Female Dog Heat Cycle

Well my opinion is that she should be spayed. Female dogs that are spayed are less likely to get cancers then intact females. If she's outside she's in danger of becoming pregnant anyhow. If she can get the diapers off there really isn't anything you can do. As for grooming it depends on the groomer whether they'll take a dog in heat or not. She really needs to be inside and not allowed out unsupervised.

Remember that if you're going to breed her that it WILL cost you money. You'll have numerous vet visits and probably x-rays. Shi-tzus are small dogs and often need C-sections which are costly and dangerous I've personally been there when 2 different small dogs died during them. Pups don't always survive a c-section either because of the medications used. Small dogs have problems whelping if the puppies heads are too big.

You'll need a whelping box so that she doesn't suffocate the puppies after they are born. You'll most likely have to be up every two hours checking on them and mom. She may or may not nurse well, if she doesn't you'll have to bottle feed up to 6 puppies which is VERY time consuming and expensive. Puppy formula is a PITA.

Then IF all the puppies survive which I would say isn't that common, most litters lose at least one pup they'll need to be seen by a vet at least once before you sell them.

In all reality you'll be lucky if you break even on cost. Breeding for fun IS NOT something that will make you money. It's not good for your dog really. The more heat cycles she has the more likely the cancers are.

As someone who has volunteered at a shelter and had to see beautiful innocent babies die because of irresponsible and unnecessary breeding(and yes, even pure bred,popular breeds) I will say I agree with Mel...have her spayed. If the inconvenience and mess of , and keeping her groomed is an issue then you should not even be considering breeding! Breeding is expensive, dangerous and messy, and unless you have a top notch dog that is going to pass on the best genes to improve the breed as a whole there is NO reason to breed.

ya I never even thought of that. If a little blood now bothers you wait til she whelps. Just think about how messy have a baby is and multiply it by 5 or 6 times. Sometimes you have to physically suck mucus out of their mouths too. Yummy