**HOW OLD IS TOO OLD TO BREED A FEMALE? THANKS!!**

[Dre21]

Any advice/experience, both good and bad, with this would be helpfull!!

[H.C.B.A.Kennel]

thank you very much for the info on the issue

[Nash]

Here in the Netherlands you can't register a litter which was out of a bitch bred after her 8th birthday. This simple rule makes a lot of people here believe you shouldn't breed to a bitch after she turned 8.

[realpitsnobull]

Here in the Netherlands you can't register a litter which was out of a bitch bred after her 8th birthday. This simple rule makes a lot of people here believe you shouldn't breed to a bitch after she turned 8.

I think that is a good rule to go by around 8 or so is what a lot of kennel clubs will go by for papers yes it does depend on the dog and how well she was taken care of etc. But remember the older the dog the higher the risk for something to go wrong will be. But its your dog an your call if u don't care about papers

[Officially Retired]

That is ridiculous.

Silverback came out of Missy when she was 10-11.

Not only wasn't she "too old," but Silverback was the best dog she ever threw.

The ridiculous "rules" people (who don't know shit about dogs) make up in their heads ... and then repeat as if it's gospel

Jack

PS: Who is "the governor of litters" you're talking about in The Netherlands?

[Officially Retired]

I have bred more bitches (and smaller bitches) than 99.999999999999% of the human population on the face of this earth, and I have had no more problems with older bitches than younger bitches.

That is a flat-out wives' tale.

Jack

[FrostyPaws]

Not only ditto what Jack said, but you're at risk for something to happen breeding ANY bitch of age. There are a number of things that can go wrong, and age has nothing to do with many of those things. There's no reason to stop breeding a bitch at 8 years old unless you simply want to. If the dog has been kept healthy her entire life, and you want to breed her again at 9, you're not going to because someone told you that 8 was too old? I laugh all the time when someone tells me their female is too old to have pups, only to find out they're anywhere from 7-9 years old.

That's just silly.

[CRISIS]

what about breeding an older bitch for her first time?

[Officially Retired]

I was going to say, I am more nervous breeding a first-time young bitch than I am breeding an old war horse bitch who knows the drill First time bitches are often nervous and restless, and don't know what to do, whereas the experienced mama has the routine down and does everything right.

The only exception I would say would be older bitches that have gone to hell, are decrepit and horrificly-fat, because their stomach muscles are ruined and they don't have the oomph to push sometimes. But an older bitch at a good chain weight, or even slightly fat, are no problem at all.

To answer Crisis, an older bitch that's first time is no different really from any other first time, so long as she's active and in decent shape.

[Officially Retired]

I would like to also add that, as an example, my tiny bitch Cherry Cola needed 2 c-sections when she was young, because she was so small, and (because she was inexperienced) she didn't let me help her push. By the time she was 7-8, I was able to get pups out of her naturally, but I would always lose most of them, because the vets were using injectibles rather than gas.

By the time she had her last litter she (in 2009), she was 9 years old and I got both pups out of her alive, and with less hassle than ever before, because by then Cherry knew the drill and let me help her without trying to stand up and "see what I was doing." Cherry was in great shape ... and her age, maturity, and experience allowed her to relax and let me get those massive pups out of her tiny, small-hipped self.

Jack