Breeding toy poodles...

Question
hi... i am looking for a good poodle breeder to purchase a puppy possibly 2... i was wondering how many litters can a toy poodle female have and at what age should the female be retired? i want to know because i want to ask that question to see what the breeder has to say and for me to know if that breeder is doing the right things with there dogs.. thank you

Answer
You are rightly concerned.  Although I have changed my profile to discourage them, I am still getting questions from clueless people wanting to breed toy Poodles and other dogs.  You don't want to buy a puppy from somebody that is posting very basic questions about breeding.  You can likely find better answers than I can give at http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/articles.html#breeding  I don't like many of the sites on the net, but I have found that site fairly reliable.  www.akc.org and www.avma.org may be good places to find specific problems with toy Poodles.  

I am not sure any of the articles cover socialization.  If the breeder holds the puppies too long and doesn't allow them to keep their sleeping space clean, you will have trouble.  Between 6-12 weeks, puppies accept new things very well.  I am sure many of the ''separation anxiety'' problems come from puppies that were never left alone before they were 12 weeks old.  I get well taken care of puppies at 7 weeks and have very few problems with them fouling the crate.