yorkie female and age

Question
At what age should female yorkies not breed anymore?

Answer
Hi Samantha:

At what age to retire a bitch depends a lot on her general health & attitude. If she's in excellent health & has no problems "bouncing back" after whelping & raising the litter and she seems to be happy having puppies & takes good care of them, there's no real set time limit on when to stop. However, AKC regulations will not register a litter born to a bitch that's 12 years in age or over at time of mating & in my opinion, I would retire her prior to that. As with people, dogs will begin to develop more health problems with increasing age, no matter how healthy & well taken care of they are. I usually discontinue breeding my bitches around the age of 8 to 10 years of age provided they remain in excellent health & continue to enjoy the process. Also at that time I have her spayed to eliminate the chances of her getting any reproductive organ cancers or related health issues.