Does a litter in a bitches life (Labrador). Mean it stands a lesser chance of getting illnesses? if so what kind.

I'd say no. Why would it?

Dawn R.

I'm sorry, not sure why. I just wanted to see if there was any truth in it. I have always wanted a Lab since I was born. Now I'm ready to take care of one. I want to do the best I can.
I'm what you could call inexperienced but will to learn and take advice.
I heard it can lessen the chance of cancer by releasing hormones!

I suppose natures way if any?

Hi Andy, you are so lucky. If you are inexperienced you have found your way to one of the very best places to get top quality, free advice.

Ask away, somebody is bound to know the answers, the number of years of experience here is inestimable.

Dawn R.

I would like to breed at some point. more for the experience and for my children to experience. I would like to find a nice stud dog, how would I go about this?
What tests does the bitch need to have before she does breed?

Thank you again for you help.

Are you happy for the experience for yourself and your children to be one of your family pet or her puppies dying? It's more common than you think.

If the whelping goes well, you then need to find good homes for the little darlings too ;) at a time when there are thousands of Lab puppies born yearly :(  sorry if it sounds negative, but having this kind of information is vital before you consider breeding.

My wife and I have spoken about this. We have been taking names of people we trust for future reference. What else do you suggest?

Buy a copy of the 'Book of the Bitch' by Evans and White, I got my copy from Amazon, and its invaluable even if you decide not to breed :) Then there are the hips and eyes scores to have done, any responsible stud dog owner would want to know your dog is a good example of the breed, which would involve showing her, I'm sure there will be other folk along with plenty of advice for you :)

liberty

How common is this? I have a friend who is an experienced breeder and she only does things by the book. I have not heard from her how common this is. I will ask though.

Andy, sadly it is very common, dogs dont read books..   I have three friends, all experienced breeders with over 80 years experience between them and they have all lost their bitches in the past 12 weeks through labour complications, one also lost the whole litter and another had to hand rear 8 surviving pups.  I personally lost 2 pups at 3 days old just 2 weeks ago..... you do NOT want to experience any of this, nor put your children through this.

Andy, As usual, I am going to be the 'bad cop' on this thread ;)

Although I admire your chosen breed, I am horrified at your lines of thinking.  By all means purchase your Labrador from a reputable breeder and then spend many years researching the breed and use your breeder as your 1st port of call for any questions you need answered. And CD of course ;)

Please do not have a litter for you or you children, at best they will be totally uninterested after the 1st few minutes, and at worst they will experience a whole litter and a bitch dying a horrifically and painful death.  This is not what you want your children to experience.  Also a bitch in labour needs privacy with only 1 or possibly 2 experience people on hand for help and possible complications, children are an unneccessary evil during labour.  A bitch can and will become seriously stressed during labour and should never be a source of amusement for anyone during this time.  No-one needs to experience a bitch giving birth, not even the bitch :D

A labrador joining the family is fantastic, but enjoy them as family pets and not as sex education for children.

Thank you for the input. My children would not be their for the birth part, no worries their. I do understand if our pet was to die due to having puppies, this is a risk we all take in life. I will however give this more thought. My experienced friend will be at hand as she does not drive and only lives round the corner and she said please call when the time comes. What other preparation should I take or be advised of?

Andy

Andy, you would probably find 'The Book of The Bitch' very interesting. It gives all the information needed for any owner of a bitch. Have a look on Amazon, it's about £10.00.

While you are there check out any other books you can find on the Labrador specifically. There is also a fabulous website you will love it's   www.labradornet.com  there an enormous amount of breed history there. Also   www.the-kennel-club.org.uk  The Kennel Club breed standard is there and at the end of the standard is a list of breed clubs. These are the people you should contact for the names of REPUTABLE people that have litters or are planning litters.

When you go looking for a puppy, ask all breeders if you can see the eye test and the hip score certificates. Don't buy a puppy that isn't KC registered or one that has parents that are not health screened.

It's also worth bearing in mind, that there are over 40,000 Labrador puppies registered every year, and as many again that are unregistered, so you need to be 110% sure that your bitch is good enough to add to the numbers, only about 10% are worthy of being bred from, it's a huge responsibility.

Dawn R.

You are a very helpful and positive person. Thank you for your comments :)

"I would like to breed at some point. more for the experience and for my children to experience"

Sorry if I sound rude but breeding means literally improving/bettering the breed. Without deep knowledge on the breed/bloodlines/individual dogs & their faults and virtues it is impossible and should never be done for the mere sake of an experience.
 

Have a read of this too Andy.
http://st15.startlogic.com/~justonel/breeder.html

Val, well said and so true!

No. It's an old wives tale!  I understand there's an increased chance of pyometra in an entire maiden bitch, so it's far better to have a bitch spayed when she's mature if there is no intention of breeding from her. Getting a bitch in whelp in itself puts her at risk of all sorts of complications.

Thank you for the Information Anwen. :)

I would recommend the book "The Whelping and Rearing of Puppies"  you can get it from pets at home

Just to add my 5 pence worth,  I know someone who researched their breed thoroughly before getting one, showed her and had plenty of success, all breed tests were done (hips, eyes, etc) the stud dog was by far the best possible match, the bitch was very fit as she also works in the field (HPR)  the mating went well and so did the pregnancy, but the bitch never really went into labour, the vet said maybe the dates were wrong and to wait.   They contacted me because they weren't happy (over a weekend) and I told them to go with their insticts, which meant out of hours visit to the vet, scans and x-rays and an emergency caesarian.  The singleton pup died at birth and was huge (should have been born a week earlier) and the bitch almost died on the operating table, she had to be spayed to save her, the vet said she had a twisted uterus and could never have given birth.   Not counting the price of the Bitch or showing, they were still left well over a thousand pounds out of pocket, and very lucky to save the bitch.  Emotionally it took them months to recover.  This was not a breed which is difficult to whelp.
Are you (and your family) capable of sustaining the physical, emotional and financial cost if something like this happens?

Not trying to be unhelpful, or trying to put you off, just trying to give you a picture of how badly things can and do go wrong, so that you can make an informed decision ;)

How old is your Lab or have you not bought her yet? When you speak to a breeder, if you haven't already got your girl, they should be able to tell you from first hand experience what to expect.

Hi Andy, if i were you i would concentrate on getting your dog first whether pup or adult, see how you go from there. Dog owning isnt as easy as some might think. Enjoy the excitement of visiting potential pups, find out as much as you can about the breed and breeders, are you intending to show, visit a few open shows, meet lots of labrador lovers. Before you know it youll have learnt and enjoyed. When you get your new puppy youll probably have alot of questions also, Champdogs is a minefield of knowledge and im sure you will get all the help and encouragement you need from toilet training to raising a litter.
Jodi

Andy, your bitch is already in season according to your post as a guest?????

http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/board/topic_show.pl?tid=79760#fnp

And more advice here too.
http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/board/topic_show.pl?tid=79759

Here are a couple of other sites that may be of interest to you Andy: here and here - the latter refers to Cockers but is applicable to any breed and was written by the same author as the "should I offer my dog at stud" post at the top of this forum.  I know its been mentioned before, but I think it would be helpful if this (amended) post could be placed at the top of this forum too?