Breeding Dogs

Question
Hello Paula,

I was just wondering why there is a need for a male dog to wait until about 17 to 24 months before mating him?  For female dogs, I can understand that a puppy's body may have not yet fully developed to carry, give birth and care for puppies.

For male dogs, is this related to finding out if the dog is of good health, type, etc.?

Thanks.

Answer
Ideally you want to wait until after both male and female are 24 months of age. At that time you can start doing all appropriate health testing. In the US, any health testing done prior to 24 months of age is only a preliminary test and would need to be redone. Since a lot can change between 15 and 24 months for instance their hips could be good at 15 months but then could test only fair or poor at 24 months. With giant breed dogs they grow for a much longer period of time, soo they do not mature till an older age. Not all kinds of health testing is required for every breed but the standard testing I do for my breeds is hips, elbows, cardiac, thyroid, CERF(eyes) and BAER(hearing, depending on the color of the puppies). I hope this answers you questions.