BREEDING FROM YOUR BITCH
AN OWNER'S STORY

I have been given permission to publish this article and the owner's name has been changed for privacy purposes.

Tina visited me for an ultrasound scan on her dog, Ruby, was around 30 days from last mating. Tina wanted one or two litters from Ruby as she had been told that it was in the best interests of the bitch to have at least one litter, and then be spayed. She also wanted her two children to experience the birth of puppies and to help raise the litter.

Ruby was a mixed breed, her mum a Dachshund, and her father unknown, at a guess would have said there was some Jack Russell and maybe Cavalier in the mix. I did notice that Ruby had deformed front legs that were twisted with the paw splaying outwards, I believe this is more common in smaller breeds, and particularly Dachshunds.

Ruby was confirmed in whelp and Tina was highly delighted having spent a lot of money for the stud fee which also involved a two hour trip for the mating. Although Tina nor her husband had not had a litter before, her husband had said that Ruby would do everything on her own and they would not need to intervene until the pups required weaning.

Day 66 from mating Ruby had a green discharge, which could have been a detached placenta, and 24 hours later gave birth to a puppy which was born sleeping. Over the course of the next 12 hours she had another 3 puppies, one very small one, and three of a similar size.

Tina said that the children were keen to get involved but Ruby was quite agitated, this could have been down to a lack of calcium, or because she wanted to be left quiet, but when she started to attack the puppies they felt it was obviously not safe to leave them together. The next morning sadly the small puppy was struggling to take any milk and a visit to the vets confirmed it had a cleft palate.

When the remaining puppies got to six weeks of age it was clear they were unable to walk properly and it was at this time that Tina visited her vet again who confirmed their legs were severely deformed and the vet advised that the puppies were put to sleep as they would not be able to have a good quality of life.

90% of whelping goes to plan with no complications, and this was quite the extreme, but it just shows what can go wrong, and how you should be prepared.

Most breeders will not favour pediatric spaying (also known as “prepuberal” or “early” spaying) which is the best practice followed by some vet practices with recommendations they are spayed as early as six months before their first season. However, it's a very common misconception that a female dog should have one litter before being spayed. Not only is it an out-dated concept, with no evidence to support that breeding a litter is either physically or psychologically beneficial to a dog. But breeding is not an innocuous process, it carries inherent risks that can cause distress and discomfort to her and to the owners. 

Deciding whether or not to breed from a pet can be really hard; and it’s very easy to talk yourself into doing something that you later regret…! Some of the things you have to consider when breeding from a pet bitch…Most reputable breeders will tell you that just because a dog is a fantastic pet, with a great character and temperament, it doesn’t necessarily follow that she’s good breeding material. Remember too, that there are thousands of homeless dogs in rescue centres – you should have a good reason for adding to the numbers of dogs in the world.

For most bitches pregnancy itself is natural and straight forward, however, whelping can be very hard on them. You need to know what danger signs to look out for, when to call the vet, and when it’s an emergency.

The first thing to consider when breedig is your bitch's age, as a rule of thumb, dogs start their seasons in their second year of life; however, this is really variable, especially between breeds, as giant breed dogs are much slower to reach maturity than small breeds are. Generally speaking, however, it is never wise to breed a bitch for the first time under 1 year of age and over 7. For most dogs, however, 2 years of age is the safe minimum. If you find yourself with an accidental first time pregnancy on an older bitch (above 7) please contact your vet for advice.

You also need to budget for pregnancy scans and a contingency fund to cover a caesarean operation if whelping goes badly.