Can you give an opinion.

If you had a two week old litter and another bitch in season ready to mate, would you risk bringing a stud dog into or through the puppy area so that another mating could take place or would you consider it too risky as regards possible infections being brought in by the stud.

Personally if I had a two-week litter I wouldn't mate another bitch anyway. At two weeks I'd have no idea what quality the litter was so wouldn't know if I had my dream puppy - if I had, then there's be no need for another litter. But if I was going to mate another bitch I'd take her to the stud, not have the stud come to her.

In the circumstances you describe, I wouldn't do it.

It's more usual for the bitch to visit the stud dog in any case.

Dawn R.

Not my litter, asking for future reference as I was asked by someone else.  I wouldn't do it but then I am over protective, didn't even go to shows for weeks before my babies were born.

My feeling is that at two weeks they lack the temperature control to fight of infection and are very vulnerable.  Any other thoughts please.

They'd still be covered by the maternal antibodies of course.

When would you say the antibodies loose efficacy given that fading puppy syndrome, from what ever cause, can strike at anytime.  I have been told different things by different people but generally have been told that between 6 to 8 weeks the protection is gone.

That said I have also known people who say they have lost whole litters between 2 and 6 weeks because unthinking friends have brought dogs onto the premises.  I have to say that they should have known better but sadly these things happen.

I am trying simply to get a consensus of opinion.  If I am wrong in my thinking I am open to be educated.

As I understand it, the puppies will have tha antibodies from the mother for viral infections that she has been exposed to.    If a dog comes onto the premises carrying a virus to which the bitch has not been exposed, then the puppies cannot have antibodies which would protect them from such a virus.

For this reason, when we've had pups, I've always insisted that anyone coming in sloshes through a mat which is soaked in parvoviricide, and I used to ask them to wash their hands before touching any puppies (not that anyone is allowed to touch puppies under 2 weeks apart from family, who would handle them all the time - after washing hands of course.

I would not let any other dogs "visit" during this time either.   And, I would also ask that no-one comes to my home after having visited othr puppies on the same day, nor go to visit other puppies the same day.

Since I had to fight to save a litter of kittens after they had been exposed to cat flu - after someone came to view my kittens and said "oh these are so much healthier than the ones we saw this morning - I make it a point of saying to anyone coming to view "please do not look at any other puppies the day you come to see mine - you could bring/take cross infection".

Margot

As Margot says, the maternal antibodies will cover anything that the mother is immune to, whether through vaccination or direct exposure. If the mother has full immunity to parvo (for example) then the suckling pups are protected too. The immunity will start to fade as the puppies are weaned, and will have worn off completely by 12 weeks.

Thanks for that. 

One of the big concerns is Kennel Cough that is, so I understand, being closely linked to the canine herpes virus.  If the mother has been exposed to it then the puppies would have immunity through the vulnerable stage but I also read recently that there are different strains of Kennel Cough and so, like colds and flu in humans, no dog would have immunity to them all.

I think given what has been said that if such a mating was to go ahead, for whatever reason, the bitch must be taken to the stud.  If it were me and I had no option, perhaps the bitch was a champ in a breed with small numbers and getting to the end of her puppy rearing age, I think I would separate the two from each other as much as possible to minimise the possibility of any cross infection for at least two weeks after mating.

'Kennel Cough' is in fact a name given to a set of symptoms, not a single disease. The most common infections are bordetella bronchiseptica, canine adenovirus and canaine parainfluenza virus.

From Provet: "Vaccines against Bordatella are administered by spraying up the nose, whereas vaccines against viruses (eg parainfluenza virus) are given by injection. It is important to realise that immunity to Bordatella takes 5 days to develop after the vaccine is given and booster vaccines are advised every 6-10 months. For parainfluenza virus two vaccines are needed 3-4 weeks apart and annual boosters are required."

As you say, the symptoms can also occur after infection with other viruses and bacteria which, like human influenza and colds, mutate and so no dog will have immunity from all possible variations.

It's now believed that bordetella bronchoseptica is a zoonosis, although it's rare in humans.

It's not even the thought of infection that would be utmost in my mind, though I am personally overly protective I know and would not contemplate an outside dog coming in my home. But also new mothers are very protective of their pups even with other live in house dogs coming too close in the first few weeks, I think my bitch would have a nervous breakdown at a strange male dog coming anywhere within 200ft of her pups, it would cause a lot of stress, she wouldn't know it was for a quick hows your father and would proberbly chase him off and not settle properly until he had left the house.

If the stud was to go through to a different part of the house, garden, yard, that is not too bad, but not in the pup area or sight of the newly pupped bitch.

The bitch usually goes to the stud dog, not the other way about.