Best Age to Breed a New Pomeranian (Explained)

For both male and female Pomeranians, the best breeding age is between 1 and 4 years old. Pomeranians reach full physical maturity at 1 to 4 years old, key to their best health and readiness to breed.

In this guide, we will emphatically explore the most suitable age for breeding Pomeranians and the major considerations to make before and after mating. We will go as far as exploring the heat cycle of the female Pomeranian.

Best Age to Breed a New Pomeranian (Male and Female)

Best Age To Breed A Female Pomeranian

The prime breeding age for a female Pomeranian is between 1 to 4 years old, aligning with their full physical maturity.

• Breeding a female Pomeranian before 1 year old can jeopardize her health and increase risks to the puppies.
• As a general rule, avoid breeding a female Pomeranian past 5 years old, as their reproductive capabilities start to decline after 6 years old.

Best Age To Breed A Male Pomeranian

Male Pomeranians reach sexual maturity faster than females, sometimes as early as 4 months old.

The optimal breeding age for male Pomeranians, similar to females, is from 1 to 4 years old.

Breeding at this age ensures the male is fully mature and capable of siring healthy puppies.

• Highest sperm quality and fertility rates.
• Male Pomeranians can continue breeding for up to 5-6 years, although litter sizes may decline.
• It’s advisable to avoid breeding male Pomeranians over 7 years old due to potential health risks and reduced fertility.

Why Is This The Best Breeding Age For Pomeranians?

Healthiest Pregnancies & Litters

Pomeranian growth plates do not fully harden until they are 12-15 months old. Becoming pregnant too early can stress their developing bones and organs.

Waiting until full maturity allows the safest pregnancy by avoiding:

• Early pregnancy can lead to stunted growth due to the diversion of nutrients to the fetus rather than the mother’s development.
• There is a higher risk of life-threatening complications such as eclampsia in early pregnancies.
• Smaller litter sizes and higher pup mortality rates.

The age range of 1-4 years old for Pomeranians aligns with the peak development of muscles, bones, organs, and the pelvis.

Pomeranians have the best odds of smooth pregnancies and surviving labor when pregnancy is delayed until they reach full physical maturity.

Maximize Fertility & Conception Rates

The sperm quality and motility of male Pomeranians peak between 1-4 years old, ensuring the best rates for successful mating and conception.

• Female Pomeranians ovulate more viable eggs during their reproductive prime of 1-4 years.
• Improves chances of fertilization and larger litter sizes.

Longest Active Reproductive Periods

Follow the 1-4-year guidelines, and your Pomeranian has years of safe, healthy reproductive capability ahead.

• Starting to breed too early can shorten your Pomeranian’s breeding lifespan.
• Each pregnancy taxes a Pomeranian mother’s body. Avoid further strain by not rushing litter before she reaches full maturity.
• Allowing a female Pomeranian to reach full maturity preserves her reproductive health, ensuring safe pregnancies for more years.

Understanding the Heat Cycle of Your Pomeranian

Commonly, your female Pomeranian would experience its heat cycle about 2-3 times annually. Within this span, you would notice an increased receptiveness (from her) to male dogs. The male Pomeranian doesn’t experience heat cycles. Once it is matured, your male Pomeranian can mate at any time of the year.

The female Pomeranian would experience the first heat and full heat. The first heat could come as early as when the dog is 5 months old, although the typical range is within 6-9 months of age. The signs for the first heat aren’t very prominent. But when your Pomeranian goes into full heat, the signs become very glary.

Signs of the Heat Cycle

When in its first heat, a keener inspection of your female Pomeranian will reveal that its mammary glands have gotten a bit bigger. The teats may darken a bit, with some swelling. You could also notice the vulva swelling a bit.

However, when your female Pomeranian enters its full heat, the signs become full-blown and apparent. At this point, there is significant hormonal fluctuation, and you would also notice sharp attitudinal and physical changes.

When in full heat, you will notice a keener instinct on your female Pomeranian to hump on other dogs or even hump your inanimate stuff in your home. Indeed, a female Pomeranian in full heat will display increased self-grooming where she avidly licks herself through the day.

Furthermore, you will notice that your female Pomeranian suddenly needs more attention or, on the other end, keeps away from you more. Female Pomeranians in full heat also display traits related to nesting, like hoarding food and toys.

More than the behavioral changes, there are other tell-tale signals of your female Pomeranian being in full heat. One of the most prominent is the significant enlargement of the vulva. In some cases, the vulva can get 3x bigger than normal.

There could also be notable enlargements in its breasts and teats. More distinctly, you will notice that your Pomeranian is having discharges that tend to change from red to pink with the progression of the heat cycle.

How Long is a Pomeranian in Heat?

You can expect your female Pomeranian’s heat cycle to last averagely 21 days.

Choosing the Best Mating Day

It is not ideal to mate the female Pomeranian as early as its first heat cycle due to health concerns. The best mating (where she is most likely to take in and also put up minimal resistance to mating) is in the full heat. When you notice intense humping from her in its full heat, then you may introduce a male Pomeranian.

You can measure her level of receptiveness from her tail. She will flag it when she is prepared to be mounted. Ensure you don’t force her to mate if she isn’t interested in the mating partner, as this could stress her.

Yes, your male Pomeranian is ever ready to mate the female almost every day consecutively, but this is discouraged. Sustained mating within a very short span causes a substantial reduction in the male’s sperm viability. This means the chances of impregnating the female become lesser.

How To Breed Your Pomeranians?

Breeding Pomeranians takes careful planning and preparation to set your dogs up for a successful mating and pregnancy.

