Information on mating my dog

qwertytlk

Hi, have a 16 month old shih tzu, she first went into heat about 4 months ago and as it is my first female dog i have a few questions about this. Firstly how often do dogs normallly go into heat per year. I.e is it 6monthly or what? Secondly, if i want to mate my dog with another shih tzu, would i be correct in thinking once she actually stops spotting blood, this is the time to put her with a male to mate? When is the best age to do this, would the next time she goes into heat be suitable or would she be too young? And if she does become pregnant, how soon will i know? How long would the average dogs pregnancy last? Thanks.

Cherry Blossom

You're asking an awful lot of pretty basic questions there OP, and your also jumping away ahead of yourself. First of all - how do you know your dog is suitable to breed from? What genetic problems do shih-tzu's suffer from and what test's need to be done to make sure your dog isn't a carrier of any of them? Why do want to breed from your dog and have you made yourself aware of all the costs involved?

Do you have answers to all of these questions first of all?

are you serious

man oh man... :rolleyes:

qwertytlk every question you just asked you would find the answer easily with a quick google search.

Anyway here is a small bit of advice. There is always the possibility in worse cases that you could lose your bitch while she's giving birth, you could lose everything even after birth, are you ready for that? Yeah that is the negative side but it is something you really need to do a lot of reading up on, and when you finish read some more

qwertytlk

Well i havent even decided if i will breed her and no i havent got the answers to those questions...yet. As im sure you can tell from my op i havent got alot of experience/information in this area, im just trying to gain some, thats why im asking the questions. If/when i decide to breed my dog, i will do alot of research and find out everything i need to know. But obviously that wont be for a while. This is just a starting point,getting answers to the first few things iv been thinking about.....

Cherry Blossom

Well first of all you need to get an expert in the breed to make sure she is an excellent example of the breed. Every dog owner should know what health issues their breed is prone to anyway so they know what to look out for, but you need to find out what tests need to be done (and the results have to be clear). Did you invest in a decent breed specific manual when you got your dog? I would also be contacting the breed club and asking for advice from them.

I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about shih-tzu's and you would need to do all this research yourself anyway.

There is some information and links in this thread that I started a while ago, but this was really more with the intention of finding out what to look for when buying a pup, not breeding them yourself.

qwertytlk

Thanks adrenelinejunkie, im not thinking of breeding her for show winning pups or for profit. Basically just thinking of as she is a beautiful, sweet natured dog and we have always had dogs and were thinking of getting another one or two anyway so if it was appropriate would be thinking of keepin some of the litter. And my mother lives in the country and has said if we ever bred her she would love one of my dogs litter, iif i did decide to do it, im only thinking of it as a once off anyway. Anyway will look at the link you posted and try get all the info im after. Thanks

Cherry Blossom

It's not really a matter of producing show quality pups though They way I look at it is this -

Top quality male dog with excellent scores in relevant tests crossed with a top quality female dog with excellent scores gives you maybe 1 pup out of 3 litters that would be the same in terms of health, temperament etc. The rest will just be average pet dogs and should not be bred from because:

Average male pet dog crossed with an average female pet dog will give you (if you are very lucky) 1 average pet dog out of three litters and the rest will be riddled with health issues, possibly temperament issues, will have a significantly shorter life span, will keep vets driving fancy cars and living in big houses and will break the hearts of the unfortunate people they are passed on to.

Needless to say if one of the latter type of dogs is bred from you end up with puppies that may never live long enough to become an adult dog, live their lives in pain which in turn makes them aggressive, some people are happy enough with that though because - 'they're just dogs'.

andreac

Please dont breed your dog, there are enough responsible breeders out there breeding without an inexperienced breeder just breeding "because" like yourself.

If you want another dog, go to a reputable breeder and buy one. There is no need to breed more average pups which is what you would be doing as your dog is pet and should be left that way.

Just because your bitch is a lovely dog, great temperament etc is not enough reasons to breed im afraid.

Your dog could have 5/6/7 puppies, can you guarantee homes for all of these puppies? Has your bitch been health tested, shown and beeen proven an excellent specimen in the show ring?? If not then you should absolutely not breed in my opinion.

