Expert: Kaza - 3/29/2011

Question
QUESTION: How old does a male Bichon need to be before breeding?

ANSWER: Male age is irrelevant but female is, however what is important is health testing of all dogs prior to contemplating breeding. Hope this helps

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Does the male need to be at least 1 year in age. The dogs in question are of excellent health. My female is 3 years old and the male is approximately 10 months. Just wondering when he could be used to breed.

Answer
Dee in short no he doesnot need to be 12 months of age, but some of the recommended health tests shouldnt be done before the dog (male or female ) reaches 11-12 months, due to growth patterns of bones eyes etc. Some indeed wont be done until the dog is just under two to be recognised by the different health registries for dogs. Such as those conducted for Hips and Patella.
ALL dogs should be health tested for STDs before breeding, eye tested for ALL disese, cardiac, liver hips and patella tested before breeding.
Hope this helps.
Karen