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Work involved in having a litter | |
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A. Both animals – prospective sire and dam need to be health tested before the mating occurs.
B. If AI with frozen or chilled semen is to be attempted, the bitch needs to be put on a diet for the 3-4 weeks before she comes into season. For some reason, AI has a much higher chance of success if the dam is slightly underweight.
C. The mating: the bitch traditionally goes to the dog. The mating is usually repeated over several days to give the best chance of pregnancy occurring. Live/fresh semen lives up to 5 days inside the bitch.
If an insemination is to be done, the bitch will need to go the vet rather than the dog. You may make several trips, or the bitch may stay at the vet for 3-6 days. If an insemination occurs, the bitch may have stitches which will need removing after 10 days, if she had to be surgically inseminated. Insemination may also be done via a less invasive procedure - called trans cervical, where a catheter is used.
D. Once she is inseminated the bitch does not leave her property to avoid any diseases or infections and no other dogs come onto the property. There are no restrictions on people. (Note: this varies from breeder to breeder).
E. Once inseminated the bitch is switched to puppy food - but kept on her normal diet quantities until she has an ultrasound at 5 weeks to confirm the pregnancy. (Again whether the ultrasound occurs depends on the breeder).
By that time you will probably be able to see if she is pregnant - her nipples start to swell slightly, she may have lost some hair around them also and she is likely to become even more loving and wanting to be with you. She may also start to dig/nest and you may notice that she is thicker around the waist and broader around the rib cage.
However, the ultrasound is done to be conclusive.
If she is pregnant then the following applies:
F. Often, in the 3rd week after mating, she will go off her food for about 10 days. It can be compared to the human 'morning sickness' although a dog does not usually vomit.
G. You start to increase her food - increase the volume by ¼ (at 5 weeks – after the ultra sound is done) and start to feed her things high in calcium - cottage cheese, egg yolks, yoghurt (Jalna brand). These additions continue until she has the puppies.
H. At 6 weeks: increase her food again by 25% and start dividing her feeds into 2 meals a day.
I. At 7 weeks: increase her food by another 25%
J. At 8 weeks she is on almost double her normal volume
H. From week 7 on you want to encourage the bitch to start sleeping in the whelping box and owning it. You need to make sure you have all the necessary equipment you need (sheets, dry bedding, thermometer, feeding bowls etc..) If the bitch doe snot already, she really needs to be sleeping inside from this time on, but with access to outside as her bladder is also compressed.
I. The area she will whelp in will need to be able to be screened off (pupy fencing works well, or a separate room altogether)and heated/cooled (a fan or portable heater and a power point are all that is needed) . Ideally you want the puppies in an area where they got used to lots of different noises, but were out of the way. You don't want lots of traffic going through their area - past it is OK, but not through it.
J. GP's tend to whelp a little early. Most dogs are day 62-63 from conception. GPs tend to be around day 56 - 60. So from day 56 you need to start watch her a bit more closely. This does not mean you cannot go out etc... Just check her more when you get home. From day 56 you will need to take her temperature 2-3 times a day. Generally it should drop just before she goes into labour
Once she starts to whelp you will need to limit visitors to you house - or at least the area the puppies and the bitch will be in - until the pups are 4 weeks old. And everyone who enters the house needs to take their shoes off at the front door for this time also. If the kids visit friends with dogs they will need to change clothes and wash hands before handling dam or puppies. The puppies are very susceptible to any disease and if they get sick will die within 48 hours. They have no resistance to anything until 2-3 weeks and then it is not very good resistance until about 4 weeks of age.
K. The whelping generally takes about 12 hours. It is good for your records to try and weigh each pup as it is born and mark them. This depends a bit on the bitch and how she reacts to the puppies being handled so soon. Some are great, other females do not let anyone near the pups for 2 days. It needs to be played by ear a little bit depending on the dams reactions.
How many people are around while she whelps and afterwards will also depend on her. Sometimes too many people can stress the mother and in extreme cases they kill the puppies rather than expose them to what they see as a threat. So any children will needs to play it by ear too - and be prepared to just sit and watch quietly, rather than participate.
L. The dam and puppies are taken to the vet the next morning for a check up. The dam should then do just about everything for them for the next 2 weeks or so. You just need to be feeding her 4 or more times a day (she will let you know how much she needs) giving her red meat, milk, calcium (lots of) and puppy food.
She will not want much attention given to the puppies - so probably limit handling of the pups. The dam will let you know if this distresses her. If it does, you just leave her and the pups alone for a few hours.
M .During this time you need to be checking the dam for mastitis daily - the calcium helps prevent this.
N. You also need to be weighing the pups once a day (and recording the weight) to make sure they are all putting on weight. If any are not gaining weight you may need to help with a bottle a few times a day. (we weigh our pups daily for the first 2 weeks and then weekly until they go to their new homes).
O. If you are removing dew claws, the puppies need to go them back to the vet when they are 3 days old to have them done. The dam also goes so that she is not separated from them.
P. After 2 weeks or so, the puppies nails are very long and will start to scratch the dam, so you need to cut them each week from then onward (other wise the dam may stop feeding the early due to the pain they cause) - very easy to do at this age. It is also the time to start putting them on their backs for a pat.
Q. At 2, 4 and 8 weeks the puppies will need to be wormed.
R. By 2-3 weeks they have teeth and the dam will probably not be so happy to feed them as it hurts. So around this time you start weaning them. For the first week it is just one meal a day - it is fun but very messy!
(Note: our GP’s wean early compared to some other breeds, so it may be up to 5-6 weeks before you wean your puppies)
S. From 3 weeks on they get 4-5 meals a day and very little from the dam. She will start spending more time away from them, with you. This is also the time she will stop cleaning up after them and that becomes the fun job of changing the newspaper regularly. Through out the day they get minced meat with water, soaked puppy food, cottage cheese, yoghurt, puppy porridge, puppy milk, cooked pumpkin (if you want to).
T. At 4 weeks of age the puppies are generally introduced to outside. If the weather is good they are fed out there - less mess to clean up inside. (Like babies it tends to be eat, wee/poo, play, sleep and then repeat the cycle) By now they are completely weaned from the dam and although they will still try to feed from her, they really just play with her when she wants to. She is no longer living with them. You can also let people back into your house - they just still need to be taking their shoes off before they come in.
U. From now on the puppies are really in your care. If the weather is nice they can be left outside for a few hours - as long as there is a kennel for them and water. They are still on 4 meals a day. They still get hot and cold very easily until they are about 7-8 weeks old. They needs to be sleeping inside at night. We do not provide 24 hour access to outside - you can if you want to - it just means a bit more cleaning up inside. We try to get them outside straight after waking up to vaguely start house training. We then feed outside (providing it is not raining) and let them play for a while until they tired and then either they put themselves in the kennel or if you are going out, put them back inside.
None of this is written in stone. The meals etc... Will need to fit in with your routines.
V. At 6 weeks of age the new owners can come and visit . They also get their first vaccination and get micro chipped at this point. The dam can then start going off your property for walks etc…
W. They then go to their new homes at 8 weeks of age.
As I said at the beginning – this is all just to give you an idea of what is involved. I have not covered what happens if the dam needs a caesarian section, or if the puppies get sick etc.. these are only the main steps.
There are numerous books available on this topic. If you are still interested in breeding – start reading! And see if the owner of the sire or long term breeders in your breed will act as mentors for you – their help will be invaluable, you can only learn so much from books – real life experience counts for a great deal.
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