How often do you breed your females, and what's the shortest recommended time for the mother to take a break, recover, rest, and to be ready for another pregnancy?
>> We breed back-to-back for the first two litters, then wait at least one heat cycle (usually two), then do another round of back-to-back litters. We start breeding our females at third heat (second heat if they cycle every 12 months).

How many times overall should a female be birthing puppies?
>> We cap it at 4 litters, but it's really up to the individual dog. For some females whelping is very hard work (like Masha), but for others it is a breeze (Ayu, Kumi).

And lastly, what age is it recommended that a female be discontinued from breeding, or is it a total # of pregnancies that is capped?
>> As mentioned above, we cap at 4 litters. The age is somewhere around 6 years old. That way they have more than half of their life left not to be whelping litters.

Don't females tend to lose a lot of muscle mass and exhibit hair loss from the heavy demands of growing puppies?
>> I dunno about muscle, but for sure they lose a lot of weight and hair. But here is the thing, it's not the whelping that wears them out - it's the nursing! It takes a LOT of energy (fat reserves) to feed several 4+ week old puppies.

@cezieg,
I'm not a breeder, though I find the article to be fascinating. Size matters it seem

How Long Will Your Dog Be with You? It Depends Heavily on This…
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/05/03/dog-lifespan.aspx

Dr. Jeff Bergin on Responsible Dog Breeding Practices
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/04/05/how-a-newfoundland-pet-dog-reached-17-years.aspx

I asked for a letter of recommendation and research papers from my repro vet, Dr. Mary Sebzda, before deciding when to breed Bijo again. She is a canine reproduction specialist, the only one in Southern California that I know of. She has told me on multiple occasions that female dogs go through the same hormonal process each heat cycle regardless whether she conceives, and it is this process which is hardest on the bitch and her reproductive organs. Each heat cycle she has in her lifetime negatively impacts the bitch's health; pregnancy and nursing, as long as she is receiving proper nutrition and care, does not have a lasting impact by itself.

In other words, skipping a heat does not help in recovery time at all, because she must still go through the hormonal process regardless if she gets pregnant. The recovery time is actually the anestrus period between heat cycles. Every time she cycles she has to recover again. A shortened anestrus is a very bad thing, and if you have a bitch who cycles too quickly, her body isn't giving her enough time to reset and get back to normal. She would have more heats in her lifetime than she should, which will end up having lasting effects. My vet strongly believes in treating short anestrus periods with hormones to delay the onset of the next heat, or even preventing the bitch from cycling completely until ready to breed. Unfortunately the medications available to do this are not very reliable or safe at this time.

Anecdotally, @*JackBurton* once mentioned to me that he noticed Kaede's and Ayame's anestrus period gets longer by a month or two immediately after having a litter. Perhaps dogs are already designed to have a longer recovery time after pregnancy? I haven't heard of any official research about this, however.

Also note, if you're going to breed a bitch X number of times in her life, if you breed every heat or two out of three heats, she will be having those litters at a younger age than if you always skipped a heat. Breeding her younger means her fertility will be better, her litter sizes larger and healther, and that she gets to retire sooner.

Good questions :)

One facet that shouldn't come into play but sometimes does depending on where you live is whether there are ordinances/restrictions about the frequency of litters.

@poeticdragon this is Bijo's third litter back to back right? Two born here and the last one in Japan. I've seen her previous owner post her litter there.

I have no opinion but I respect Yamabushi's transperity and honesty when getting Mika. I trust Jen and Brad. It's also sad to think that Kumi won't bless anyone with puppies soon. :-( I love my little Mika Monster.

@poeticdragon you posted a pic of Bijo and her owner when she was coming over and right away I was like hey I know that dog and owner! I have a freaky memory like that. I can remember people from one post. Must've been on fb or a blog.

Either way like I said I don't care how many times people breed. You are being up front about her having at least three litters already. I don't know her whole past. Just that one litter announcement, your pups, and that she's expecting again.

@MirkaM interesting who regulates the 10 month rule?

Ahh yes that would've been the obvious answer ;-)

@cezieg The problem with that is many vets are very anti-breeder... at least in my experience. Makes sense I guess, they see dogs and cats falling apart as results of bad breeding day in and day out in their practice. One I no longer go to was so innured to spay/neuter that she didn't even know how the estrus cycle works, ties, gestation, etc. She literally went into the other room and googled info and printed it out to give me. (Gee, thanks.)

@cezieg The problem with that is many vets are very anti-breeder... at least in my experience. Makes sense I guess, they see dogs and cats falling apart as results of bad breeding day in and day out in their practice. One I no longer go to was so innured to spay/neuter that she didn't even know how the estrus cycle works, ties, gestation, etc. She literally went into the other room and googled info and printed it out to give me. (Gee, thanks.)

Yeah, my agility trainer also breeds borzois. She said it is hard enough to find a vet who understands why her dogs are intact, and will work with her as a breeder, but add to the fact that she's a raw feeder and does low vaccinations, well, she said it's just about impossible to find one decent vet. She drives 60 miles each way to her vet, and that vet just sold out to VCA, so she's on the look out for a new vet. :(

In my professional life, I connot be publicly for or against the speuter arguement. It's unprofessional to show bias. I can educate, but never show preference.

You'd think vets should be the same.

That said, I've never had a hard time with vets and intact dogs. London was intact until 3, when I finally felt the pressure to do it (he was trying to break down the fence every time the Cane Corso up the street went into heat and the last thing I wanted were potentially blind, aggro, sassy CC x Malamute puppies roaming the earth).

My vet was never the one that showed preference or pressured me... but I have met some people with a pretty rigid stance from rescue, of course, when I told them that I preferend not to neuter as long as I felt I could properly manage my dog(s) and their health was not jeopardized. They couldn't understand how I could be in rescue and have that opinion.

Also... Thank you for this thread! Love reading it. :)

My vets gave me hell for not getting the boys neutered. PIA.

After 3 years [ ! ] they have finally let that & the raw feeding go. LOL ~

My vets are fine. They don't like the raw feeding, but we just agree to disagree. They suggested I stop vaccinating the older dogs about the same time I was going to bring it up (they noticed I had just not been doing it! ha!) They said they saw no reason to neuter Leo unless he was a PITA, which he was, so we did it. My agility trainer would love to go to my vets, but they haven't taken new patients for, I don't know, something like 7 years, so....

There are down sides with them too--they're pretty old school, and don't even use computers at all, so I often have to present them with new findings on things (but if I find stuff, they'll go do further research on their own), and they still say things like "never take a puppy out anywhere til it's had all it's shots," etc, but I find a good balance in that I know I can talk to them, present my ideas which will be respected, and they'll talk about what they know from their many years of experience and education, and so it works pretty well for us. And they're cheap. I feel pretty lucky overall!