how do you know when your dog is ready to mate,, and how old does she have to be???

Question

we have a 8 month old shihtzu and a almost 2 yr old shihtzu/ lhaso apso, and they have gotten stuck together a few times in the last couple of days,,, we have seperated them cause we heard they are too young<<< any advice????

Answer 1

Well, my dear!!! you are not suppose to not let your "PUPPY" who is 8 months old, mate so early in her life.

She should at least skip her first heat. If you want to breed, do it on her second or third heat. Eight months old is too young to have a litter of puppies!! She is still a pup herself.

That is pretty irresponsible to let her breed so young. Your female puppy is not fully developed yet.

There are sooooo many dogs/puppies in shelters who need homes now due to unwanted puppies and people not keeping their male and female dogs seperated during the heat period.

If your dogs have already been stuck, it is probably too late. The only thing you can do is hope the mating did not take.

Keep them seperated until her heat is completely OVER!! They are in heat roughly around 21 days once she starts to bleed.

The last seven days are the crucial days for her to get pregnant.

Answer 2

If they've already "gotten stuck" you are a bit late with the question. You should've researched & then you'd know that the female should be at least 1yr old. Do you have buyers for the pups? If not can you afford to raise a litter? Since you bred her too young are you prepared to pay for a c-section or other emergency medical treatment she may need?

Answer 3

it's probably to late now. she's more than likely already pregnant.
being as she's still so young this may end up tragically. the pups and herself may be at risk. make sure you get her to a vet. you should wait until the dog is at least 16-18 months old.
if your breeding to sell then you should make sure you know what your doing. some people over breed their pets which is not good at all. please don't do this just to turn a profit.
i also have a shih-tzu. he's now 10 years old. the grooming maintenance for these dogs in itself is sometimes overwhelming. make sure any potential buyers know this. otherwise they will just be natty unwanted animals that are not properly taken care of.
after the pups arrive (if they do) get her spayed. if she's not prego right now (which i bet she is) then get her fixed.
good luck.

Answer 4

If the 8 month old is a female, that is too early. I would wait until the female is 2 years old. At 8 months, male or female, the dog is still a puppy.

Answer 5

Please do not breed your babies. Let them be the pets that they are supposed to be. Breeding should be done ethically and responsibly which means NO mixing breeds. Seriously there tens of thousands of small tiny dogs waiting in shelters for homes..some of which wont even have 72 hours before that chance is gone forever. Many are even puppies. Even breeding purebreds takes alot more than a simple encounter to be an ethical and responsible decision. Check out AKC's website for some really helpful information: http://www.akc.org/breeders/resp_breeding/index.cfm

PLEASE BE PART OF THE SOLUTION! SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS... overpopulation kills over half of the puppies born each year. There are simply not enough homes for all of them.

Answer 6

Unless you're a professional breeder, NEVER. It is totally irresponsible to breed dogs. In the United States, 6 million dogs are euthanized EVERY year. In most of the shelters this means, they are put into oxygen deprivation chambers and the air is sucked out of them for 5 minutes during which time they howl in agony. There is nothing more horrifying to witness.

Answer 7

Please read this:

http://www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/breeding.html

And then be part of the solution and NEUTER AND SPAY YOUR PETS.

Spaying your dog will drastically decrease her chances of contracting mammary cancer later in life (which is VERY common for unspayed female dogs to contract), and will ELIMINATE her chances of getting cancers of the reproductive organs...it also eliminates her chances of contracting pyometra (deadly infection of the uterus).

Neutering your male dog will decrease his chances of contracting testicular cancer and will make him a much better pet.

Your animals should not be breeding. Schedule an appointment ASAP and get them both fixed, especially before your female ends up pregnant with little mixed puppies that will just wind up at the shelters and being euthanized.

Be responsible and do the right thing...spay and neuter your pet-quality animals.

Answer 8

there exists a morning after treatment for dogs - talk to your vet ASAP. Cause if they were stuck togher tha (or spaying her right now) ts the only way to advoid a litter and ,especally if the female is the 8 month old, you are likely heading for problems

Answer 9

you 2 yr old dog should be spayed or neutered.. it is a cross, a mutt - it is not a good dog for breeding because if its parents were good quality they would have bred purebreds not crosses..

your younger dog should (if you really want to breed it) be registered and go to dog shows to PROVE it is an excellent example of the breed WORTHY of being bred.. and have vet checks to back up its breeding soundness.

a vet can give you a pill to take the female out of heat and she should be spayed at once

spaying and neutering reduces alot of health problems including some cancers.. if you love your dogs, if your dogs lives are important to you - you would spay and neuter them.. if your dogs are just vechicles for you to breed indiscriminantly to get low quality pups then wait til the female is 18 months...

Answer 10

Your female needs to be AT LEAST 18 months old before her first litter...2 years is best. Males can mate at around a year old.