QuestionHello, I have an 11 months old female yorkie, weight is about 5 lbs. She is in her 1st heat at this time. My male yorkie is 3 lbs. I know based on other answers I have read it is ok to breed them their 1st heat as long as they are 1 year old and also that my dogs are actually a good match for breeding due to there sizes. But is 11 moths to close.Can I breed them at this time or should I wait until she goes in heat the next time? How often will she go into heat? And when is the time I should be putting my male and female together if breeding is oked at this time?
Thank you so much!
AnswerLeslie,
As you stated you have read past posts and that they advise against breeding on the first heat if it falls before they reach the age of one. Because she is so close to one year of age I cannot tell you not to breed her but neither can I tell you it is ok. With her age being so close it comes down to what the individual breeder decides to do. What I can tell you is that if it were my dog, I would not breed her. The purpose of waiting until they are older than one year is because their bodies are not fully formed. Having puppies is very stressful on their bodies just like it is with humans. Therefore, if she has puppies at an early age and her body is still developing it can do irreversible damage that you will not see, but it could shorten her life span.
There is also the issue of maturity. Her role as a mother is not just about having the puppies. She also has to be mature enough to know what to do with them when she has them. This includes being able to handle the birthing process and taking care of them (cleaning them, stimulating them to go potty, and allowing them to nurse)after they are born. Immature mothers will often drag their babies around by the cord when they are born because they don't know what to do. This causes the puppies to have health issues, like hernias. There are too many things that can go wrong for me to name them all here.
As far as how often they go into heat, that depends on the individual dog. You will not really know what her particular pattern will be until after she has had a couple of heats. Yorkies can go into heat for the first time anywhere from six months to eighteen months and then after that they start to be consistent. Since she went into heat at eleven months I would say she will probably go into heat about that amount of time each time.
The heat cycle lasts for three weeks. Day one to day seven she will bleed bright red. Day eight to day thirteen she will have a pinkish milky discharge and this is the time to breed her.
I encourage you to do further research about breeding Yorkshire terriers. The process can go smoothly with no complications but it can also go horribly wrong. Knowing what to do in those situations can mean the difference between live healthy mom and pups or dead mom and pups. If you read past posts from this website (there are over 600) you will find everything you need to know before breeding your female. If you do not want to read through all the posts or just don't have time, I have written a book about breeding Yorkshire Terriers and it is available on my website. The address is www.petremembrances.com/Yorkie%20Advise.html
The book is downloadable in a pdf format and is priced at $9.95. It contains everything you need to know about Yorkies and the breeding process. I offer it because so many people have requested the information in an easy to understand format that can be used as a quick reference.
Either way, I encourage you to do as much research as you can so you are prepared for anything. Good Luck to you and if you have any other questions please feel free to write again.
