Q: dog pregnant

Answered by Swoozie on 8/8/2006, 8:15 am

A: dog pregnant

First off, you have to know your dog's estrous cycle, does she come into heat every 6 months, 8 months etc.. A dog does not skip an estrous cycle, nor in it delayed when they're pregnant. A female generally starts to wean the puppies at 4 weeks of age and no, she wouldn't become pregnant 4 weeks after being bred, unless she coes into estrous every month. Basically, if your dog comes into heat every 6 months, from the day she was bred till she had her puppies is 2 months, then she weaned them a month later at 4 weeks, she wouldn't come into heat for another 3 months.

What you need to do to prevent your females from getting pregnant again is to have her spayed AND your male neutered. Having her spayed totally eliminates the risk of her developing uterine cancer and and life threatening uterine infections such as pyometra and drastically decreases the risk of developing mammary cancer...Everytime she goes through an heat/estrous cycle, it increases the percentage rate of her developing these life threatening health problems. First heat put the risk at 1%%, second heat 8%%, third heat 25%%. Also spaying prevents any unwanted pregnancies and you won't have to deal with the mess/bleeding, male dogs hanging out around your home, or her trying to escape and "roam" in search of a male which could lead to her death from getting hit by a car, or stolen, or poisoned.

Having your male neutered totally eliminates the chance of his ever developing testicular cancer, decrease the risk of enlarged prostrate and infections, plus reduce the risk of him developing perianal adenomas which can turn cancerous. Neutering will prevent him from roaming when he gets the scent of a bitch in heat which could lead to his death from getting hit by a car, or stolen, or poisoned. Plus it will discourage the undesireable habits of humping you and your guest, and marking on you furniture.

There's a lot more to breeding than just putting 2 dogs together to have puppies..

Breeding is done for the betterment of the breed, NOT PROFIT, not because you want a playmate for your dog, not to produce mixed breed dogs, not because you feel you dogs' life will be fulfilled, nor to show your children the miracle of birth or because you think it would be fun to have just 1 litter, or you just have to have one of your dogs babies.. Breeding is done for the goal of producing puppies of superior quality, puppies that personify the breed, with the right conformation, free from any genetic health problems and excellent temperament. To achieve superior puppies both parents have to be of superior quality themselves. Both parents should have earned the title of "Show Champion". Both parents and ancestors should be free of any genetic health problems that run in the breed. You need to know the background of both dogs, plus your dog and the sire need to have health testing done to make sure neither one has any genetic problems. If your dog was bought from a pet store, it is NOT breed quality. To breed two dogs that have the same genetic health problems, they're intensified in the puppies and all you'll be breeding is heartache. You will be creating living breathing things that someone is going to love and cherish and anyone that buys a puppy from you deserves to have a puppy that won't grow up and he riddled with health problems, problems which could have been avoided. You wouldn't want it to happen to you, so don't make it happen for someone else. How heartbroken would you be if at 2 years old you have to pay over $3,000 to have your dogs hip replaced or $6,000 to have both replaced because the person you bought your puppy from didn't want to spend the money to have the parents hips checked and they bred their dog anyway? Just because your dog is cute, has a functioning uterus and a registered pure bred, does not mean it's of breed quality or free of genetic health problems. You think you're going to make profit off breeding your dog? Till you show your dog, do all the prebreed testing, pay for stud fees, prenatal exams, sonagrams, you've already spent a pretty penny and the puppies haven't even hit the floor yet.. Then come the puppies and with that, there's the cost of the extra food, vet visits, vaccines, being wormed and if your dog during delivery has any complications, you can add in the cost of an emergency visit to the vets for a ceasarian section. Lots of breeds such as chihuahua's, particularly small toy breeds, flat faced breeds cannot free whelp and have to have a scheduled c-section in order to deliver their pups to avoid complications. With delivery complications, there's always a risk your dog and the entire litter will die should she have any breached pups, pups that are too big and she can't deliver them. Will you be able to forgive yourself if your dog dies from having a litter?? What happens when you advertise your puppies and you get no calls? Do you have the extra room and finances to raise this litter or will you pack them up and haul them off to the shelter to add to the already tragically high amount of puppies waiting for homes because other people had the bright idea to breed their dog? Can you afford the time off work to help care for this litter? What if your dog abandons and refuses to care for the litter or tries to kill all the puppies?? Are you willing to get up every 2 hours to bottle feed them and stimulate their bottom so they can relieve themselves? What if the litter come down with Parvo? Do you have the finances to have the entire litter treated? Parvo spreads through a litter like wild fire and kills all the pups unless intensive veterinary care is given. Having just 1 puppy treated for Parvo can exceed $1,000.

