I have a Scottish terrier and I tried to breed her last year (for the first time), and it turned out to be a Phantom Pregnancy, which we only recognised when the pups didn't materialise on her due date. It was very distressing for her and a huge disappointment for us. I am thinking of trying again but am concerned as I don’t want to put her through it all again for the same result. Does anyone know the likelihood of this re-occurring?

There is a technical difference between a Phantom Pregnancy when a bitch has been mated, and a False Pregnancy when she hasn't. The effects are the same, though - no pups and a distressed and uncomfortable bitch. :(

It could be that she didn't concieve after the mating, and would have had these symptoms anyway, in which case she is likely to do the same thing again. If she did concieve, she may have reabsorbed the whelps for some reason....perhaps the sire's genes were not compatible with hers.

It's worth trying again - maybe a different stud?

The fact that she had a phantom last time is no indication that it will happen again.

If she has had falsies in the past yes she is likely to have them again. But just because she had a phantom last time bears no influence on whether she will concieve or not, nor her ability to concieve. All dogs go through the same hormonal changes(under the influence of mainly Progesterone post heat) regardless of if they are mated/concieve some show signs, enlargment of breasts and in some cases bellies through to behavioural differences etc, some dont. it is purely these symptoms that display if a bitch is having a phantom.

Phantoms are thought to have occured due submissive pack members developing milk to help with the suckling of the alpha females litter, also thought to be the reason that seasons of pack mates time up together.

The only way to tell if a bitch is pregnant is to scan/palpate at the appropriate time. This however may stress the bitch which may or may not highten the likeleyhood of abortion or re-absorption. Catch 22 really.

The causes of re-absorption are not entirely clear, one of the causes may be due to malformed pups, this may be caused by a genetic condition arising from the cross, but as with most genetic conditions the chances that it will affect all of the litter are statistically small. I would try again, it may be that your dates were wrong or that she had an infection early on which may have caused the abortion. If the same thing happens again by all means change the stud. more likely tho is that a source of stress or infection caused the re-absortion if it happened at all.

Hope the above helps, although doubtless you probably knew all this!

Hi, this has helped me as I'm new to breeding. I havent done it before and so every bit of advice is good.

From the replies I have had, I think she re-absorbed her pups. She went all through her pregnancy showing physical and behavioural changes and when her due date came she made a nest and completely licked the plastic off a rubber dinosaur she nutured as her pup. It really was upsetting for her and us.

I think I will try again but this time I will carefully choose a stud which has no history between them,

Many Thanks

Thanks for the advice. The pedigree of the dogs did have a common dog in their tree, I think it was a Great, Great Grandfather. Maybe, that's what caused it?

I will definitely change the stud if I try agin.

That's a very distant connection, so I doubt that would have anything to do with it. In fact I would, out of choice, use a dog more closely related than that, unless of course the bitch is otherwise very closely inbred and you need an outcross like that.

Why on earth would you want to use a more closely related dog?

I find you get a better quality litter if the sire and bitch have one or two mutual grandparents.

Edit: Always provided those individuals were good!

In order to load the dice so to speak and increase the likelihood of getting a litter displaying the good points of both parents. If they are somewhat related then the chance of the genes combining in a similar fashion are greater than if they are totaly unrelated.

That is why when you mate two different breeds the resulting pups can look like MUm, Dad or any range between. If you mate say a Cocker and A springer though they will still look like Spaniels, some even looking sufficiently like their parent to look purebred.

This is probably what happened in a case recently on this board, where someone had a Schnauzer bitch, who when mated to a male of the breed produced pups of impossible colour for the breed. Turns out the Dam was probably in fact sired by a Wire Fox Terrier, and looked like a purebred, as both breeds have wqire coats, are of similar size, ear carriage etc.