Multiple Dogs

yeah, female cycles are rather predictable and you should be able to spot the signs long before the female becomes fertile. However, keep in mind your "separation" during this time has to be very secure. Male dogs have been known to go through walls and break out of crates to get to the female. If I were in that situation I'd board the male(s) out during the time the female(s) were in heat.
But to be a breeder you don't have to have both males and females on the premises.  My "fav" breeder keeps only females and pays for stud service from carefully selected champion males.

Here's the little caveat that I give everybody who is interested in getting into showing/breeding dogs. After you have lived with your first dog for a while, and before you get your second, decide what is the maximum number you can care for and have time for. Then take the maxiumum average lifespan of your breed. I have Samoyeds who's lifespan, barring accidents and disease, can be expected to be 13 years. My ideal number of dogs is three. I could do four probably, but my DH is not fond of the idea. So to keep active in the breed and not go over my limit, I would take the lifespan (13) and divide by the max number of dogs I want (3). It comes out to about four years. So I need to space my new puppies roughly four years apart. Then at any given time I will have a geriatric dog, a middle aged dog who can hopefully still do obedience/agility, and a young dog to show in conformation and breed. Right now I have a 10 year old girl, her 7 year old son, and a 7 month old puppy.
 
I've known people who fell into the trap of getting their dogs too close together. Say they get their first puppy who ends up finishing her championship at a young age, 18 months maybe. She's either not mature enough or not quite the quality to show as a special (competing for breed and group wins, which is a whole new level). But they have fallen in love with the breed and showing, so they get a new puppy right away so they have someone to show. And so on for various reasons. Then they end up with a bunch of older dogs all at the same time. Dogs who are too old to show or breed. And no room for a new puppy. The people I am thinking of had a 13 year old, an 11 yo, 10 yo, 8 yo, and 7 yo. They reached the maximum number of dogs they could handle (more really) and had to go many years before they could get a new puppy to show.

Male dogs have been known to go through walls and break out of crates to get to the female.

I met one woman with an intact pair of Basenjis.  She would crate both dogs when the female was in heat, but the female was double crated (crate within a crate).  The male had to get thru 3 wire crates to get to the female, but the woman still worried.  [8D]

I have 5 dogs now, all are inside/outside dogs....but, when I was breeding Huskies, all were kept outside for obvious reasons......the coat development.

You've got alot of questions and I think Gina gave some great answers.  I'll add just a little to the mix here.

Depending upon your breed, you'll want to keep them crated and have organized outside/inside/loose time.  Why?  Because if you have 3 dogs or more, that's more than enough for alliances to develop.  (Dogs A and B get along great but Dog C is feeling too big for his oats.  Bitches D and E want to kill bitch F because she gets too much attention.) 

In my breed, it is typical for dogs to get along but bitches to gang fight.  Even the very sight of the hated other is enough to throw the bitch into a rage.  When one fights, the losing member of the fight becomes prey, not pack.  You think two bitches fighting is ugly?  Wait until you see 3 or 4 or 5 jump on one that's already wounded. 

With Shibas, they have such a high prey drive that they're probably kept seperate for a reason.  It's not uncommon for a high prey drive dog to attack a wounded one in order to drive it away from the pack or to kill it.  (In the wild weak and wounded members spells death for the pack.)

As far as intact bitches go, during estrus they can become quite moody and intolerant of other dogs or bitches.  Imagine having 5 bitches that don't want anyone to sniff them, walk by them, look at them, stand near them, breathe on them...sometimes those transgressions are met with violence. 

I'm not trying to scare you but I'm trying to give you a realistic picture of what it's like to have a home/kennel.  It requires alot of management-alot more than one normally considers.

I contacted the breeder I will be buying my first show dog from to ask her these questions. Also, I am very aware of shiba temperments, but as I said before, I don't plan on breeding shibas. I've also decided to stick with 2-3 intact dogs and possibly a few neutered ones (I have two neutered ones now, so they'll be around for a while). I will just have to wait and see how these things go and get more feedback from those involved in the breed I'm interested in.

My goal isn't to have a big breeding operation so much as to have pets that I compete with and breed, so I'm going to stick with however small a number I can do that with.

Samshine, thanks for the tip! A new puppy every 4-5 years sounds good to me.

ETA:

Thank you SO MUCH everyone for your responses. This is very helpful to me!

I emailed the breeder I may be getting my next dog from and asked this question and she said this:

""If Shikoku's grow up with other dogs they are fine with other dogs. I have

three females running together. First I got Retsu from Japan, she was 5

years old when I got her. Then I bought Sachi from Japan, she was three

months old and Retsu adopted her and runs with her together from that time

on. Retsu is not a dominant dog and Sachi became the alpha dog. Sachi had a

litter last October and her daughter is running with Retsu and Sachi. If you

would have two females (maybe mother and daughter) and on male that would

work. Mike and Yana run together and Mura and her daughter Kimi run

together. Mike could also run with Mura but I have not tried Mura, Mike and

Kimi but I'll try that next week. I will start letting them together with a

muzzle on and supervise them because over all the dogs I'M THE ALPHA DOG." "



Sounds like my goal of 2-3 intact dogs would work out fine. I wrote the breeder of kai ken asking the same question, since I'll be getting a kai ken and a shikoku in the next few years and then probably breeding shikokus, or maybe shikoku and kai ken... anyway... I'm pretty excited!