i agree with everyone else at 6 years old she is too old for a first litter have her spayed after this season.

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mammy to dai bach a sausage & dinky mash

I hate to sound like a parrot, but six years is too old for a maiden bitch, please have her spayed, the risks are too great to put her through the rigours of whelping

Well, this was an overwhelming response. Thanks for that, but we are all very disappointed, as we have not bred for a number of years. She turned 6 yesterday.

We have bred for many years, first with cairn terriers and then scotties, but we always tried to start at the second heat etc. We never lost a puppy.

Is it really necessary to spay her? Our area is extremely well secured. She cannot get out and no dog has ever came in (Johannesburg!!)

Thanks again

A fit bitch who has already had a litter shouldn't have any problems at 6 years old.

Even just taking two litters from a bitch, if you leave a reasonable gap between litters and add in a possible miss on a mating - when taking into consideration gaps between seasons, then 6 is far from unreasonable.

The eldest age a bitch can have a litter registered is 8 providing it isn't her first and permission is gained from the KC - prior to this ruling, there was no age limit, and historically, there are bitches who've had litters at 9/10 years old

My eldest had her first litter at 4 years 4 months and her second at 5 years 8 months and was absolutely fine - in fact, the second litter took less out of her than the first even though she gave them more. She fed both litters until all but the last pup left at 9 weeks and 11 weeks.

Conversely, her eldest daughter had her first litter at 2 years, 3 months, that isn't a mistake I would make again, it was too early.

Her youngest daughter is 3 this month and only now do I feel she is ready.

Bitches do have very small windows for having litters if you start at a reasonable age and leave a good gap between litters - but just to re-enforce again - 6 is way too old for a first litter.

It's concern for your bitch which prompts such a response - the risks are simply too high.

That's young

It's entirely your choice whether you neuter her or not - there are well documented health benefits to neutering bitches - but others are left entire for all sorts of reasons.

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What you need to know before buying a Labrador puppy

^^^^ what she said, it is too old I'm afraid, although I know perceptions change depending on where you are in the world. More recent thinking is that bitches need to be that bit more mature, but not too mature before having their first litter, so the second season for many would be too early, depending on when they have them of course, some bitches don't have them as regularly as others.

This article, although a few years old, is a good read and will hopefully give you a bit more information towards the decision about whether to spay or not:

http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/longt...uterindogs.pdf

The bitch I had a litter off earlier was 6 when she had her litter.

She had aborted a litter 18 months previously and we had she is a fit and healthy bitch who had previously had a litter with no problems. She had to have a ceasarian half way through the whelping. Not because of any problem but because she had a big litter 10 pups and was very tired. She coped very well and was back in the show ring when the pups were 4 months old.

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Sammy you may be gone but your sprit will always live on in the sunbeams R I P Sammy

William- 6/11/03 - 24/3/10
Midge - 8/2/11 - 10-2-11