My male and female began mating on Sunday. They are still "doing the deed" and it has been 6 days. I think I remember reading that they stop mating once the female becomes pregnant. If so, could that mean that this mating is not working? My male is still pretty young - 11 months, but she has taught him well, and they are tied several times a day. They are Maltese. I am really looking forward to babies!!

Hi,

You should be splitting your dogs up now, infact you should have done it a few days ago. Your bitch can conceive from every mating, so there could be puppies developing conceived at the weekend and puppies developing conceived yesterday which when it comes to whelping means you may have full term pups and some that aren't so fully developed.

Think two mating’s, 24 to 30 hours apart, is the norm, some people preferring only one. As Lily has said, you will not know when your bitch is due nor if all the pups will be fully formed and ready for birth. Do keep them apart now and I hope all goes well for you.

Some people mate about 3 times. ex. Monday, Wednesday and then again on Friday and thats all. You will more then likely end up with pups alot younger then the rest and not fully developed, may look like they are but on the inside totally different. Yes please seperate them NOW, do not allow them to kep breeding anymore. They will continue to mate as long as she is willing to stand and also a male dog will rape a female which can cause damage to both.

I seperated them first thing this morning when I read the first post. I am so thankful for all of your help, it could have been even worse than what it already is. Their first mating was Sunday night, their last Friday evening, so it doesn't sound like they went too far past - so much thanks to all of you!