For those that have had early litters born, please could you answer the following questions about your bitch :-

Just as a matter of interest, how many days from first and second matings did she go in the end?

Also, did you progesterone test the bitch?  (so that you knew the EXACT day of ovulation?)

Did she look large early on?  And was it her first litter?

...lots of questions, but thought it would be useful for information purposes for all of us.  Thx.

I have edited this post so the question is more general rather than directed at just one member as I'm sure there is more than one poster who can give information which may be useful for future reference.

Thanks, although I was most interested in the recent one by Lucysmith, as it was not only early but a huge litter (which is presumably why it was so early). 

It would be interesting to see others specific information though.

Hi Km mist was progesterone tested because she missed last time she had pups on day 61 of 1st mateing and 57 from last she had 9 pups and was massive early around 4weeks she had a big solid belly but because wek new the date of ovulation she was right to the day of the so by ovulation she went 63days from that :)
her sister had a litter 10months ago only 3 pups born she didnt look very big but had a furm belly and had the day 58 from 1st mateing and day 56 from 2nd we didnt progest with her so maybe she had ovulated earlyer and we only just caught her in time plus pups were very big and had fur so i wouldnt say they were early.
xxxx

Hi Kennelmaid , Piper had her puppies 55 days from mating , she was only mated once. I did not progesterone test , i relied on my very experienced stud (not used on Piper) to tell me when she was ready , we only went to the stud once as it was a very long journey and i did not want to leave her there.
This was her first litter and she was definitely showing from 4 weeks , her teats were already very prominent at 4 weeks , she was absolutely huge by 7 weeks and very very uncomfortable. HTH x

Hi Km, My girl had her litter of 8 puppies 7 days early last litter, they were all quite small in size, the biggest being 13.5oz when they should be at least 1lb at birth. She was progesterone tested and mated at day 18, only 1 mating as she wouldnt mate the other times we tried. She didnt show until around 6 weeks.
This time she was progesterone tested again, mated day 15 and 17 is now on day 38 from 1st mating and day 36 from second. She has been scanned and vets confirmed at least 8 puppies but told me to expect 10/11, she was showing at 4 weeks, quite a lot and now at 5.5 weeks she is massive. When laid on her side her ribs and tummy are bulging up!! Im expecting her togo early again, a little worried actually!

Another question, those of you that have had their girls whelp early, if they have had another litter since, did they whelp early again. Im just wondering whether its just one of those things or if its common for certain bitches to go into early labour more than once??

Amy

Thanks guys, really informative thread, and it will be interesting what others experiences are of 'early' whelpings and also their relation to litter size.  And even more useful, when it can be shown against progesterone testing to give exact results.

My bitch is only about 30 days in now, so a bit early to tell, although I have my suspicions.  I have progesterone tested too, so I will update the thread with whelping date (if it happens!) and how many days she went hopefully in due course....

I always count my due dates 9 weeks from the first mating, I have had from one mating to matings over a five day spread.

All my bitches have gone before or on the first due date except one who had just one mating (split season made me think she was further on than she was and pregnancy diagnosis showed her not to be as far along as the mating day suggested), who was 4 days late to the mating with a smallish litter.

The only one I had progesterone tested was finally mated once 3 days after ovulation (as determined by premate test kit not quantative lab testing), and whelped 4 days early.

The earliest was 5 days before due date.

I tend to find with second or third litter they go longer than with the first.

My girl had her litter 8/9 days early.(day 54 from mating). large litter, progesterone tested, one tie, did not look pregnant, took BOB & Gundog G1 at nearly 5weeks into whelp, 1st litter.  pups were slightly smaller due to size of litter, but by 8weeks were pretty much up to size expected for age

> but thought it would be useful for information purposes for all of us

I honestly don't think that you are going to find a "one size fits all" answer to your question - or is it a theory?  Because I've had a bitch absolutely HUMUNGOUS at 5 weeks, with far more pups than the norm for the breed.  She was only 2 days early. 

I've had a "normal" size litter of 2 pups, which looked like only one until the day before whelping - when you saw the second pup move down from under the rib cage at the last minute.  And she was a full week early.  I don't believe it will be useful in proving or disproving anything.

> I honestly don't think that you are going to find a "one size fits all" answer to your question - or is it a theory? 

Jean - that wasn't the purpose of the initial post at all!  If you look, a moderator has heavily edited/changed my original post, which was really directed solely at Lucywhite, to make it more 'generic'!  which doesn't really work.

My initial interest was in Lucy's information, because her litter was so early and so large, and I wondered whether she had progesterone tested, which then might have shed some light on this.  ie. if she mated 3-4 days after ovulation, but was counting from matings then that would mean that her litter wasn't quite so 'early'.  And also, I presume having such a large litter did probably bring the bitch on as the womb must have been very overcrowded.

So, no grand theories, other than the fact that large litters possibly come a bit early, and that mating dates don't give a complete indication of whelp dates...

> If you look, a moderator has heavily edited/changed my original post, which was really directed solely at Lucywhite, to make it more 'generic'! which doesn't really work.

I'm sorry but it does work - the subject of early whelping frequently crops up in threads so it makes perfect sense for the discussion to be widened out and not directed at only one member (a PM might have been better if you only wanted a reply from Lucy)