Questioni want to know if there is a certain age that the yorkies must be before they start to mate? how many puppies does the female usually have in a pregnancy? how long does their pregnancy last? how many times should we mate them in their lifetime? Also is the male suppose to be smaller than the female? my cousin had bought her female about a year ago i i got my male about 3 months ago, we purchased them at the same place, is there a chance that they are related? and if they are will that effect the outcome of the puppies they have?
AnswerRebecca,
A Yorkie should be at least one year old before you breed them. The reason for this is that their bodies are still growing and their bones are still forming until they are a year old.
The amount of puppies depends on several things. How many puppies the sire usually produces, how large the female is compared to the male and how many times you achieved a successful tie.
Their pregnancy last for nine weeks. Think of it in terms of it as for every month a human is pregnant a dog is pregnant for one week.
If you care about your Yorkie you will breed them only every other heat. Skipping a heat will ensure that the female has time to recuperate and get her body back to a healthy state before she is required to produce puppies again. Again, think of it in the same way you would a human. It is obviously hard on a female to have children back to back because the body is never really allowed to regenerate itself from the stress of having the first child.
The male absolutely must be smaller than the female. People want small Yorkies. In order to achieve a certain amount of certainty that the puppies will be small when they grow up the standard is breeding a 2 1/2 pound male to a 5 pound female. Ideally the male should never be larger than three pounds and the female should never be larger than six pounds. People who purchase Yorkies want to see the parents because they want to make sure that the puppies will grow up small. Also, when you are selling the puppies you will get a significantly larger amount of money for puppies that will be small when they grow up.
As far as them being related I cannot answer that unless I know where you purchased them. Was it a kennel? Was it a pet store? Was it an individual selling them from their home?
If they are related it will effect the outcome of the puppies in several ways. The American Kennel Club (AKC) only allows breeding back (brother/sister, mother/son etc) one time. If you breed back more than this the AKC will not allow you to register the puppies. Without papers you will have difficulty selling the puppies for a decent amount of money. Breeding back also produces dogs with undesirable personalities. The more you breed back the more anti-social and aggressive the puppies will be when they grow up.
I hope this has cleared up some things for you. If you answer the questions I asked I will be happy to answer the question regarding them possibly being related.
Sincerely,
Melinda
