QuestionI have a friend that is breeding her female and she is wondering how many times you should allow the male and female to hook during there heat cycle.
AnswerTammie,
There is quite a wide range of opinions on this subject. They range from a set schedule to a breed at will schedule. I don't believe there is a wrong or right answer to this question so I will try to give you enough information that you can make that decision on your own.
Dogs are different than people when it comes to getting pregnant. You can breed them once and have one or more puppies but you can also breed them once and have no puppies. Basically every time you breed them there is a chance that you will have puppies. Lets say that you bred your female every other day (which most breeders or those who supply the stud will tell you) Each time you breed her she can be impregnated. So the first time she could conceive one puppy and then on the next time you breed her (which would be two days later on the every other schedule) she could conceive again and so on.
However, breeding them a lot (at random whenever they want to) does not guarantee that you will have a lot of puppies. The gender and the amount of puppies is usually determined by the stud. A stud that is overbred may not be as potent as one that is not overbred.
Over the years I bred mine both ways and I really couldn't tell you that one way or the other was better. But for the sake of my time I usually bred mine every other day. I started on day 7 (if the female was willing) and bred every other day until day 13 or the female was no longer willing.
