Frequently Asked Questions about Our Program
Updated: Nov 8, 2022
How often do you breed your females and care for their reproductive health?
We typically breed a healthy female with an excellent temperament after her 2nd heat cycle (typically around 18 months-2 years of age). If everything goes perfectly during her pregnancies, we usually retire females at some point when they are 4 years old and neuter males around age 6. Our moms all receive excellent pre-natal and post-natal care and get thorough reproductive evaluations every cycle and they remain up-to-date on all vaccines, heartworm, and flea and tick medication. We follow the advice of the leading reproductive expert, Dr. Hutchison, DVM with Good Dog and our amazing reproductive veterinarian Dr. Bob at Hamby Road Animal Hospital.
Let’s discuss back-to-back breeding, or breeding without skipping a heat cycle. Traditionally, we thought that bitches needed a “break” between litters for their optimum health. That’s no longer considered best practice, for several reasons.