Waiting to breed

Question:
 Found this on another breed forum,it's about breeding later in life and why.
Waiting to Breed
by Priscilla Clemens, Dan Dee Lyon Boxers

It seems there are many theories on "when" is the best time to breed a bitch for the first time. Forty years ago my father brought home our first Boxer, along with his unique approach to breeding. He was raised on a farm and had a farmer's way of looking at breeding. Farmers tend to be very practical. With that in mind, my father felt that if the life expectancy in Boxers was eight to ten years, then you want to breed when your oldest stock is getting ready to die. This means you breed your bitch for the first time when she is 5 years young! At the age of five her mother is ten and should be getting ready to die. This replaces your stock without over-burdening your resources. But since we have always bred for temperament and longevity, my father had another reason – also deeply rooted in farming – for waiting to breed. With all the adult onset diseases Boxers have, by the age of five you generally have a very good idea if your bitch is healthy. And if she is healthy she should be a good candidate for breeding. Now remember this was long before we had all the tests available to us today! My father’s ‘idea’ was to let nature weed out the weaker members of the breed. He also believed that even if you didn’t show, you bred to the standard. I showed horses for many years so I did not show dogs, but we still bred to the Boxer standard. I recently read an article in which the author recommended waiting to breed until your bitch was three. The parents would be six, giving you a good idea of their adult health. My father's theory takes this a step further. Breeding at five, the parents are now ten - how healthy are they? Do you want to include the five-year-old in your breeding program if the parents are horribly ill?
Another consideration: my dogs are very slow to mature. The mother of my current litter was four years old before she completely dropped her chest. Think about what might have happened had I bred her to a dog looking to increase the chest on my dogs. I have learned that it takes time to know what your dog is really going to be when it is fully mature. By waiting to breed, I give my girls every opportunity to show me where I really need to improve my line.
My father’s other ‘idea’ was to breed your bitch only ONCE! And that’s what I’ve done since 1970. Every time I breed, I am as nervous as when I was pregnant with my ‘pink’ kid. I am worried about the health of my ‘girl’ and her puppies. My feeling is if I get my bitch -- and remember, this is a family member in which I have now invested five years of love and attention -- through her pregnancy and delivery and she and her babies are healthy, it is time to say Thank You and move on (I give her lots of pats, hugs and kisses and have her spayed). After my last litter I got a lot of pressure about doing a repeat breeding. My first question was Why? I always got Well, she is a good producer. My answer was No, she produced a good litter. My girls only come in heat every ten or eleven months. This means in order not to breed on back-to-back heats, my bitch would have been seven years old when she had her second litter!
Now that you are all riled up, let me tell you how this has worked in my family of dogs. As I write this I have a 14 year old plus Boxer bitch sleeping in her crate right now. Her name is Tia. Her daughter, Missy, just turned eight years young. The eight-year-old’s ‘kids’ just turned three. You might have noticed there are 6 years between the 14-year-old and the eight-year-old. Well we moved and my husband threw out a bunch of papers that had been sitting on top of a file too long (or so he felt). Included in this pile were Tia’s registration, and our son’s birth certificate and health records (Norm didn’t have his glasses on (that was the last time he cleaned up without glasses!) I thought Tia was 5 when I bred her. She was six years, four months old when she delivered her FIRST and only litter! We have had many 14- or 15-year-olds and even a 17-year-old. Tia’s mom was almost 15 when I put her down. The 17-year-old was put down when his hindquarters finally gave out! At the age of 14 he had to have surgery to remove an eye after he had a tangle with a cat!
If your goal in breeding is to set records, then a couple of things would have to change. You’d have to endure a large drought of puppies while you waited for your bitches to age. So you might have to increase your number of bitches to maintain your records. And if you were to decide to do this, you might want to increase the age of breeding on your bitches slowly. But with over 3000 Boxers being registered every month, do you really want to continue to play the "numbers game"?
What I do is not perfect but it has worked for us for 40 years, and has worked for us in the show ring, too. We have always bred for temperament and longevity -- everything else is a bonus! -- but if you are interested in how we are doing in the quality department, please check out our ad for two of the "pups" from our last litter in the Nov/Dec 1998 issue of the Boxer Review. We believe that is proof aplenty of the value of "waiting to breed"!

Answer:
 That is very interesting. Thanks for posting

Answer:
 Yes, very interesting non the least. lol
I find it comical that she doesn't know the age of her bitches without looking at registrations...Must have too many bitches to remember. LMAO I'm not quite sure I agree with that entire artical....I agree to a certain extent.

Answer:
 I have talked to this lady on a couple different occassions, very sweet and knowledgable.
There is alot of what she says i agree with, and things i see a tad differently...but none the less VERY informative.
Well when a dog gets to a certain age i can imagine one just enjoys the time they have instead of counting incessantly...especially if they are just a beloved pet. But then again i could be wrong.
Great article thanks for sharing
Sarah

Answer:
 I enjoyed the article and can agree to many of the points. Thanks so much for this post.

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 Excellent post. I agree with a lot said. Definately something worth reading.

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 It is a different way to look at breeding,since most breeders are hurrying to breed right at two...

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 Obviously, I am no breeder. I know collie breeders who start the males young... really young (12 months) and these are also the ones who aren't even bothering to OFA their dogs. I also see my girl now at almost 4 years old. She is in excellent health. I still can't imagine asking her to produce a litter at this age. Not that she's physically possible, but theoretically. Maybe at 3, but she deserves to just be a dog. I understand not breeding too early, but what about too late?
Of course, I will never breed any dog, so I suppose it doesn't matter. Just a thought on it.

Answer:
 Interesting read. I do understand the points that the author is making but also wonder when is too late. The diligence that the father showed in breeding is to be applauded, and I do understand the farmer's way of 'sorting out the herd'. I, myself, would not consider breeding a 5 or 6 year old bitch based upon the longevity of the breed.