will probably have her second heat in a month or so, I will definitely not breed her until her third. She's still a little immature (according to my experience that usually settles a few months after the second head), besides I'm gonna concentrate on showing her and start working her in the field this summer/fall.

Wow.  I didn't know toys could breed safely so young.  We waited until my Golden was nearly 3 years old, and she didn't take until her second try at nearly 4 years old. 

You cannot "safely"breed from Cavaliers at a young age due to Syringomyelia & MVD The current guide lines are mimimum 2 1/2 years old for both dog & bitch. Had this been the KC rules I would not be very worried about my young dog whose father was PTS with SM at under 3 years old. My boy isn't two yet so could still develop it. :(

Moonmaiden- excuse my ignorance but what is MVD?

Mitral Valve Disease

Ah but Cavaliers are one of the biggest of the toy breeds.  it is the tiny ones that are best bred from before their bones are too set.  That is the theory behind breedign younger, because of the realtively large size of toy whelps in proportion to adult size, making whelping often fraught.

But breeders(some of the top ones too)still breed of bitches on their first/second season & some are members of the Cavalier club whose guidelines I quoted.

I suppose at a top ideal weight of 18 lbs they are at the bigger end of the toy group. Most cavaliers weigh a lot more than that of course.

Other than for health reasons I cannot see the judtification in mating early, as small breeds tend to be longer lived, sot hre should be plenty enough time between say 2 and 8 years for even 4 litters.

I have to say that with my Pomeranian's only have about two litters in total, my Spanish only would have three at the most.

Our breed club sets the limit in our breed at 4 litters, though few would have that many, unless the litters were particularily small.

Think there are just two things to bear in mind - is the bitch fully mature but not to old and is the bitch old enough to not only have had the required health and conformation tests but also to have developed enough to show her true potential.