Female to Male ratio in puppies

Question
QUESTION: Do you know the approx. ratio of Female to Male puppies born in a litter.  What has your experience been with your dogs?  My Breeder thinks that my shih Tzu could have more puppies because she was bred 6 times, do you find more breeding necessarily mean more puppies.  I feel that she is smaller this time than the last two prenancies.  I appreciate any feedback you can give.  Thanks

ANSWER: Hi Linda. Well, the male is the one to determine the sex of the puppies. If he's ever been bred before, and you know what the sex of the puppies were, you can kind of figure out what to expect. My male tended to throw more females than males. Out of a litter of 8, there would be something like 5 females and 3 males. Every now and then we would get an even litter. It all really depends on the stud dog. If he doesn't belong to you, and you're really curious, try to find out what he produced. It's not 100% though. This litter he could throw all females, or all males. It's about as predictable as determining what a human baby is before it's born.

More breedings do not make more puppies. How many puppies are to be born is determined by the female. She puts out a certain amount of eggs. The eggs are then fertilized, and then the female's body will absorb so many of them until it's down to a number that her body can handle safely. Sometimes this process goes nuts, and you end up with one puppy, or end up with a huge litter. Just remember, the sex is determined by the male, the number of puppies by the female. (If something is wrong with the female, or is getting older, she may not put out many eggs at all) If you breed the female many times during a heat cycle, you could end up with a few small premature puppies. This is because there may have been a late egg or two put out by the female. Then it's fertilized by the male. The female will then go into labor according to the first batch of puppies fertilized due date, causing the last batch to be fertilized to be premature. Breeding twice during a heat cycle is usually plenty enough. I know this is all confusing, it still confuses me at times. :-)

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QUESTION: Many thanks for your answer.  I will give the breeder a call.  We have passed two of the due dates and the third is today.  It's a wait and see game, she had 5 pups the first time and 6 the second.  This time however I have bred her to a much smaller male, so would this maybe be the cause of a smaller belly? How old do you recommend to stop breeding your female.  I have heard and seen in this forum that breeding is still occurring at 9 years old; is this the norm?  Again thanks for your time.
Cheers,Linda

Answer
Hi! I don't think that breeding her to a smaller male would cause her to have a smaller belly. She may just not be having that many puppies. I personally will only allow my females to have 2-3 litters on their whole lifetime. And I won't breed a dog past the age of 6. I think that when a dog gets to that age, they are senior citizens, and deserve the rest. I think that if you breed a dog when she gets older, it is too hard on her, the puppies may not be as healthy, and you'll see a decline in the litter size. I am aware that some people breed smaller breeds longer. Again, this is just my own personal opinion, and what I do with my own dogs. If I can help with anything else, just holler!