Questions about the Mom and Dad

[TXBoxerBabe]

How old should the Mom be when she is bred? When is too young AND when is too old?

Is there an age limit to the Sire? Would there be any health issues that would be passed onto a pup if the father was 10?

What are the issues with the pup if the Mother has been bred too much- and what is 'too much'? I didn't want more than 1 pregnancy, but I don't think that is the norm for Boxers.

Thanks!!

Allison Novak
Proud Mom to Trixie- plain fawn 7/3/1999-10/5/2013 & Chyna- plain brindle 9/27/2001-7/29/2013............missing them both so much

 

[sjtorr]

I don't know about standards for the sire,... But my own breeders standards for the mother are four litters or fifteen pups... Whichever comes first.

 

[entelekia]

Both parents should be at least 2 years old. Not necessarily because that's the age when they can be bred, but because that's the age when they can have passed all health tests. Things like hips need to be tested on a mature dog (so that the growth plates are closed) and so they won't assign a rating on a dog younger than two.

Parents should AT THE VERY LEAST be tested for hips and heart. Good breeders test other things such as elbows, eyes (CERF test) and thyroid.

You can do a search here (I believe there might be a sticky at the top of the Choosing a Breeder page) and find all health testing that should be done on boxers.

**Edited to add: here's the page I was talking about: http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/view_boxer-dog-health-testing.htm

Good luck and congrats on doing all your research before hand. appicon