i was hoping a few people could but my mind at rest. i have a medium sized bitch i was planning to breed at her next season, in about 4 months time, it will be her first (and last) litter. she was sold to me on breeding terms and to fulfill this the breeder requires 2nd pick of pups, i will have first. i am not a breeder as such, this will be my third litter in 30 years. one thing bothering me is the drive on this bitch is very high. she is one of them dogs that lives to work and loves nothing more than scent work, tracking and she has the highest ball drive i have ever seen on a dog. she is excercised for 2 hours a day which involves a mixture of lead, off lead and ball work/retrieval. she is in fantastic athletic condition. one thing bothering me is that she tears around when off lead, jumping ditches, streams, fallen trees ect and when chasing her ball jumps and often twists in mid air etc. even when following a scent often runs and turns so fast she falls over slides etc. i realise she will not be able to continue this behaviour when full of pups.

my concern is she may suffer from the lack of hard excercising. no amount of gentle lead walks can make up for her running at least 10-15 miles a day after a ball or scent rag. but of course my concern will have to be for her and the pups health and wellbeing. i am also reading conflicitng information as to when the rough work should end. i have countless books/websites and some state after mating rough play and strenuois excercise should be avoided wheas other say "throw a ball" to keep her in shape and active. i would appreciate anyone who breeds working group or active breed to give me advice on how they mananged excercise. should i start reducing the excercise periods now so it will not be so much of a shock when the time comes, or at least reducing the ball throwing. i know people are going to say she will slow down at her own pace but i just need soem advice. the other two bitches i bred (of the same breed) were active but nowhere near as driven and they were happy to have lead walks with off lead time from mating to post whelp but neither bothered with balls at all and at the time working them did not interest me.. i know i am being stupid, my friend lives on a farm and has her collies working the sheep practically up to the date of whelping (if they want too) with no problems. she thinks i have gone soft in my old age

I have found most bitches know how much they can do,a dn I am guided by them.

the only things I would limit is encouraging exertion (by you throwing the ball etc after 6 weeks), and also watch other dogs tearing around her in case they do her damage (dogs that are in regular contact are likely to start to treat her with care), but other than that be guided by her needs.

There are many working bitches who continue their working lives until the third trimester or beyond and return to work as soon as their pups are weaned.

With such an athletic bitch hopefully she will have an easy whelping.

thank you for the reply. i felt really stupid posting to be honest. i am sure she will slow down as the time comes closer. its just as i know her at the moment, she is so energetic and enjoys her ball work so much so, i find it hard to imagine her going for a gentle amble accross the field. i am glad i found this site it seems full of useful information.

I too have a very active and athletic bitch however when in whelp changed totally.She knew herself what she could and could not do.Went from climbing steep hills and running through woodlands to ambling by my side.

my breed is not active (schnauzer) but she was still walked as normal (2 x half hours) including the day of giving birth. she ploded round and knew that she needed to slow down, be guided by your bitch

I had an accidental litter a couple of years ago with my very high drive bitch. I didn't realise she was pregnant until she was about 7+ weeks. Because of this she carried on going to agility classes. Competed in competions, fetched the tennis ball for hours a day and tugged for England. All things I would not have let her do had I known she was pregnant. She had the pps with no problems at all, in fact she recovered better than when she had a plane litter the year before. I think you should take a little more care with your girl but let don't worry too much if she wants to carry on as she did pre-pregnancy. Even my girl did slow down towards the end.

Thanks again guys. Its nice to hear of others experiences. She is booked to the picked stud dog so fingers crossed everything will go ahead as planned.

I am not sure why but the breed of my dog has been removed. Can I ask are you not allowed to put the breed of dog on your posts?? I definatly did as I remember writing it but it seems to have been changed to medium sized bitch?? Just thought i would ask before I post again.

We are not suppose to mention the breed, some use initials or common abbreviation or in their username, it Is to stop dogs being advertised via the forum I think

Good Luck with the mating etc.