Disclaimer:

Disclaimer: If you are easily offended by sheer honesty, or you think me having my own opinions is "being negative", then this is not the place for you, and I suggest you leave and head elsewhere. I call a spade a spade, and I don't sugarcoat anything.

Breeding Chihuahuas

All the time, I am getting new clients who want to breed chihuahuas. While breeding a dog can sound fun at first, smaller dogs, especially chihuahuas, are quite a challenge to breed. No doubt there is an endless supply of colors to tickle every fancy, this isn't the first thing you should consider when breeding. When you breed a dog, it should be for the love of the breed. I hear people say a lot "I think it will be a good experience for my children." or "I want to do it so I can give my (family member) one of the pups" or "I want to experience it one time, then I'll get the dog spayed". Phooey! Though I really do not feel showing a dog is what makes a breeder a good breeder, it simply proves that the dog the breeder owns is worthy of passing on it's genes. Though every dog (even the best show dog) has some faults, a show dog will have few faults. Pet dogs, however, are not meant to be bred. So many people are trying to cheat the system by buying pet-quality dogs for the cheapest price from breeders who say they do not give papers to people that purchase pet-quality dogs unless they prove the dog has been spayed or neutered and re-registering the dog with a novice registry, like the Continental Kennel Club.

The real question is: Why do you want to breed your chihuahua? Before you answer that question, there are a few things to consider about breeding your chihuahua. Chihuahuas are small dogs, usually with big heads. This can cause problems with breeding. Chihuahuas are famous for having to have c-sections.

C-sections are NOT cheap, either! And sometimes, after a sedated dog wakes up from the operation, it will not take to the puppy. Sometimes, it will even kill or eat the puppy. Also, a tiny female may die from carrying too many pups, or she may not carry the pups to full term. I had one female that delivered her puppy a week too early, after another one was rejected by her body. This was not a pretty sight!

Since chihuahuas are small, they may also lose a lot of calcium during pregnancy, and also during nursing. Since milk production takes up a lot of calcium in the body, chihuahuas are common victims of calcium deficiency, known as eclampsia. If you have a nursing chihuahua, watch for nervous panting, possibly vomiting, jerky eye movements, head ticking and twitching, muscle spasms, and eventually seizures. However, you would want to get your chihuahua to a vet BEFORE the seizures begin, because by that time, it is too late. The vet will usually give a shot of calcium with vitamin D (pretty much the same formula found in our grocery-brand whole milk) to fix the problem. Now, I am not saying you should give the dog milk as a cure for eclampsia. The cure MUST be administered through shots which only a vet can give. Oral fixes will NOT work.

Fading puppy syndrome is another problem in breeding. A puppy may look healthy and feeding normally, and then one day it'll stop eating, and just lay off in a corner yelping constantly. No one really knows why this happens, but it has been suggested it is caused by lactose intolerance. I have noticed myself a puppy with this problem will have diarrhea before it hits. Some people try to save the puppy by tube-feeding it, but this doesn't always work, and a puppy's esophagus could be damaged by someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Not only that, but there is also a real danger of choking. It takes a lot to raise a puppy by hand, they must be fed every 2 hours, just like they would be with the mother. I personally feel that if a puppy dies then it was meant to be. One cannot argue the LORD's word in this matter.

This is not put here to completely discourage people from breeding. If you feel you can handle all angles of the responsibilities, then by all means breed your chihuahua. But if you cannot, get your dog spayed or neutered and just enjoy that sweet little lap dog you bought.

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