Hi everyone I'm looking for a little advice for an upcoming litter I'm planning.

My bitch was mated last year (1st litter at 3 years) she's fully health tested and has competed successfully at shows. She was scanned at a local vet with 5 puppies however when she stared labour she produced 1 stillborn bitch and 2 decomposing puppies. Was a quick dash to the vet and she had 2 boys by cesarean. At 7 days the biggest boy suddenly gave up and the vets suspects fading puppy syndrome. After that we gave the remaining puppy liver juice (found the recipe on champdogs) and he's now a lovely boy.... Though a little wild!

I am planning to mate her and would love to here advice from people who may have been in this situation. I'm a full time dog groomer and she's used to coming to work with me, this happened last time as I was told not to upset her daily routine but would be keeping her at home this time and getting the herpes vac.

Is there anything else I can do to prevent this happen again?

The fact one died at 7 days would make me wonder about herpes, so yes go for the vaccine. I did have one bitch who first time gave birth to one stillborn and one decomposed pup, next time I tried she was given the herpes vaccine and was also put onto antibiotics twice during mating/pregnancy. She then had two stillborn pups and one live one, so after that I had her spayed as clearly herpes wasn't the cause -and I'd had one live pup from her. In a way I was quite glad she didn't have a daughter just in case it was a question of genetic inertia or similar (have certainly seen it in cats). The male pup has since been used at stud and all was fine, four live pups that now are almost adult.

Hi, I have also experienced the same thing with one of my females Rosie. She had previously had two healthy litters to my stud with no complications at all. However on her 3rd and final litter Rosie had given birth too 8 beautiful puppies sadly 3 was born already decomposing and one was born still born. The other four came out perfectly healthy and are now beautiful young dogs. When I spoke to my vet he also said about fading syndrome. However I also have my own suspicions as although she's a nice solid boxer she wad stepped on by a friend at 8 weeks of pregnancy. Maybe this was the reason or maybe no. But needless to say Rosie was the perfect mother yet again and I think four was a perfect number for a last litter!

Plz don't feel worried or discouraged just do the same as you did before as sometimes these things happen and there is nothing you can do but keep mom healthy, try again and wish for they best.

I hope all goes well!

Thanks guys for the advice so far. I have already spoken to my vet re the herpes jab and he did mention a corse of antibiotics as well. Would these be given at the time of mating or later in the pregnancy? Obviously if she dusnt produce a litter this time I wouldnt mate her again but i really want a puppy from her.

I got her bloods done from idexx for ovulation as we traveled a long way tp the stud but a friend was telling me you can get your bitch swabbed for infection, any ideas about this?

With regards to my job and excrcise how would you go about minimizing the risk of infection, we live in a 3 dog household within quite a busy dog area so walks without meeting another dog dusnt happen often and driving to the country 2 times a day isn't practical!

Thanks for your help so far, this was my 1st litter on my own and as much as I did everything to prepare I guess it shows things can and do go wrong!