Among the Spitz dog family (which also contains Alaskan Malamute and the Samoyed), the Pomeranian is the smallest. It shares a striking facial resemblance with the fox, abundantly furnished with a double coat. The Pomeranian’s frill varies in markings and patterns, with the coat color coming in up to 12 variants. Red and orange are the predominant coat colors. Altogether, the Pomeranian has a lovable personality, with remarkable intelligence and loyalty.
Going by breeding recommendation by the American Kennel Club’s (AKC), your male Pomeranian should be minimum 7 months of age and the female 8 months for them to be bred. Typically, the female Pomeranian attains sexual maturity within 6-9 months of age. It is advisable to wait until your female Pomeranian is at least 2 years old and it would be better to wait until your male Pomeranian is minimum 12 months old.
Are you curious about the best age to breed your new Pomeranian? Is your male or female Pomeranian desperately humping all the stuff in your home, getting you worried if it is ripe for mating? 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.
The Best Age to Breed a New Pomeranian (Male and Female)
The American Kennel Club (AKC), in its breeding guidelines, recommends that you should only mate a male Pomeranian that is at least 7 months old. Equally, a female Pomeranian shouldn’t be mated if it is below 8 months of age.
Why This Age is Best?
This age is justified because the male and female Pomeranians are healthiest and more sexually befitting for mating. Precisely, your female Pomeranian would have gotten reasonably sexually mature around 6-9 months of age. However, there have been curious cases where some female Pomeranians have gotten pregnant when barely 16 weeks old.
The male Pomeranian’s sperm should have gotten reasonably viable to successfully fertilize a female Pomeranian by 4-6 months.
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.
Things to Keep in Mind for Pomeranian Breeding/Mating
There are some critical considerations to make when breeding your Pomeranian. While you could mate your female Pomeranian even as early as 5 months, it is advisable to wait until your female Pomeranian is minimum 2 years old.
This is because mating the dog in its first heat cycle has significant health risks for both the puppies and the mother. Also, just like we said, your male Pomeranian should have been appreciably sexually mature by 4-6 months.
However, it would be better to wait until your male Pomeranian is at least 12 months old. By this time, the potency of the male Pomeranian should be at its peak.
Additionally, you should be mindful of weight when mating your male and female Pomeranian. Your male Pomeranian should never be bigger than the female it is mating, although the female could be bigger. Nonetheless, the weight margin between the mating male and female Pomeranian should never exceed 3 lbs.
If by 7-8 months, your female Pomeranian hasn’t put on reasonable weight, it suits you better to give it more time. Basically, the AKC breed standard recommends that your Pomeranians should be within the 3-7 lbs range before mating. This is paramount to producing healthy litters.
Also, how healthy are the mating Pomeranians? We fervently advise that you physically examine the female and male Pomeranians (say with a vet) for diseases before mating. Should you discover that any of them has hereditary conditions, never breed them.
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?
The frequency of breeding primarily determines the litter capacity. In 12 months, you should have around 1-2 litters. However, American Kennel Club’s litter registration regulations state that you can’t register more than 4 litters for each female Pomeranian.
How Long are Pomeranians Pregnant for?
Averagely, your Pomeranian’ pregnancy should last for 63 days.