After months of waiting for her next season, my 3 year old beagle was mated last monday so we are now anxiously waiting to find out if she is in fact pregnant.  I've bought the 'book of the bitch' which is very informative but a couple of things I'd like to know, one being, when would you normally stop showing a bitch who is pregnant, how long after the birth would you expect her to back in condition to be shown again, and finally, how long afterwards would you wait before starting exercising and training.    I'm keeping fingers crossed that the mating was successful and know that I am being a tad persumptive but any advice and information would be most welcome.

thanks - sarah

Many people would not show a bitch again at all after mating.  I would say you would be OK under 3 weeks after mating, after that anything crossing the placenta could harm the pups.  In fact in canine pregnancy according to the book of the bitch the most risky time is is 3 1/2 to 5 weeks in whelp.

My bitch had her litter nearly 10 weeks ago, and if she were smooth coated I would think I could show her in another two weeks as she is now fit and her boobs have gone, just got big nipples left.

In fact I will be very lucky if she will be fit to show by Midland Counties, and probably not until LKA as she needs to grow her coat back, as the whole of a bitches coat is lost about 8 weeks after whelping.

Hi sarahl,

I have a friend who has also recently mated her Beagle bitch and decided to stop showing her as soon as she was mated. I thing generally from the Beagle people I know once they have mated a Bitch they won't show again them until after they back in condition, From memory  my friend showed her Bitch about 5 - 6 months after the litter ( she only shows her lightly ). You are so lucky Beagle babies are soooo cute! I hope all goes well, keeps us updated, goodluck :)

How long is a piece of string. :) I showed my bitch at Crufts when she was 2 ½ weeks in whelp. (At the time of course we didn't even know for sure if she WAS or not -although we strongly suspected as she was so hungry she mugged visitors to see if they had treats in their pockets LOL!!) I actually queried it with the KC and they said it is essentially up to the exhibitors to use their common sense. After 3 weeks though I didn't take her anywhere to play safe, and that inlcuded not to training club.

My pups are now almost 5 months old and my bitch is just looking well enough again to be shown (shortcoated but not smoothcated) -alas we missed Darlington as she's back in season.  She looked "okay" from when the pups were about 12 weeks but "okay" didn't equal" great" so I figured it was pointless to show her if she wasn't looking her VERY best.

I showed my dallies 4 weeks in whelp but she didnt show as she was very tight underneath. 

We started excercising Tigger about 3 days after the pups were born but we live in a very under populated area.  She got her last CC about 16 weeks post whelping.  I would thoroughly recomend using restore as her coat will drop which will mean she will look tatty which is the hardest factor to getting her back in the ring.  I know a lot of people dont let beagles of the lead and only roadwork them which may mean it will take longer to get back in shape.

Thanks for the advice.   I had entered the HCEA open show on 9th October, so if she is in whelp, this would be 4 weeks, so really is not a good idea to take her, even if she's not showing.  I wouldn't want to do anything to harm her or the pups.    She is quite a fit beagle who we do let off the lead and do agility with as well as show (although none at moment), and the next agility show she is booked to go to is end of February, so I guess this would be ok?      Fingers crossed that she is pregnant.  This was her first mating and although they did tie for 15 mins there is no guarantee is there.

sarah - a very anxious beagle owner

Hello,

Sorry this is a little off the topic but I just wanted to ask you about Agility and competing with a Beagle.

I do Agility with Bert and we love it, he's great and it's definately his thing but I haven't really considered entering a competition as I didn't think we would be fast enough or experienced enough and I wasn't sure what height group he would be in?

I'd like to get into it but don't really know where to start.......?

Just wondered if you would have any advice for me.

Many thanks :)

bertbeagle,

have pm'd you - don't want to bore anyone else about beagle agility.

sarah