Breeding should only be done to improve the quality of the breed and only be done by experienced people which you arent.

The best thing would be to spay your little dog and go and source another pup from a reputable breeder.

Toulouse

The country is awash with Shih Tzus and it's not unusual at all to find them in pounds all over the country. OP you really need to do your research a) about breeding and b) about the state of the problem with overbreeding of dogs in this country before you go contributing to the population.

In fact if you look at a well known dog selling website you'll see 20 Shih Tzu pups advertised for sale between yesterday and this morning and that's not including any Shih crosses of which there are many. There is no lack of people breeding pet standard Shih Tzus and they are a popular puppy-farmed dog also.

Unless you can guarantee that all your dogs pups and their pups and their pups ad infinitum are going to have fabulous homes and never fall into the wrong hands then I'd strongly advise you don't breed your dog.

qwertytlk

Wow! I seriously wish id never posted this at all... All i wanted was some answers to my questions, instead im getting replies from people who either dont know the answers to my questions and just want to reply to the thread because they have an opinion, or who think im being irresponsible because im 'thinking' of breeding my dog..for one litter. If and when i decide to do this, believe me i would research ir backwards and forwards. These questions im asking at this time are just the first few things iv thought of and are a long long way of the actual thing ever happening.

Bullseye1

Your best bet is to contact the relevant dog club and get some adivice there. As a minimum you should have your dog checked by your vet including it's hips and any other relevant information required of all good breeders.

As some above have mentioned your dog may not be suitable for breeding so have it checked out. I'm not sure if the country is awash with that breed that sounds like hyperbole. There is a culture here to discourage first time breeders, although everyone has to start somewhere. Just make sure you start on a good footing if you decide to proceed.

Shammy

qwertytlk wrote: »

Hi, have a 16 month old shih tzu, she first went into heat about 4 months ago and as it is my first female dog i have a few questions about this. Firstly how often do dogs normallly go into heat per year. I.e is it 6monthly or what?

Its usually every 6 months

qwertytlk wrote: »

Secondly, if i want to mate my dog with another shih tzu, would i be correct in thinking once she actually stops spotting blood, this is the time to put her with a male to mate?

The time to mate her would be between day 10 and 14

qwertytlk wrote: »

When is the best age to do this, would the next time she goes into heat be suitable or would she be too young? And if she does become pregnant, how soon will i know? How long would the average dogs pregnancy last? Thanks.

Personally , two and a half /three years of age . Large females are pregnent for 63 days , smaller dogs are usually 60 days . You can go to a vet and get her scanned to find out if she's pregnent.


Your questions are answered , if i may give you some advice i would read what the other posters have written here and take heed in what they say.:)

Cherry Blossom

OP, if you contact the breed club and do the ground work that needs to be done first, you wouldn't need to ask those questions, also if you do the above first and get the tests done, I think you will find people will be more than willing to help you.

Please bare in mind that this is a general animal forum, breeding your pets isn't a normal part of pet ownership so people are actually helping you by referring you to the people who are the experts in the subject.

Mod Post: Let's not go down the route of accusing each other of hyperbole or anything else, you can express your opinion without being condescending to other posters.

Bullseye1

I really don't think my post was condescending in any way. Someone made a point about the country being awash with this breed. In all my years I haven't seen one of these dogs in person and I've been all over the country. How else would you describe "awash" when it's not the case.

However Im not here to cause trouble so I'll heed your warning.

January

I see that you're a new parent also... raising babies and puppies at the same time is VERY hard work. I've done it... raising puppies is like raising a newborn all over again, you'll be awake most of the night looking after them until they go to their new homes (and if you're keeping one, even beyond that!).

lrushe

Op Shammy has answered your inital questions. Did you purchase your girl from a reputable breeder? I find that this would be the person I would turn to for advice if I were ever to breed. I would also check if your girl is endorsed, if she is you won't be able to register any pups she might have.

qwertytlk

Thanks shammy for that. And in response to other posts, il just say that this is a starting point, iv just had a baby so if i do breed her it wont be for a couple of years at least and o obviously will have her checked to ensure she is ok to breed etc. Thanks