Do you plan on being a responsible reputable breeder or a backyard breeder/small time puppy miller?

A reputable breeder will not breed a dog before 2 years of age. Dogs are not physically nor mentally mature to have or raise a litter before 2 years of age.

A reputable breeder would never ever breed unless prebreed testing was done for specific genetic problems that run in their breed.. Things to test for:

Brucellosis (Canine Venereal Disease) Both Male and Female must be tested
http://www.vetinfo.com/dencyclopedia/debrucel.html

Hip and Elbow dysplasia - Xrays taken then submitted to the OFA (Orthopedic Foundation of Animals)


Eyes tested by a Canine Ophthalmologist for:
Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA)
Cataracts
Entropion
Sub-aortic Stenosis
Cardiomyopathy
Renal dysplasia
VonWillibrands
Thyroid Disorders
Epilepsy
Cerebella Ataxia (CA)


Are you going to guarantee the health of your puppies for up to 2 years to be free from any genetic health problems and should the puppy develop any medical problems, replace the puppy, refund the money, or help pay to correct the problem? A reputable breeder will, a backyard breeder won't... In some states, there's something called "The Puppy Lemon Law" where you are responsible for the health of a puppy and if a puppy you sell is unhealthy or has any genetic health problems, you, by law have to pay back double the purchase price, or pay 1½ times the purchase price of the dog in veterinary expenses should the buyer of the puppy elects to have it treated. You could very well be dipping into your savings to correct the health problems you created, so kiss that profit good-bye...

Puppy Lemon Law: http://www.malteseonly.com/lemon.html


Are you going to have a contract stating that if anytime during the life of the dog, if for any reason the owner has to get rid of it, that the dog be given back to you, not taken to a shelter, so you can find it a home? A reputable breeder will.. A reputable breeder is apart of the puppies lives from the minute they're whelped till the day they die.

Are you going to have a spay/neuter contract where the owner has to have their puppy spayed or neutered by a certain age or the puppy has to be returned to you?? A reputable breeder will..

Are you going to screen people to make sure the breed of your puppy is suited for their life style ie. not selling a small toy breed to a house full of rowdy young kids or a large breed to someone living in a small apartment, not sell a high energy dog to someone who's a couch potato...Are you going to make sure a perspective buyer has a fenced yard, can afford medical care regardless of the cost for their puppy including emergencies? A reputable breeder will refuse to sell a puppy to someone if they aren't suited for the breed or they feel the puppy won't be provided with quality care dispite the cost.

Here's a perfect example of why puppies and rowdy kids don't mix and why a breeder needs to make sure a person can afford a puppy, especially emergency treatment.
http://www.practical-pet-care.com/dog_question.php?ID=1.2006020103030220


There's a lot more that goes into breeding than you might think. Haphazardly putting a male and female together to "mate", isn't breeding, it's allowing two dogs to have a whoopie party. If you aren't willing to put your heart and soul into it, spend the money or devote the time to produce superior puppies, do yourself and your dog a favor and have her spayed. Spaying her will totally eliminate the chance of her ever getting uterine cancer or infections and drastically reduce the risk of her developing mammary cancer...

If you are truely passionate about your breed of dog and don't want to be responsible for producing anymore inferior/poorly bred dog loaded with health problems, have her spayed. By spaying her and not breeding her, you have done your part to better the breed ;-)

Reasons not to Breed:

http://www.workingdogs.com/vcnobreed.htm
http://shelties.gotdns.com/BeBreeder.html

How to recongnize a "reputable breeder" :

http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Fair/1901/chart.html

Just one litter?

http://justonelitter.com/litter.html

Each day close to 100,000 puppies are born and countless amounts are put to death. There's an overwhelming surplus of puppies and dogs in shelters that need homes and allowing accidental breedings or haphazardly breeding only adds to the over population, plus for every puppy your dog has, it takes a home away from some puppy or dog sitting in a shelter, which will eventually be euthanized because there aren't enough homes :-( Your litter may very well take the life of a living, loving, wonderful puppy or dog that's waiting in a shelter to be adopted.








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