would my bitch be too old to have another litter early next year she will be 7 in march She has had 2 previous litters but i never kept any puppies I would like to carry on with the pedigree line if she were to have a bitch in the litter  but i,m worried in case she,d be too old She is a healthy fit girl

The kennel club will register pups from a bitch up to her 8th birthday in the normal course of events, and with special permission past that age.

In countries where there is no upper age limit it is not unusual in some breeds for bitches up to 10 years old to have litters, though I can't imagine a scenario where I would wish to take such a risk.

A lot would depend on the breed as I would not consider a 7 year old bitch to be past her prime in my breed, but a 10 year old I would consider to be starting to get old.  In some breeds she would be old.

My Jozi had a litter of 7 last December a month after her 7th birthday and 17 months from her previous litter (she had a litter 22 months prior to that at nearly 4 years of age).  she got over that litter and back into condition faster than after the second which was the same number of pups even though the second litter had been a longer gap from the first which had fewer pups.

Like Brainless says a lot depends on the breed. 7 certainly is not old in my breed,infact usually in their prime at that age. I am actually considering having a litter from my bitch who will be 7 by the time she has the litter as I am living in Germany at the minute (forces) and don't want to breed from her over here for varios reasons!

7 isn't too old if she has already had a couple of litters. I certainly wouldn't breed from her if she hadn't already had a litter.

it not being to old it the health issues that can raise when the dog older in whelp and looking after puppies.

A fit 7 year old bitch should not have any health issues and in fact should have proved to be free of any late onset problems by this age.

but you just dont know what may trigger of a health problem IN WHELP OR  LOOKING AFTER PUPPIES,
like i stated before the bitch may be fit before this age and whelp before easy with no problem,

but morther nature can hit you with any thing at any time

well age wouldn't make problems more likely when the dog is still in it's prime

I may be in a minority here but can I ask why if she has already had 2 litters you have never kept anything from those?

Of course most of us breed when we want a puppy, so have you not kept anything or have you had problems with those pups you have kept................eg mouths have gone wrong etc.

In my breed a lot of bitches are whelped at the age of 7 years but it is not something personally I would ever want to do, mine normally have had a couple of litters by then.

dogcrazy666...that was exactly what i was going to say!!!

Presumably because there were either no bitches or no suitable bitches. Like my girl is about to have puppies, but unless there's a stunning girl in the litter I won't keep any. :-)

I was thinking along the same lines.  I have here a bitch pup who wasn't outstandign but kept her for the bloodlines, there were just two in the litter and I much prefered all the males to both girls. 

Had I the opportunity to repat the mating I woudl not ahve kept one but hoped that I woudl ahve ahd a better selection  of girls next time as overall I was very pleased with the litter.

If the breed has small litters this is even more likely to be the case.

On both the last two occasions when I have wanted to keep a bitch there were only two, fortunately the first time she was the best in the litter, this time sadly not.