That maybe a litter or two a year?
I think that all depends on how many dogs you're working with. I would say one litter per year per female is pretty responsible breeding. But it's possible, with enough dogs in your program, to have your program planned as much as 2 years in advance. If you have a female, for example, you may want to match her to 3 different males to introduce her genes to a broad spectrum of your program--this spring, next spring, spring after that. If a the first litter shows up some great dogs by age 2, you may want to repeat that breeding, which puts you out a third year.
I've read about kennels in some of the huntin fancies with 20 plus females in a breeding program. Just because a dog's in a breeding program doesn't mean it lives with the breeder. I've read that it's not uncommon for a breeder to agree to co-owning dogs that they've picked as a potential for their program, under the condition that if/when the dog's bred it's at their sole discretion, to a mate the breeder alone determines and females may come back to the breeder for the duration of the pregnancy and stay until her pups are ready to go home. Or perhaps comes to them for the breeding, but is allowed to gestate, deliver and raise at home, with the breeder visiting regularly. Usually, pups are the breeder's to determine homes for--I haven't really read about joint decisions, but I suppose they're out there. Pups apparently stay with mom till they're weaned, go to the breeder for a couple of weeks for intensive socialization and evaluation (some hunting breeds even a little initial bird training), and then go to their permanent homes.
I'm just saying these are some of the things I've read that are done in some cases by some breeders. I'm not advocating it as the way it should be done; but I don't see that it's a bad way to do it, especially if you're working with a new breed like the AM and are trying to a--control your lines; b--manage your data and c--provide people with well bred, healthy puppies.
I totally understand that it's a HUGE heads up when someone always has puppies on the ground, and I would be doing a lot of background checking if I discovered a breeder I was interested in did always have pups. I'd want to talk to an awful lot of people as to what was going on--I would never take someone's word on it. I'd want to talk to every person who had a dog in the person's breeding program, and see evidence that this is what was actually happening--that's why I won't ever buy a dog without visiting the breeder regularly over the course of a number of months. However, this kind of arrangement does go on, and it means that there ARE a very, very few breeders who have pups almost all the time who aren't actually puppy milling BYBs.
99.9 percent of them are PM/BYB's, though. Which is why you can't trust anyone.
All this is why I'm finding it's such a long process to research a breed, research the fancy, research a breeder...
Lately, I'm thinking I'll never know enough to buy a puppy. I'm thinking that I'll just stick with the biggest dog at the animal shelter that 'calls' to me.
That's if I ever find a place where I can have a dog at all. I went and looked at a place this weekend, and it was just too sketchy for words. If I'd moved there, I'd have had to get a trained cockroach hunter!