My dog has had two very successful litters of eight and nine pups. The last litter however, she only had two, one of which survived. I blamed it on the fact that her heat cycle was three weeks early, and we were moving during this time. I suspected the stress caused it. I consulted with my vet, and he agreed. After a good examination, he said she should be fine, and also blamed it on the stress of the move.

Then this litter.....she had almost three hours of hard pushing and finally had a breech pup who surprisingly lived. About two hours after that, she pushed out afterbirth (about the size of a small basketball) with what looked like regurgetated (sp?) food in it and no more pups after this. What would all this mean? Is two large litters a lot for a dog? I'm not justifying it at all, and do NOT believe in it, so please don't get me wrong........but I know several people who breed their dogs non stop with large litters and no problems, why??  Any insight would be appreciated. (I plan on consulting with my vet on Monday and most likely making an appointment to get her fixed.)

personnally, i wouldnt have more than 3 litters from a bitch anyway.

I'm taking it that you bred her first at around 2 years old - correct?  Then the next litter one year later at 3?  Then the third at 4?

So she would be around 5 years of age ...not too old - but personally, I would never have more than two litters, and I would leave 2 years between each litter .

The large litters may have caused some uterine inertia - but I would agree - she has been through enough - get her spayed and then she can settle down nicely.

Correct, she was first bred at age 2 and bred two heat cycles after that. She comes into heat about every 5 months, so her second litter was just shy of 3 years. Her third litter was shy of four years and after having an unusual litter that time, we waited three cycles to try again. She is now shy of 5 years. I planned on this being her last litter, but am questioning getting her spayed. She is a working dog and I've been told by others that once fixed, she may "fill out" and not be able to work anymore. I have no problem with retiring her, however she loves to work, so if I leave her at home, she will be heart broken, and if I take her with, I don't want her to over do herself, being out of shape. (When she is ready to whelp, I leave her home, and she looks at me like I've scolded her). I also know that an aging dog that is not spayed can have health risks. I'm just looking for opinions......anyone out there with a working dog that has been fixed?

All my bitches have eventually been spayed, either before they've had litters or after, and none of them have 'filled out' so they couldn't work - in fact our spayed labrador bitch was leaner than many entire ones!

My 10 year old Aussie bitch was spayed two years ago ...the only time she puts any weight on is when she sneakily manages to get into the feed bin and helps herself to an extra breakfast!

She still flies along the beach, can turn on a sixpence and keeps up all the time with our 10 month old lab puppy bitch ...apart from the fact that Loki doesn't "do" swimming - but she rushes up and down the beach when Dyssi is swimming, calling her to Come out of the Nasty Wet Stuff Right Now!!!

Slowing down and putting on weight will depend upon the temperament of your dog - Loki can go on and on all day with Dyssi.

I have working gundogs and we have had both spayed and castrated males.. no problems with weight gain, (you may have to adjust feeding regieme a little if you do se increased weight) drive or enthusiam for working. Most of the people we shoot with have spayed bitches as they don't want the hassle of them coming in season during the shooting season.  

K

With medium size breeds that have average litters most people would consider 3 litters more than enough, and four litters the maximum if litters were smaller than usual.

Certainly our breed club sets four litters as the maximum and few breeders have more than three litters from any bitch.

You should have been able to achieve your breeding goals from her by then.

Most breeders I know choose to spay their bitches after their last litter.

She's done more than her fair share of puppy rearing.  I don't see any reason not to spay.  It's automatic to reduce food slightly after the op, and I've found that most of mine have stayed pretty stable weight wise.

She shouldn't lose any enthusiasm for working, but will benefit from the ruling out of pyo as she gets older.

Speying would be the best option in my opinion. She has done enough puppy rearing, 4 litters seems a lot to me (especially when you say apart from the last there was only a 10 month break) , and it sounds like she would not be very likely to have another litter successfully anyway which would be another reason not to try.

I own 2 working bred dogs, one too old to work, the other had to have a knee op as a pup so never got the chance. Both are speyed, both are lean and fit. My youngster is very fit indeed and is like a bullet out of a gun. She didn't slow down at all and neither of them has had any of the fluffy coat, getting fat etc that people use as an excuse not to spey. I know of people who work dogs that are speyed and neutered so there is no reason why once she had recovered from her op that she couldn't be out working again. Speying would just stop her experiencing the mood changes that come with seasons, other than that there would be no change in character or drive.