Retiring a Bitch

• When to retire a breeding bitch
• Retired bitch management strategy
• When to spay or retire a bitch

When to retire a breeding bitch

Q: I am a year away from breeding my female, but I am making long term goals for her. I’m finding a lot of conflicting opinions regarding numbers of liters and age before retiring, even with vets who may have great medical advice but aren’t necessarily breeders. What, in your experience, is a good general target age to retire a breeding female from motherhood? I know many factors can figure into this, but a general idea would help with my timeline for her. 

A: Congratulations on doing all of the appropriate clearances for your girl; that is so important. The important thing to remember is that each dog is an individual, and there is no “one-size-fits-all” breeding recommendation. As a responsible breeder, it is your job to work with your Veterinarian, taking into account your girl's health and making the right individual decision for her. Not all dogs are cut out to be good brood bitches, some exhibit bad temperaments and are just bad mothers. In this case, for me it is “one and done,” and that girl is never bred again. In other cases, they are simply fabulous, raise great litters and bounce back. In that case, you can see where it is an easier decision to extend her breeding timeline, again working with your Veterinarian. I personally, have bred at 8yrs old, and my girl lived another 8yrs and was the light of my life; other girls in my breeding program have ‘retired’ at 5 or 6yrs old. I make individual decisions with my veterinarian. Until you see how your girl does with motherhood, you are only guessing what her future breeding timeline will look like. 

Retired bitch management strategy

Q: I have 3 breeding females and 2 that are spayed and retired. I quit breeding my girls at age seven. They seem to do just fine. If one has a problem giving birth, I also spay her. They are my girls and babies, I keep them until they pass. My question is do you think that I am doing everything correctly concerning breeding. 

A: Like many other aspects of breeding, this is not a “one size fits all.” With respect to what you describe as your breeding program, it works for you and has apparently been working well which is fabulous. However, this might not work for someone else. As breeders, we should not shame others who do not do it the same way we do.

My philosophy is that I do what is best for the individual dog in my program. I have some dogs who will never leave me. In contrast, others need a job that I might not be able to provide them with. So, in this case, once their competitive career is over, I am open to finding them their best forever home doing what they love. As the stewards and owners of our dogs in our breeding program, we need to take so many factors into account, including our financial resources, the size of our breed, and even their personalities as we work our breeding program.

When to spay or retire a bitch

Q: We read everything we can and talked with our Repro vet and others about the general and hypothetical question of "How old is too old?" We are now at the point of having to make this decision for our foundation bitch. All vet exams/testing/blood work have been 'unremarkable' & her general health has always been great so - physically - she's fit.  (Only known 'variation' from the 'norm' is that she comes into season 1x per year). All breedings have been by chilled/shipped, simple & uneventful AI. 

1. 1st litter was 4yrs ago (and produced our 1st GCH who, incredibly, was the WKC2020 Sheltie SB). 
2. 2nd pregnancy showed 2 fetuses, of which 1 was reabsorbed.  Progesterone levels couldn't be maintained so she was put on synthetic hormone & 1 pup was delivered by c-section, declared 'healthy' but died of unknown causes on Day 3. (Perhaps coincidentally, she had been on Bravecto for almost, 1yr prior to breeding) 
3. 3rd try - There were problems with the stud's draw last year - no semen in 1st shipment, 'poor quality' in 2nd. Because there was no time for a 3rd shipment, we did a surgical AI with what we had and hoped.  But she missed. 

We're not interested in adding to the "normal" risks of pregnancy but also don't want to unnecessarily pass up the opportunity to continue her line directly through her. 

A: We all want to make sure that we are doing everything possible to make the right decisions, as we are the stewards and advocates of our dogs. There is no ‘right answer,’ as many factors go into making this decision. I will briefly chat about how I made a similar decision when breeding my 8yr old Champion girl. The first thing I did was make sure that my Vet had done a full and complete blood workup; I wanted a ‘team approach’ to this decision, so I involved my Vet from the beginning. We looked at her complete health picture, and that included fitness to deliver and raise a litter. Then like you, we reviewed her previous pregnancy history, even though we both knew that each pregnancy is different. Our goal was to make sure there was no pattern we might miss that could influence our decision. We saw in the previous 3 times she was bred that she had conceived and whelped uneventfully. I had used progesterone timing and chilled semen in 2 of the 3 breedings; the other was live cover. Based on the information and her age we made 2 significant choices. The first was to run LH surge as well as regular progesterone, and the second was to do a Surgical Implant (SI). We felt that this would let us inspect the uterus and ovaries for anything abnormal, and it would give us the best possible pregnancy outcome. She did get pregnant, and the only other thing we did elect to do at the end of the pregnancy was a C-section. I normally do not elect to do C-sections, but we decided it was the best way forward after tossing it back and forth with my vet. We ended up with 7 boys! And my girl lived to be 15+. I share my story because it will let you see the steps I took. Ultimately, this decision is one that you and your Vet need to make using every piece of information you have on your bitch’s health. Additionally, based on my experience and the information you have provided, if you choose to breed your girl it is actually in your favor that she only cycles once a year. This means that her ovaries should still be producing well, versus another girl who cycles every 5-6 months.