Hi all ,my bitch has came into season 3 weeks later than when I thought she would .She is 2 year old all BVA health checks done ,the 25th is a rough guide as to when she will be mated,my question is would you mate at this time ,puppies will be ready 3rd week in November? I haven`t mated this late before,always had late summer litters.

I know a woman whose bitch is having the termination jabs following an accidental mating (with her own stud) because she reckons the pups would be ready too close to Christmas. However a month beforehand isn't too bad - I wouldn't want a litter ready any closer.

Do you think I should not mate her I don`t wat her pups to be christmas presents

I personally like to have spring or summer litters. The last puppy I bought was born in very early September (so we got her in early November) and personally I'd be loth to buy in a pup any later in the year than that - I'd rather wait till April.

She's only two years old - you have plenty of time. I like to wait till they're 3 before mating anyway. :)

Actually I bought my bitch in November, I understand where you are coming from though, so close to Christmas people are thinking of other things.  It is better to be Nov than Dec and get all the puppy's bought as presents.  Do you have a waiting list? If so it does not matter what time of year? I waited for mine until Nov.

Plus side - the pups will wake up later,
Downside - If you breed indoors, toilet training may be harder if the weather is really bad, you won't be able to get the pups outside as much and of course you will have a bigger heating bill.

For the new owner, winter is always the worst time to have pups/dogs with all the mud, rain and cold bad weather so the puppy buyers will have their pups at the worst time of year, for toilet training etc too. (Rescues get the busiest after people get fed up with their Xmas pups Jan-May.)

Sorry not very optimistic am I, I will have to think of some more pluses............

If you go ahead with a later litter, be extra, extra, vigilant with the buyers and screen them very closely.

Your pups wouldn't be due to go anyway until the 2nd/3rd week in January.

I had a litter on the 13th November last year, and they went on the 2nd January, it was a nightmare, I would never, ever do it again.  But if yours are due a couple of weeks after then it's not too bad.

I would never have another litter at Christmas time, it was too much like hard work and due to one thing and another with other things in the breed my Christmas and New Year were ones tht I'd rather not remember.  Hope 2006 is better :d

No puppies if there are any will be born 26th september 8 weeks after that they will be ready to go

I do have a waiting list but you can`t count on that totally as there this sex and colour to think of and as I am very fussy who gets my pups I will probably lose a few more I do breed indoors not concerned about that as I live in Glasgow and bad weather is the norm .We are having a good summer at the moment.

I think there are pros and cons really. I don't think the date matters if you have a waiting list or if you screen properly. One of my borzois was a birthday pressie for me and one a xmas present and I'm sure other people on here have used these times as excuses to get another dog :) Both my 'presents' lived long and happy lives with me till their time to go to rainbow bridge. The plus side is that the pups would be in puppy classes April to September, it's always nice to get puppies out in the summer shows :)  Down side for me would be the possibility that the pups wouldn't be able to play outside as much, which is harder for socialising and keeping clean.

I have always tried to have winter litters as most of the champ shows for my breed are March to October, so I like October to January litters best.

Living in a 3 bedroom suburban house also means less neighbour worry in the winter when pups get to the playful noisy age, as people will have windows closed and dawn comes later.

I have never taken Christmas into consideration when breding a litter other than expecting to keep pups longer if it is too close or maybe finding the unspoken for pups slower to find homes for with people being less likely to want a puppy in January.

If the pups are due to go in November, then go for it. ;) I had a litter that was born at the end of September (1992 ) so was aware that some people could have been looking for early xmas pressies. It didn't happen.

Looking at the weather just now I'm glad I don't have a litter on the go at the moment. How are the pups managing this heat? Or even the pregnant bitches :rolleyes: Poor things.

I had a July litter and a September  litter (the August litter I had weather was cool) where heat was a problem.  I froze bottles and wrapped them in a towel to cool the whelping box.

With my breed at least I find keeping winter pups warm far simpler than dealing with over hot summer ones.

I will think it over I have a few days left to change my mind and phone stud owner to tell him I am waiting until next season ,you have given me pros and cons.Still not sure my first instict when I saw her season had started was to call stud owner then I began to worry.

