Hi

My lovely girl is 4 years old and was mated on day 14 of her season, I had her scanned last week to see if there was any puppies but I was told there wasnt any but there was something in there she wasnt sure about and maybe she was absorbing. However this week she was still acting out of character just like she did last time she was pregnant so I took her back to be told there was a single puppy there and it was measuring 27/28 days. However she was mated 38 days ago !!!!!!!!

Today I had another scan done by a lady who is a sheep scanner and i believe to be reliable. She confirmed she is definately in whelp with one puppy and the puppy is 28 days, she had a good look and said puppy appeared normal and healthy just as it should for 28 days! She believes my girl must have ovulated at the very end of her season and somehow there must have been a viable sperm still swimming around ! Last time she had a litter ( 2 years ago) she was mated on days 11 and 13 and produced 10 puppies !!

i was just wondering if anyone had heard of this happening so late before

Thank you xx

Two of my bitches didnt read the books and ovulated right at the end of the season on day 19 and just almost as I'd given up hope, we managed to get a litter from both of them.  :)

They certainly like to give us grey hairs and keep us waiting :) 

a girl i had here ovulated day 27 and had a litter of 8
xx

Thank you for replying :)

I have spoken to the stud dog owner tonight as she said she had several girls come to her over recent months ovulating late. 1 whos owner is a vet was doing ovulation tests on her and she ovulated day 33 and produced 5 puppies, and another who mated her dog on days 12 & 14 and noticed her standing and her own dog showing interest on day 27 so she went back for another mating and she had 8 puppies too !

What im baffled about though is how she can fall 10 days after her mating ! has anyone heard of a dog falling so late after mating. I didnt think sperm could survive that long but 1 little swimmer did !

xx

no but now your proof it can happen ;) i know of 1 that was 1week but was always told no they only live 5 days at the most! well i will be showing them this post lol ;) all the best xx

Aww thank you !

Same as my stud dog owner ! Shes a long standing breeder/show judge etc for nearly 40 years and shes never heard of it either ! Makes me wonder as she had a split season last time, we still mated but no puppies, she had a normal season this time but its almost as if her ovulation times have really shifted ! Her mother has only had 1 litter and has missed every mating since ! So has her sister so it could be that their pattern changes and we are obviously mating too early !

This puppy is almost like a miracle conception ! xx

maybe its the pup youve been waiting for! :) now wouldnt that be good! to only get the pup you wanted and not having to rear a hole litter with all the worry (not saying your not going to worry about 1 lol)!! xx

Last year my bitch as mated days 27 through to 31, or was it 32 ... 6 puppies! They haven't all read the books! :-)

There is another poster where this happened recently with a St Bernard.  If I remember right this bitch whelped very late after being pronounced empty.

oh really ! I will have a look back for that one ! At least I now know she must ovulate later ! I thought if she missed twice then I wasnt going to try again, it would have been a shame because she was a fantastic mum last time ! But now I dont know !

Amazing how the sperm lasted for so long ! Now on to my next 'worry' will my lovely girl be ok having 1 singleton !!!!! x

These girls like to keep us on our toes! 

We've had the opposite problem though, did an Idexx test on day 5 (thinking it would be the first of a few) and the reading was 60.7 nmol/L.  Only did the test because prospective Mum is a flirt, stands and entices from day 1 of her season and for about 25 days after the start and we didn't want a wasted trip to stud.

Bloods were held up due to the snow so by the morning of day 8 and with no results back I took her to stud.  We had a willing, happy and normal mating.  When I got home, the results were on the answer machine with Idexx saying it was too late for her to be fertile.

This is day 36 now, scanned and no puppies seen on the scan.  Very disappointed but I guess not surprised.

oh no Chris ! Sorry to hear that ! What a shame ! :(

I will definately use ovulation tests next time, I obviously got it right the 1st time to produce 10 puppies, but it may explain why she missed last time she was mated we was obviously doing it too early ! I had the swab tests done last time and i just kept getting told she was stagnating ! I 1st took her on day 5 and was told they were starting to cornify and after going backward and forwards they were still the same so i spoke to stud dog owner who said just bring her anyway so i went on day 13 but no puppies !

Its amazing because if there hadnt been this one puppy in the scan yesterday I would have never known how her cycle was going, I had said I wasnt doing it again if she didnt fall as it wasnt fair on her because she is very broody ! But now I know is she I will do the ovulation blood tests and probably try one last time ! Fancy 1 little swimmer surviving for 10 days ! xx