New arguments for breeding older dog moms
I have always been uncomfortable with the saying “Breed them young, breed them often” with regards to dog breeding. This is most often heard from reproductive veterinarians who are telling breeders how to most easily get puppies from their bitches. They typically follow this statement with “and then spay them.”
Breeding Young Results in More Puppies.
From one perspective, this makes sense. Like people, bitches are most fertile early in their lives. Furthermore, some specialists hypothesize that canine uteruses are made to be pregnant, claiming that every other heat cycle “damages” that important organ. And finally, they recommend spaying promptly to reduce the risk of pyometra, an infection that unspayed bitches can get as they age. So it’s no surprise that veterinary reproduction specialists tell us to breed during the most fertile years, and avoid disease by keeping bitches pregnant and neutering them as soon as we are done breeding them.
The six-year-old mom of these 11 puppies went on to have a litter of 12 at 8 1/2 years old!!
But Are They Better Puppies?
However, I’d like to offer another perspective for dog breeders. If you follow the “breed them young, breed them often” philosophy, you are evaluating the quality and genetic potential of your bitch very early in her life, before you know who she will be as an adult, which for most dog breeds including my goldens is after they turn 3. For those that do higher-level training that takes years for dogs to learn, you are not only breeding before you know that your dog can achieve the highest level of success but you are interrupting her training with motherhood.
Furthermore, you do not have time to assess the quality (as opposed to potential) of her offspring before breeding her again, six or nine months later. In particular, you cannot gauge the pups’ adult health and temperaments before producing more siblings. Those first pups need to be at least a year, ideally two before you know their adult temperaments, hip and elbow results, and information about later onset diseases.
Breeding Older May Result in Longer-Lived Dogs!
Eight-year-old Chex had a lovely litter of 7 pups soon after this photo was taken
Now there is research in humans (Sun, Sebastiani, et al. 2014) indicating that later natural pregnancies may relate to longer lives! In people, women who successfully and naturally have babies later in life live longer and theoretically produce longer lived children and grand-children! Collectively, their findings suggest that robust women — those likely to live longest — may first manifest their good health by remaining fertile for several decades.
Might this also be true in dogs? Those bitches able to conceive, birth and raise puppies naturally later in life may be some of our most robust dogs! Our experience over the last three decades bears this out.
We have always favored natural breedings and whelpings, and have tended to breed bitches late as we fit litters in between training, exhibiting, work and life. The latest we’ve bred a bitch is 8 and the average age of a last litter for our girls is 6. Only a few times over the years have we gotten organized enough to breed a two-year old girl. However, we have had 8-year old bitches whelp and rear litters of 7 and 11 without problem. I’m knocking on wood while I type, but our brood bitches have all lived past 12, most past 13 and some much older–pretty good lives for golden retrievers. Obviously this isn’t conclusive evidence but it provides interesting support for this human finding.
When should you breed?
If we are seeking longer-lived dogs, then breeding bitches young, breeding them often and spaying them may be hindering our ability to determine which dog moms are most able to contribute to this goal. Instead, using natural breedings and whelpings later in life to evaluate the robustness of our bitches may be one of the most important decisions we make for the health of our puppies and our breeds!
Resources
Boston University Medical Center. “Reproduction later in life is a marker for longevity in women.” ScienceDaily, 25 June 2014.
Healy, Melissa. June 25, 2014. “Older moms much more likely to become old ladies, study says,” Los Angeles Times
Sun F, Sebastiani P, et al. 2014. “Extended maternal age at birth of last child and women’s longevity in the Long Life Family Study.” Menopause. 2014 Jun 23.