Is 10 Litters Enough?
“She was very thin, cowered when I went to pet her... A vet told me that she didn’t have any muscle in her hind end to help support her when standing... At almost three months of having her, I can say that she has learned how to run and does so with her tail wagging behind her.”
If a dog is being bred for profit, what is the maximum number of litters that they should be forced to have in their lifetime? In the UK, that maximum is 4 litters. In Nova Scotia, that maximum doesn’t exist.
How often does a female dog go into heat?
Going “into heat” refers to the time during a female dog’s reproductive cycle when they can become pregnant. According to Cornell’s Canine Health Centre, the average female dog goes into heat approximately twice per year, or every six months.
Pregnancy lasts for two months, followed by two months of nursing puppies (Cornell). Since pregnancy and nursing last a combined total of four months, and dogs go into heat every six months, a mother dog will likely go into heat again approximately two months after she finishes nursing her puppies. But is two months enough time to recover from pregnancy, birthing a litter, and nursing? Should she be bred again that soon? What toll does that take on her body?
How often should you breed a dog?
Technically, a female dog will go into heat again approximately two months after she finishes nursing her puppies from a previous litter. However, as stated by the American Kennel Club, responsible breeders do not breed on consecutive heats “to allow sufficient time for recuperation between pregnancies”.
This means that a responsible breeder will wait at least one heat before breeding a mother dog again. In this case, a mother dog would have no more than one litter every 12 months.
As stated by the Animal Emergency Service, overbreeding puts the mother dog at severe risk of many health problems, including “malnutrition, hypocalcaemia (potentially life-threatening low levels of calcium), uterine infections, and mastitis.”
How many litters can you legally force a dog to have in their lifetime?
Unfortunately, there is no legal requirement in Nova Scotia for breeders to allow their dogs to rest and recover between litters. Due to this lack of regulation, breeders can breed their dogs every time they go into heat. This means that dogs can be bred as many times in a row during their lifetime as they can physically withstand. What quality of life does that provide for the mother dog?
Piper, a female Goldendoodle, was forced to birth at least 10 litters from 2018 to 2023 while she lived at a breeding facility in Nova Scotia.
Last year, Piper ended up at a rescue shelter and was adopted into a loving home. Since then, she has been learning how to run and play, and just be a dog.
What can you do to help stop the overbreeding of dogs in Nova Scotia?
Piper is just one example of the many dogs that are being bred unethically, but legally. There are currently no laws preventing breeders from breeding their dogs every time they go into heat until they are physically incapable. If you would like to help change that, please sign the petition and advocate for the many dogs who need protection.
While we wait for laws to be passed, you can use your buying power to help stop over-breeding. Before you buy your next puppy, ask the breeder to provide you with a litter history for their parent dogs signed by a veterinarian. If they are not willing to supply information about the total number and frequency of their dogs’ litters, then it begs the question, why aren’t they willing to be transparent?