My first litter were 8 weeks old on Christmas day!  With all the other things to think about it just totally slipped my notice that that would happen.  The sort of vetting we should all be doing should weed out any Christmas present buyers and I don't recall being troubled by any actually which left me only with the worry that the Christmas season would be too busy for everybody to cope with and a puppy but I just kept them all until a couple of days later.  One purchaser was a childless widow in her 40s who had lost her husband earlier that year, she did want the puppy there on Christmas day to help her through it which I agreed to but in the event some friends invited her to join them and that one stayed with me until boxing day too. I really enjoyed the excuse of having a very low key Christmas myself :) 
I did not find a winter litter any harder than my 2 summer ones they even loved playing in the snow which they were allowed to do for 10 minutes or so at a time before being brought back into the warm and thoroughly dried off.  The hardest litter to cope with was the one reared in a heat wave in May when I needed the ceiling fan on all the time in the kitchen to keep them cool enough!

I won`t let anyone come to see pups unless they ask all the right questions and answer mine correctly.My son knows how I suffer at letting my pups go, he didn`t get his pup until it was 11 months,he said if he wins lottery he will buy me a farm so I don`t have to sell my pups

Hi everyone,July 25th is now here and I have decided to go ahead with mating .As she`s a maiden it should be interesting.She normally flips onto her back when a male dog gets too close so I hope she`ll be ok .Thanks for all your advice.

Morag

Good luck, I hope all goes well for you.

Let us know how you get on.

Good Luck I hope the mating is successful

Rhona

Hi all,mating didn`t go well,my bitch surprised me and was willing to stand ,dog kept coming off ,he seemed exausted.It has been a very hot day here(SCOTLAND)we`re not used to it and it seemed the dog wasn`t either.My girl has been inside in the cool all day so she was OK.It was funny when she started trying to get to the other dogs in their kennel maybe she thought one of them could do the job.The dog is a softy just like my girl and has sired 1 litter ,owner told me he had to be helped in that mating.So it could be the weather the dog or my girl.Oh the joys of breeding 25th july not a good day to mate.we`ll go back again tomorrow night .Next instalment tomorrow.

Hi all just thought I would update you.My girl eventually did get a tie and her season began to go after 3 days,next day I still checked her only slight staining I checked her again next morning as I always bath her after season has truely finished,she had a discharge I could see a touch of green in it.I took her staight to vets she is on Synulox now. She is fine eating and drinking  well she is a fussy eater and I am surprised she didn`t go off her food a bit.She`s been on Synulox for 24 hrs and discharge is almost gone.I don`t think there will be pups.As long as my girls ok is main thing.

Morag

HI trekkimo,

Good to hear that you got a tie. Don't worry about the discharge as my girl had the same and she is due on August 16th.

I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

Hi scarlettwynter,
It`s good to read your girl came through it ,not long to go now.
The discharge has gone thanks to Synulox will just have to wait and see .It happened so soon after the tie I could have missed it had it happened later on .I took her out for a  walk today and she`s totally confused ,still leaving her scent all over the place ,boy dogs aren`t interested anymore maybe she`s hoping .

Hi all ,just thought i`d let you all know I had Bonnie scanned tonight and she is pregnant 7+ pups ,I really thought after early infection that there would be no pups .As we Glaswegians say Synulox is Magic.
Does anyone know if I can give her CHV injection at 7 weeks ,vet said as she was on Synulox no point in 1st injection?

http://www.canineherpes.com/2. If the bitch is already pregnant, is there any point in vaccination?



YES! Even one injection is beneficial, though obviously the later it is given the greater the chance that the placenta has already been damaged by the virus and the unborn puppies affected. In such a situation, the vaccine will not be of benefit. If possible, try and give two injections, even in the last few weeks of pregnancy.

I'm told there's little point in giving vaccines when an animal is still on antibiotics because the vaccine won't be properly effective.

She was only on antibiotic for 10 days .I had planned to give her CHV vaccine but she had to have antibiotics 5 days after mating.I`m still waiting on vets opinion and if I thought it would help and not harm puppies I would like her to have it.

Hi All, just wanted to share the news that Bonnie had her puppies today .We lost one all the others are great and are keeping Bonnie busy.She was an absolute star concidering it`s her first litter.Her mother sat on the stairs until all the pups were born .

wonderful news trekkiemo sorry about the little one you lost:( but congratulations to you and bonnie on the pups xxxx

Hi All, I can breath a sigh of relief my puppies eyes have all now opened on day 16,2 started to open yesterday .This litter is a new experience for me as all previous litters were born around day 61.they are trying to walk maybe now they`ll stop bumping their heads an whelping box sides.The joys of breeding you never stop learning.