how many times can you breed from a bitch

My breed club recommends no more than 4 times, but I believe the KC will accept 6.

oh that seems alot. My vet said He would advise no more than twice.

That sounds sensible advice.

M.

I think a lot depends on the breed and size of the litters.  I have has two litters from my oldest bitch (only 8 pups altogether) and have had 3 from her daughter and Grandaughter (both had a total of 17 pups).

I like 3 litters as this gives you a chance to try two different mates for her to see which produces better results, and gives the option of trying a third, or repeating whichever of the first two gave best results.

I cannot see why anytone would need to have more than four litters from a bitch to find something worthy of keeping from her unless it was in a breed where only ones and two's are born and you could wait ages for the sex and quality you were looking for.

If you are trying to breed for improvement in your individual bitch line I do fel a bitch needs to have at least two litters to two different sirtes in order that you can learn which traits she passes to her puppies herself.

my breed clubs recommend no more than 3 litters from a bitch in her lifetime, but the KC rules are 6 I think. 

Hi Lou,  :-) I think the size of previous litters should also be taken into consideration and weather or not the  bitch is a good mother.  If a bitch has a large litter it takes more out of her and she requires longer to get back in condition, even more so if all her litters are large :-D

Think that 6 litters should be taken as the maximum, and the breeders' knowledge and good sense should decide, only they know the circumstances that apply to that particular bitch. It should also be remembered that some breeds whelp will no or little effort where as others take a good deal from the bitch. Some pups wean early and others are with the dam for a good deal longer. Some bitches always whelp small numbers other always large. Think and maximum numbers given by either the KC or a breed club can only be the recommended maximum and it may be true that some bitches could have more without any ill effects but like most things in life there is no such thing as normal.

Our breed club for the SWD's also states 3.  I just don't know how anyone could have 6 litters, seems a lot to me. 

My personal opinion is 6 litters would be quite excessive. If your breeding to improve the breed you should be able to accomplish that with no more than 3 litters. Plus the question comes to mind is are you keeping a pup from each of those litters? Our breeding program is small and I prefer it that way. I don't have the facilities to keep too many dogs, nor would I want to. So I keep the breeding to a minimum and only breed with the purpose in mind that I can keep one of the puppies myself to show. To continue your line it really only takes 1-2 puppies from a peticular dam to do that with so I can't see the purpose to breed 6 litters. Personally with my bitch's they can have up to 3 and I spay them. If I can't find a nice puppy to keep and show out of those 3 litters (which are more likely sired by different sires) then I'm not going to find a nice puppy to keep by trying to breed her 3 more times. Does that make sense? Meaning if she's not producing nice enough quality within the first 3 litters chances are she's not going to in the future no matter who she's bred to.