Hi
We have been reading this forum for many months and gained valuable knowledge and experience, we have 2 dogs , one aged 5 and 1 aged 3, we have recently mated the younger girl on the 28th and 30th March, we know that it is to early to confirm pregnancy, (however we are treating her as she is ) she has since Saturday gone off her food,however most importantly our elder bitch has started fighting with our younger girl to the point that they cannot be in the same room as each other. The younger girl has today been to the vet just to be checked that she is ok and all is well which is great.
Any advice on what is best for both would be great, any if our younger girl is prenant what other signs should we be looking for at the moment.
Both girls are KC Reg, health checked and DNA Tested ( required for the breed )

Many thanks

Split them up! I'd bet anything the mated one IS pregnant and there's every chance she will not get on with the other bitch until her puppies are several weeks old. Have had bitches like that myself! One did not get on with the other bitches from the very day she was mated. It's not worth the risk of a fight as the pups may be lost, so split them up straight away to play safe.

Don't know what breed you have but sadly if it was my breed there would be a high chance that they would never get on again.  I would also seperate them, it's not worth the risk.  Hope all goes well.

Hi
Many thanks for your replies so quickly, tonight we have caged the elder girl and have so far kept them separated !! our younger girl ( who we are hoping is pregnant ) has ate a little from my hand, but nothing from her bowl.
We are keeping them apart.
Not sure if i am allowed to say what breed they are, but does that make a difference ?
thankyou again for all advise given

> Not sure if i am allowed to say what breed they are

As far as I know you can say the breed. You are not selling any puppies at present. But if I'm wrong, no doubt someone will soon be along to clarify things.

We're not allowed to mention breed of pregnant bitches. In my breed  if two bitches fall out they normally cannot be together again, BUT when they fall out when one is pregnant, I've not had a problem reintroducing them so it seems to be different on those occasions.

Way I see it is, in a wild pack, only the Alphas are allowed to mate.  Any subordinates are put out the pack for breeding or live their lifes as babysitters for the Alphas pups.  This is nature as then only the tough survive.
I think what is happening in your house is the older bitch is the top bitch and she's not happy with the younger/less dominant one having pups, hence the fighting.  I would split them up while the younger one is pregnant/has pups.  Do you have a relative that might watch the older one for a while?  When my bitch is pregnant(confirmed or not), she gets treated like lady muck!  All remains nice and calm around her.

>Way I see it is, in a wild pack, only the Alphas are allowed to mate.

That doesn't happen with feral dog groups, however.

Happens with African dogs and wolf packs.  These are the only 2 I know about for certain.

Hi

All your replies are great , thankyou !!
Today they are seperate so things are ok, the younger one ( hopefully pregnant one ) ate some scrambled egg last night,so that was good, we have booked a scan for the 3rd may with Val, her 1st mating was 28th March and last mating was friday 30th march, so we should be able to know by then, however we are treating her as if she is. We have the BOTB which is great. She went for a check at the vets last night just to check that she is ok and that there is no other underlying problem at the moment and the vet said all is well, so it does look like it is down to just hormones !! our elder girl is also fine today although a little of her food too which is not like her, maybe she is also suffering with all the hormones flying around.
Will keep you all updated but any other symptoms that we should look out for and advise that you all may have is greatly received
thankyou

maybe your older girl is missing the younger 1 even tho she wants to fight with her once their togther ,creachers of habbit :) (sb)!

hi
i think you maybe right, its funny as overnight there was no fighting, one slept in the cage and one slept on the chair next to it ! they just could'nt cuddle up as they normally would !
will see how the day goes with them !!

hi
just to let you all know we have kept our girls separate and there has been no fighting since monday which has been great. Today is 21 days since our younger girls 1st mating and friday will be 21 days since last mating, we are booked in for a scan on the 3rd May, do any of you think it might be worth scanning before the 3rd of May or will we not be able to detect anything until then ? if you do recommend before that date , when do you think will be a good idea ?
Thankyou once again

hi
just a quick update, we have had no more fighting as we keep the girls seperate , we have brought forward our girls scan to next friday which will be 28 days since last mating, so fingers crossed we will get conformation that she is having a much wanted and planned for litter, she is still sleeping most of the time and is still mainly off her food although she is eating small amounts of chicken, are all these positive signs ?
Many thanks for all help and advise given so far.

theyve always been a possitive sign for me :) all the best x

Hi
I posted last week about my girls fighting, well last night we took our younger girl for a scan and her pregnancy was confirmed,she is 28 days today from her last mating and 30 days from the 1st, which date of mating should we go from ?
Thankyou so much for all of your advice so far and i am sure we will be back for lots more advice from you all.
We are still keeping the girls separate as they really do not like being around each other.
Look forward to hearing from you all soon

congratulations :) id by 1st mating, did the scanner give you any clues ? the scanner we use always asks us what dates she was mated on and theyve took 1st mating because of when theyve had the pups!, hope this helps lol

Told you she was pregnant. :) Congratulations! Always count from first day possible to play safe.

hi
yes you were right !!!!
she is on day 30 today from 1st mating so we will take that day, we went to Val for our scan and she was very good, we saw some nice heartbeats , val did say that more good be hiding up by her ribs, but we will find that out in a few weeks, we are so excited. She is still off her food a bit but i have just made her scrambled egg and she has just ate the lot which is nice to see xx