I have heard from several Mudi people recently that canine
reproduction specialists claim that breeding a bitch young, and on every heat,
then retiring her early, is best for her health. This is called speed breeding.
First I would like to know if there have been any studies
done to prove this, as in scientific research published in a peer reviewed
journal. Or is this just the “feeling”
these repro specialists have accumulated, what is it based on? What are the
benefits for the bitch and are they good for all bitches or just a few? What
are the downsides of this method? And really, how many repro specialists are of
this opinion?
Second, think about the breeders and the breeds that most
often use a repro specialist, it is certainly not common in the Mudi. What do breeders use these repro vets for?
1) AI – artificial insemination: side by side (collected
and implanted on site), fresh/chilled and shipped, frozen; (there are reasons
these are used and that is not the purpose of this post, but none of them are
commonly done in the Mudi, in any country)
2) Bitches being used are difficult to impregnate due to
any number of reasons, age, infertility, disease, size, fragility, previous caesarian
section or litter deaths, etc. (none of these are common in the Mudi and is
breeding of “needy” bitches really good for a breed?)
3) A breed is rare, and every litter is important (while
the Mudi is rare, it is not so rare this is a concern)
4) Stud is old and cannot mount the bitch, but can be
collected (is it wise to use such a male?)
5) Collecting, assessing for viability and possibly
freezing sperm for later use
6) Assessment of the bitch for breeding, most vets
can do this, a specialist is not usually required
None of them apply very often to the
Mudi. We are very lucky this is the
case!
This means repro vets are using their experience with a
select group of clients to make a recommendation for all bitches and breeds.
Have these repro vets and breeders considered the harm this
kind of breeding does to a breed?
1) Breeding immature bitches (before 2 years of age for the
Mudi) is not a good idea, its like letting teenage humans become parents. They
are neither physically, nor mentally ready for the challenges of pups/kids in
most cases.
2) Most health tests for canines (ortho and eye) can only
be done officially after the dog/Mudi is 2 years of age, breeding before these
tests are done is certainly not a good idea, you have no idea what you are
breeding.
3) If you breed on every heat, even starting from 2 years
of age, you cannot assess what the parents have made, you will not have health,
temperament or appearance results till those pups are 2 years of age. Meanwhile
you have had 2-4 more litters from a parent that might not have been wise to
have more than 1 litter with.
4) Epilepsy does not always appear in young Mudis, it can
take up to 6-7 years, but most seizures appear by the age of 4. Breeding lots of younger than 4 year old
Mudis and breeding their pups, will not help to lessen the appearance of
epilepsy in the breed, it will actually make it worse and will take out more
Mudis from breeding in the long run.
5) Generation time is important to the diversity in any
breed and speed breeding is the enemy of generation time.
What is generation time and why is it important, especially
for the Mudi?
The Mudi is lucky to not need the services of a repro vet
or most any vet due to it being a rather healthy and easy to impregnate breed
and this is due in large part to the diversity of its gene pool. Generation
time directly affects the diversity of a gene pool.
Genetic losses occur in every new generation/litter of purebred
dogs. The reasons are varied and not important for this discussion. What this means is that the fewer generations
there are between the foundation stock and the Mudi you want to breed with, there
is more of the original gene set of the founders, than those Mudis that have more
generations between. For example, one Mudi has a
24 gen pedigree and another has 32. The
one with 32 is much farther from the gene set of the original founders, which
means that Mudi has less genetic diversity and you should know that having a large
set of diversification in your gene set is the key to health, not only for that
dog, but for the whole breed.
It is therefore in the best interest of the breeder and the
breed to maintain a high average generation time.
This is how you figure generation time for any litter - already
born or planned: take the age of the sire at mating, add it to the age of the
dam at mating, then divide by 2 (sire is 4 + dam is 2 = 6 ÷ by 2 = 3 is the gen
time). 4 years is considered to be an
appropriate minimum level, 5 or 6 is better.
Every breeder should keep track of their generation time for each litter
and for their kennel as a whole and every puppy buyer should ask for it.
Breeding young dogs is breeding blindfolded. Genetic
diseases and temperament problems often do not appear until 3-4 years of age.
Maintaining a high average generation time gives a breeder a clear advantage to
produce healthy pups and it makes breeding results more predictable, while
minimizing loss of genetic diversity.
Reproductive rush, aka speed breeding, has three main consequences:
1) greatly accelerated rate of loss of genetic diversity
2) selection for early maturity which has an elevated risk of assorted orthopedic and health issues
3) lowering of average longevity
Reproductive rush, aka speed breeding, has three main consequences:
1) greatly accelerated rate of loss of genetic diversity
2) selection for early maturity which has an elevated risk of assorted orthopedic and health issues
3) lowering of average longevity
Speed breeding is the tool of puppy mills. Breed them as
soon as possible, as much as possible, and when the bitch or stud is not producing
enough, get rid of them and start with another. How has this method worked for
the quality of what they produce?
-Is this method good for the Mudi?
-What happens to those bitches in a speed breeding program
when they are no longer needed?
-Do we really need to pump out so many Mudi puppies? Wouldn’t the breed be better with quality than quantity? If you want to follow this method, you breed your bitch in rapid succession-on every heat, isn't this quantity breeding?
Every breeder has to decide how they want to breed. Every
bitch is unique, and a good breeder will do what works for her individually. A prospective buyer can research how many
litters a breeder has created and how close together the individual bitches are
having them and then decide for themselves that this is a breeding
style/breeder that is what they want to support or not.
In the end however, it comes down to not just the bitch’s
welfare, but the breeds welfare. Is the individual
bitch more important than the breed? What
is truly the best method for the Mudi-not for any other breed, just the Mudi? That is something all Mudi people have to
decide for themselves and the decision we all make now, will affect the future
of this breed, do not forget that, because you cannot go back and undo the pups
you made with the wrong choice.
