I have a little terrier and this is her first litter, she is 3 years, she had a few matings with a stud from 5th to 21st. We think the stud was just very keen and the bitch was willing!

Her first due date was the 1st of this month and that was by her first mating, a few days ago she started panting, no drop in temp and after an hour or two stoped panting. two days ago she was a little swollen as if she was in season, started panting and temp went down. stoped again and no pups.Temp back up.
We decided to go to the vet out of hours to have her checked, that was last night. He gave her the once over and said her temp was down and he would think that she would have them this evening as she was close. We checked her temp this morning and it was down, checked this evening and its back up. Any advice would be apreciated. I would think that she may have an infection, but vet gave her the once over yesterday, checked heartbeat of bitch and pups and said they were not stressed. What I dont want to do is keep going to the vet as he may just say C section and there may be no need.

there are 17days between her 1st & final mating. The danger of having several matings is that you don't have an accurate due date.
It also means, even though she was standing for the first mating, she probably wasn't ready as she wouldn't of still been standing so many days later.
You say her temp is up & down, this is quite normal, but have you seen a significant drop? when you see this - then she should go into labour within 24hours.
if your vet has checked her over & said all is ok, there isn't much else you can do, except monitor her closely & contact the vet again if you are worried or if she becomes distressed.

Good luck  :)

Do I understand you to say that her first due date was 1st January - 12 days ago?   Over how many days was she mated?     Have you had an ultrasound/x-ray to confirm actual pregnancy?

Personally, I would insist upon Xrays, and if they showed viable pups - I would want them OUT NOW!  Better a C-section and a live mum and pups then hang on after 65+ days and risk losing pups AND Mum!

Do register & then you can let us know how things are going.

Regards Margot

Gosh I have never heard of a dog going over 12 days.
What day in her season did he mate her first??
Are you sure she is in pup? Did the vet actually confirm puppies?
I find that amazing. Good luck and hope all works out for the best.
Nutkin

guest - when you say he mated her over this time scale (17days) did he successfully mate her or was he just mounting her? (which means he could of entered her on some of the days & not others) Did they tie on any of these days?
It's very unusual for any bitch to stand for all these days.
Why don't you register with CD? it's easy & it's free.  :)

That is an extraordinary length of time for a bitch to stand. How many times, and on what dates, did they tie?

Hi ! She was mated from the 5th to the 21st November and yes she did stand and they did tie everyday for the first three or four days and then every other day. As it was her first mating we held her for the first day or two but then she would stand herself for him and we just made sure everything was ok. The stud is experenced and has fathered about 10 litters. He does not normally mate unless he knows the dog is ready but he did this time and kept on untill the 21st.
There are pups, the vet has confirmed this.

My consern is that if I rush her down the vets the pups may be early and from the last mating. The vet said that small dogs can go up to day 72 ?
I am only worried because she is panting for periods of around an hour or two and then stopping. There was a drop in temp the other day when we checked, she is normally around 37.2 -37.8 and it dropped to 36.5 this was when we came back from the vets and he also said  she was close and would have had them yesterday.
She is rather large and is just sleeping all the time, however if I move she will! she is also eating well.

In theory she could have conceived a pup from every mating, so whenever they are born there are likely to be some too immature to survive. :(

Hi
Is that really possible.??
I would of thought that at a mating there are ripe eggs and millions of sperms.
A couple of mating over a few days could result in a few days here and there
but it couldnt be over the 3 weeks this bitch was mated .......could it ??
I was told by a very knowledgeable breeder that when a bitch is mated there are hundreds of eggs fertalized
then the body only "keeps" what it can cope with.

I did say in theory! Usually the eggs are released over a period of several days (certainly not 'hundreds' of eggs though) but aren't ready to be fertilised immediately. Sperm can live in the bitch's tubes for several days after mating too. Most bitches won't stand for more than about 5 days, and usually even then you can get pups which are clearly from the later mating as they are less well developed than the rest (or in some cases, obvious crossbreeds, when there has been a later misalliance!)

I did try that theory out once.
I had a bitch that was mated once and produced 6 pups.
on her second litter she was mated four times but still produced
6 pups. So I dont think that amount of times mated works.
However I have had other people tell me it does.
I find it interesting and if anyone thinks it really does make
a difference I would be interested to know.
Nutkin

The trouble is, of course, there are so many variables. You never know how many eggs have been released. The bitch's health might be different from one season to the next. The dog's sperm count can change (if it the same dog each time). And of course there is always the added problem of absorption.

I know that our old mongrel was clearly half labrador (his mother was a small brown nondescript mongrel), while the rest of his litter bore a strong resemblence to the local farm collie!

The temperature drop indicates a decrease in progesterone levels. If she hasn't gone into labour within 24hours of the significant drop in her temperature, it COULD indicate primary inertia. I would get your vet to run a blood sample & test her progesterone levels. A low result will indicate she should be in labour.