Back-to-Back Breeding,

     We all love our pets, and often we treat them as if they're humans.  

However, there is a big misconception out there, particularly in the US. 

     To think a healthy large-breed canine should not be bred again on her next cycle, is simply a lack of understanding and education on the subject.  Granted the female had no issues during pregnancy, whelped and nursed well, and regained her original condition and health, there is no reason she should not be bred her next season.

     We must not compare the canine reproductive cycle to our own human cycle.  They are drastically different. For them, pregnancy actually protects them from uterine diseases when they are in tact.   

     It should be mentioned that the Basset's pregnancy lasts only 9 weeks, rather than human's 40 weeks. Then a typical Basset Hound gets at least a 28 week break on average, before she even has another cycle that could result in pregnancy; unlike humans only 4 weeks..  (I wish God had considered giving us humans that kind of cycle! ;) A canine mom diligently cares for her pups for roughly 4 weeks until they're weaned, then by nature begins to separate from them a bit so they learn to fend for themselves.  (It's similar to watching kindergarteners go off to school:)  By the age of 8 weeks old the parent dogs can't be bothered with their kids much. You can tell they want to be left alone, and it's time for puppies to go to new homes.

      Now, can we break free from our human children this soon and enjoy an 'empty-nester' break for many months before any chance of future pregnancy? Again, I wish this was our cycle some days... ;)

     Now, no responsible breeder wants to breed their dogs into exhaustion.  However breeding them while they're younger back to back, then letting them retire earlier seems to be most health beneficial for them.  It's unfortunate that the 'human ethics police' and activist groups don't look at the scientific picture as a whole, and put animal health ahead of their opinions...

It breaks our hearts even more to see a few fellow breeders out there condemn others for back-to-back breeding, in effort to lessen their own competition in the market.  Unfortunately, the business of breeding is a very cut-throat business, and can be difficult to find trust-worthy reputable mentors.

     Please know that at On My Way 2U Acres all parent dogs are our family members as well, and are never rehomed after breeding years have ceased.  This is another reason we keep our pack of Bassets small, in order to accommodate the 'full Retirement Plan' we offer them. :)

                             One great article reference:

Back to Back Breeding and Pseudopregnancy
The Australian Journal of Professional Dog Breeders

February 5, 2011 By Dr Kate Schoeffel

It is frequently claimed that breeding dogs on every heat or “back to back breeding” is bad for a bitch’s long term health and well being. However the research in canine reproduction shows that not breeding a dog when it comes into heat can in fact be bad for its health. Scientist have shown that pseudopregnancy [‘phantom pregnancy’] increases the risk of mammary cancers which are the second most common cancer in dogs after skin tumors and are 3-5 times more common than breast cancers in women

1: Pseudopregnancy often occurs when a bitch is not bred. She will show signs such as nesting, weight gain, mammary enlargement and lactation – usually about 6 to 12 weeks after oestrus. Pseudopregnancy represents the extreme of the changes which normally occur during the oestrus cycle and it is suggested that it is a hang over from dogs evolution from wolves. Subordinate nonbreeding pseudopregnant female wolves in a pack can help to raise pups by nursing the litters of other females”

2 In 1994 Donnay and his associates showed that there is a relationship between the number of pseudopregnancies a bitch goes through and the development of mammary cancer

3. Verstegen and Onclin (2006)1 have also studied canine mammary cancer and found that a large number of bitches presented for mammary tumours also show pseudopregnancy, that a large percentage of these females had frequent pseudopregnancies and that the bitches with recurring pseudopregnancy at each cycle tended to develop mammary tumors significantly earlier than other animals. Both of these authors say that there is need for more research but clearly bitches which don’t breed are likely to become pseudopregnant and pseudopregnancy increases the risk of cancer.

Skipping cycles in breeding has been linked to mammary cancer Pregnancy protects against life threatening uterine diseases. The most common uterine disease in the bitch is cystic endometrial hyperplasia. It is linked to several serious uterine diseases including the potentially life threatening disease “pyometra”(literally – a uterus full of pus) which affects nearly one quarter of dogs under 10 years old which are not desexed

4 . According to canine reproduction specialist Dr S. Romagnoli “bitches whelping regularly throughout their reproductive life almost never develop pyometra, while those who whelp rarely or never in their lives have a greater chance of developing this condition”. Furthermore a standard textbook of veterinary internal medicine notes that uterine diseases are less common in kennels where bitches are bred and conceive regularly indicating that pregnancy has a protective effect on the lining of the uterus or “endometrium”

Given that artificially restricting bitches, which haven’t been desexed, from breeding is bad for their health, it is not surprising that many breeding dogs bred have reproductive problems. If they are show dogs they often don’t start breeding until they are three years old, and have finished their show career, and then kennel club rules and even government regulations require that the bitch is only bred on every second season. Frequently older bitches need veterinary intervention to reproduce, and good bitches may end up being bred well beyond 6 years of age when their fertility is beginning to decline.

No responsible breeder who cares about their dogs would breed their bitches until they are exhausted, and rules certainly need to be in place to ensure that irresponsible breeders don’t exploit their dogs, however the current regulations in place in some states do not take into account the biology of the bitch. Breeding should be regulated by limiting the number of litters a bitch can breed or the age at which they should be desexed and retired. Breeding dogs regularly while they are young,followed by desexing and rehoming them early is in the best interest of the bitch and a good pet breeder can use this knowledge to work with the natural biology of their animals. Breeders must be aware of and comply with any government regulations regarding dog breeding in their state and unfortunately in Victoria, NSW and QLD current regulations do not permit this approach to dog breeding.

   Some year back, at an AKC Dog Breeding Discussion held at Michigan State University with key note speaker Dr. Claudia Orlandi Ph.D. (AKC’s breeder of the year and author of The ABC’s of Dog Breeding) shocked many breeders when it was disclosed that there have been scientific studies to show that it is detrimental for dams to skip heat cycles. It was shared that once you have begun to mate a dam that you should NOT skip any heat cycles until she is completely finished breeding. A dam is said to be “finished” breeding when her litter size is drastically decreased. The study involved following females that were bred every heat cycle and females that were bred every other heat cycle. After they were “finished” breeding, the dams were spayed and their uterus dissected.

Those showing most stress, and damage of the uterus were the females that were bred “every other” heat cycle. Part of the rational that skipping heat cycles is harmful stems from the fact that with consecutive heat cycles there is no “flushing action” of the uterus, which normally occurs by having a litter of puppies. The female will go through Estrus no matter if she is bred or not and by breeding a healthy dam back to back, can lessen the chances of the female experiencing pyometra, infections and false pregnancy. The choice to breed or not, should be contingent upon the goals the breeder has and for sure the mental and physical health of the female, above all else.