Do not want yorkie to breed on her first heat

Question
Hello,
My 5 lb, 7 month old yorkie is in her first heat. She lives with a 2.5 lb male yorkie who she will be mating with later on. He is two years old. I do not want her to breed on her first cycle. I was wondering if there was anything I could do or buy to prevent this from happening. I heard about no breed bands. I do not know how effective those are though. I try to keep them separate during the day. Sometimes they do break free in the house while I am at work. I just want to be safe and prevent this from happening. Any help would be great. Thanks.

Answer
Laura,

Keeping them apart is the only way you can guarantee that they will not breed.  You can try using a doggie diaper for the male and female when you are home and can keep an eye on them but there are still no guarantees.  I have known of instances where dogs have mated when it seemed impossible for them to do so.  They will climb fences and even mate between the fence if they have too, so finding a way to mate despite the doggie diaper is not impossible.

Another reason to keep them apart is because you do not want him humping on her or trying to mate her and not being able to.  If he is allowed to hump then he will learn to be satisfied with just humping and when it is time to breed the two of them he will not be able to follow through with the job.  If he is with her and cannot mate he will become frustrated and this could cause him to not be able to breed in the future.  Random humping or extreme frustration can ruin a stud to the point that they are no longer any good for breeding.

You may need to purchase a cage to put him in until she goes out of heat.  I realize that three weeks is a long time to have to keep him in the cage but that is one of the harsh realities of breeding.  I never kept my studs in my home.  I would give them to a friend and then use them for breeding.  This always worked out because my friend could have a Yorkie without having to pay for it and I did not have to deal with the hassle of keeping them apart.  Even after her first heat you will have this problem.  You cannot breed her every time she goes into heat so you will have to keep them apart again in the future.