Select a Mature, Healthy Breeding Pair

The first step is choosing an optimal breeding pair:

• Choose a female Pomeranian who is older than 1 year and younger than 5 years for optimal fertility.
• Select a 1-4-year-old male Pomeranian with robust sperm motility.
• Ensure both dogs are in excellent health by passing veterinary checks, clearing genetic testing, and confirming sound physical structure and strong lineage.
• Consider choosing dogs with complementary attributes to improve the overall quality of the breed.

Begin the breeding process with Pomeranians that meet both age and health standards to maximize the chances of successful conception.

Track Your Female’s Heat Cycle

A female Pom goes into heat every 5-11 months. Tracking her cycle timeline is crucial for identifying peak fertility days for breeding.

Mark the calendar to track discharge changes and plan mating during the estrus phase for the highest chance of conception success.

Prepare The Mating Environment

Set your Pomeranians up in a secure, dedicated breeding area:

• Quiet, separate room
• Comfortable, slip-proof flooring
• Water, toys/treats

Listen and watch the breeding process discreetly to ensure everything goes smoothly.

A focused, low-stress area avoids territorial disputes and supports natural breeding instinct.

Introduce Your Pomeranians

• Bring the unfixed female to the male’s environment first to avoid triggering male territorial aggression.
• Allow short, supervised meetups – 15 minutes max.
• Monitor their interactions closely and separate them if you notice concerning behavior. Avoid forcing mating.
• Offer praise and treats for positive interactions.

Meet on neutral ground first if the male also exhibits aggression in his own area.

Look For Mating Ties & Increase Chances

• Pomeranians mate every 2-5 days in heat
• Watch for a ‘tie,’ which is when they are stuck together after mating, as it signals a likely conception.
• After the first tie occurs, allow future ties, as this increases the odds of a higher sperm count.

Multiple ties improve the chances of successful impregnation!

How to Take Care of Your Pregnant Pomeranian?

Diet

For the first 4 weeks of your Pomeranian’s pregnancy, she needs a consistent supply of nourishing food. For this span, your female Pomeranian can do without extra supplementation like vitamins. By the fifth week of her pregnancy, you should be integrating more puppy foods (of premium quality) into her diet.

For this early part of this 5th week of pregnancy, you need to ramp up her regular food intake by an extra 25%. Going into the 6th week, you will have to scale up her food intake by another 25%.

Accordingly, this should continue incrementally to the 7th of pregnancy. By the 7th week, her food intake should have increased by 75% compared to her 4th of pregnancy.

By this time, it becomes helpful to supplement your pregnant Pomeranian’s diet with vitamins. This is even more crucial when the puppy food you swapped to (in the latter phase of the pregnancy) was nutritiously deficient.

Exercise

A pregnant Pomeranian needs a healthy exercise regimen to keep it healthy and prevent it from getting overweight. Being fit is crucial to your Pomeranian delivering healthy babies. Additionally, such fitness helps her attain the best condition for the trauma that comes with labor and producing her pups.

Given the need for minimal exertions in this pregnancy stage, it is best to walk your Pomeranian across short distances. Short walks in the day would do as longer distances could make her more prone to stress and heat.

When you are not walking your pregnant Pomeranian, she should be amply supplied with a range of toys. Being able to rotate these toys entertains her sustainably, without getting bored when awake.

Health

It is highly discouraged to vaccinate your pregnant Pomeranian. We have seen many unfortunate scenarios where specific shots inadvertently resulted in abortion in the Pomeranian. Nonetheless, it is essential to vaccinate your Pomeranian just before delivery. You would want the vaccination’s insurance to be adequately passed on to the pup via the conduit of breastfeeding.

Your pregnant Pomeranian should be generally healthy; however, some signals suggest things going badly with the pregnancy. Therefore, you should call your vet if you notice that your Pomeranian’s pregnancy is lasting well over 65 days.

If you notice acute whimpering from your Pomeranian (even accompanied by vomiting) when it has not given birth, call your vet promptly. Also, in the delivery process, if you sense that your Pomeranian is pregnant with at least 2 pups and it has been more than 120 minutes since the first pup (and only one so far) has come out, you should call your vet immediately.

You can also ring your vet if you notice sharp temperature increase from your Pomeranian, or if she starts discharging green fluids with sharp pungent odor before delivery.

After childbirth, it is normal for your Pomeranian to bleed slightly or even experience discharges after delivery. Nonetheless, this should gradually phase off as time passes. But if you notice that the bleeding is worsening by the day, or the mothering Pomeranian has a fever, you should call your vet.

Sleep

A pregnant Pomeranian is understandably not as active as it is before pregnancy. If you are not dedicated to exercising or stimulating it, a pregnant Pomeranian can sleep up to 20 hours daily.

How Many Puppies Do Pomeranians Usually Have?

Pom litters often range between 1-7 puppies.

Typical Pomeranian Litter Sizes

While individual litters can vary, most Pom litters contain about 3-5 puppies on average.

Smaller litters, typically just 1-3 pups, are also common for Pomeranians due to their small size. A tiny litter is not unusual, so there’s no need for concern.

Litter sizes tend to decrease as Pomeranian mothers age. Beyond 5 years old, the average litter size is 2-3 pups, and for mothers over 7 years old, it’s typically just 1 pup.

With clear health screenings and breeding at ideal ages, you can expect your Pomeranian pair to have around 5 puppies on average.

What Impacts Pomeranian Litter Size?

Several influencing factors cause litter size fluctuations:

• Mom’s Age – Fertility and the number of viable eggs decline as dams age.
• Male’s Sperm Count – Low counts mean fewer embryos implant.
• Genetics – Some Pomeranian lines bear more offspring.
• Health History – Illness or deficiencies can limit litter sizes.
• Timing of Breeding – Optimal estrus days boosts conception odds

How Long are Pomeranians Pregnant for?

Averagely, your Pomeranian’ pregnancy should last for 63 days.

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