What breeders have said litter sizes are getting smaller?
by
I'm curious because all the litter posts on the L recently seem to be healthy size litters. I've read that the average size Akita litter is 5-7. There are some smaller; there are some larger. One breeder last year had two bitches give birth near the same time. One litter was 4 but the other was was 15. There's an "average" of nearly 10.
There are so many variables you could take into consideration when using litter size as a marker of declining fertility. I'm not convinced there is a decrease in litter size.
And I'm not a genetics expert by any means and definitely need to do some reading on the subject. But I think Cyndi completely hit the nail on the head when she said that BYBs do not do or care about proper health clearances and testing, and do not even know what they are.
Of course it is not good for the genes to have a purebred dog! It is an artifical restriction we put on as dog breeders/owners/lovers because we want to preserve a group of physical, mental, and temperamental characteristics. IMO, only people who truly understand what the breed is supposed to be, and who understand how genetics plays a part in this have any business breeding.
Okay, I've got to go to work now. So I may add more later
-------- Bitches In Britches....because hey, it's better to wear pants than not
