If you’re interested and have decided to let your female dog have puppies, mating is the first real concrete step. Here you can read about the female’s heat cycle and how mating between different dogs works.
Sexual maturity and heat
Sometime between six months and one and a half years of age, almost all female dogs reach sexual maturity and come into heat for the first time. This means they are fertile and can have their own puppies. It does happen that some females don’t ovulate during their first heat, or sometimes even their second.
Suitable time for mating
Female dogs are not fully mature physically or mentally when they first become sexually mature, so you should wait at least a year after that before letting them have puppies. Under Swedish law, it is forbidden to mate a female dog younger than 18 months.
This law applies to all breeds. It is just as illegal to mate a young golden retriever as a cocker spaniel that is not yet 18 months old. It is often recommended that the female should be at least two years old before she is mated, so that she is as ready and mature as possible for the experience.
Preparation for and suitability for mating
To make the process go as smoothly as possible, you should carry out various health checks. For some breeds, these are even mandatory. A female should not be too old when she has her first litter, as this increases the risk of various complications. Read up on your specific breed to find out more.
There are different rules regarding this. According to SKK’s rules, a female may not be seven years or older when she is mated for the first time. Females that have had puppies before and are to be mated again when they are older than seven may do so if you have a veterinary certificate, issued no more than one month before mating, confirming that she is in sufficiently good condition to cope with a litter.
Female dogs usually come into heat twice a year. In some breeds, the intervals are significantly longer, without this being abnormal in any way.
There are rules you must follow regarding how often a female may be mated, how many litters she may have in total, and so on, depending on the breed. Read more about the rules that apply to your particular breed.
