Breeding And Whelping General Information

In light of what we are all trying to do and produce...ensuring we are doing the best we can, I thought it fitting to the topic of breeding...the dictionary definition of the following ~~
To *Breed*: a line DELIBERATELY cultivated by man ...(true we have handpicked all our lines to meet our personal likes and dislikes)!
A *Breeder*: a producer of an animal SUITABLE, and primarily used for breeding...(are we truly using and producing the best we can)!
*Breeding*: The scientific production of new IMPROVED variety of...(and are we truly improving the breed with every breeding we do)!
The bottom line here is if you do not know what you are doing - DON'T Do It! The world is already to full of burn't recipes. You are toying with a breed that has had its share of problems, and more because many who just decided to have a litter, have no idea what ingredients they are adding.
Please note that my answers are based on my 20 years of breeding and by no means are meant for you not to seek veterinarian attention or other professional advice. There are many excellent breeder written documents on the internet, and what you are about to read is my contribution and only a tip of the iceberg.

Breeding:The decision has been made, you have a sound bitch or stud dog, and you have decided it's time to breed, you have either picked your male stud dog for your bitch, or you have ok'd a breeding of a bitch to a stud dog, and chances are, you are going to get a pick puppy out of the litter, so make sure you know as much about the genetics of the pedigree as you can, in so far as grandparents and great grandparents and even further back if you can, and if you have been breeding long enough, then you will generally know the history of many of the dogs even further back, and a little about their history, colour, coat textures, etc. My philosophy is and has always been, the only dogs I breed, are dogs and bitches that exhibited excellent health, sound temperament, good ears, no indications of immune system deterioration(no reactions to bee stings, black fly bites etc), no eye problems, no coat problems, sound joints, no heat cycle problems, they should have regular heat cycles, and I do look at the whelping history, and number of puppies in the litter, as I have found that bitches that I keep, usually follow in their mothers footsteps. Any dogs not falling into this category, are released as pets to good homes, whether I get my money back on the dogs or not. In the past I have purchased dogs, that developed certain indications that would warrant my personal discontinuance of the breeding, however, the breeder did not feel the same way - I go with my guts - the only way to rid repeats of health problems is to stop it in its tracks and not breed it. Generally I get the most successful breedings with my bitches on 12th day of her heat cycle(bleeding), however we have had ties as early as the 9th day and as late as the 24th day, but these are very infrequent, and we generally will do two breedings 2-3 days apart. If you are sending out a bitch to be bred, then request to be present with the animals, unless of course, you know and trust your breeder, I prefer everyone breeding their bitches to my stud dogs, watch the tie. If it is not possible to watch th breeding take place, request a photo of the tie. Soooooo ! you have done the breeding and now the countdown is on.
Countdown and Whelping:If it is your first litter, it is an exciting wait - the closer you get, the more anxious you feel and maybe you are just a little nervous. I always ask anyone who is expecting a litter from my breedings, to put me on a reminder 24 hour alert. There have been many times, I have had phone assisted deliveries, and will remain available to help out. Generally I mark the calendar for 64 days after my breeding however, I am prepared from the 58th day on, as I have had both earlier and later deliveries, and can only really go by my bitches body language. As the weeks go by, you may notice several changes in your female, they may tire more easily, they may vomit a little, they may be more hungary, or slightly more aggressive. In the fourteen years I have been breeding - I have never had a C-section or uterine inertia, or had to use oxytocin, however one must be prepared for this as well. The last four weeks of my bitches pregnancy are supplemented with Vitamin C - 500mg, kelp - 350mg and the true miracle worker of pregnancies and easy whelping - red raspberry leaves in gel capsules(available at health stores) 1 a day for the duration - red raspberry leaves strengthen the uterus for delivery and ensure the bitch has strong contractions for delivering pup and placenta. I also add to their regular diet, raw egg, yogurt, lots of fruit, and cottage cheese - I do not upgrade their food protein, as I find this delivers too big of whelps. As the time draws close, you will see her nipples drop, belly expand, and the tell tale true sign of pregnancy - those wonderful little butterfly movements as she is lying on her side - placing your hand there, you can definitely feel them moving. Time goes quickly, and soon you will see a long stringy discharge from the vulva, delivery is within 2 weeks of this. My bitches generally do not eat the day they are going to deliver, but not all do this, they are usually nervous and running around the house looking for a nesting ground digging, panting, and there is usually fluid dripping from the vulva area. At this point I usher the mom-to-be into the plastic pool, with her sheets, and she can dig and shred all she wants. I sit through the whole thing and I do deliver all my puppies myself, that way I can see everything, make sure the cord is cut preventing umbilical hernias, towel dry every puppy quite vigorously, making sure they scream real loud to rid their lungs of fluids, preventing breather pups, and I then place them with mom for final cleaning, and watch her make them go to the bathroom, watch how she is going to interact with them, get them sucking and nursing efficiently, by this time I am ready for the second one, I remove the first baby, and put it in the cardboard box beside mom, with a nice clean towel in it and my heat lamp about 24" (to start) away from them, this gives them the heat required to dry their coats, and they nestle quitely while mom proceeds to deliver #2. I have had pups come anywhere rom 20 minutes apart to several hours apart. Double check unbilical cords for bleeding, and if necessary tie tightly off with thread or dental floss. Check every pup for a placenta. Sometimes I will assist delivering a large whelp. Upon presentation of the pup and sack, I will wait until I can get a comfortable grip with a dry towel around the pup and I will pull with the contractions, gently, sometimes for the bitch, the last pushes of the pup, are the hardest and most exhausting, caution must exercised as pulling too hard too soon may cause damage to the whelp. Pups usually come out wiggling, I tear open and off the sac, gently squeezing back the fluids in the umbilical cord into the pups belly before cutting the cord about 1" away from pups belly. I let mom clean up the mess and I clean up pup and massage fluid from throat, if puppy is not breathing, I gently blow into the nostrils (with mouth shut) little puffs of air, within seconds I usually get a reaction and pup gasps for air. I try for about 5 minutes before I accept the pup is a stillborn. This is repeated until all pups and placenta's have been delivered. You can usually tell when it is all over by the way the bitch just relaxes with her babies and goes off to sleep, I can generally probe the stomach area and can tell when it is empty (this comes with experience). It has been noted, when I deliver puppies, that I see green fluids, red fluids, clear fluids and of course the odour it unmistakable, you will always remember the smell of birthing puppies. All this is normal, and again, with the red raspberry leaves, all usually goes well. Pups have been presented to me feet first, head first, bum first, in the sacs and with the sac broken, and some positions are a litle more difficult, but we have always managed to get the pups out with no fatalities. With my bitches on the supplements throughout the pregnancy, my pups have always been healthly with no problems. I remove dewclaws immediately to 1 day after(depending on how tired I am) and eyes are tacked between 12 to 18 days if required. First vaccinations, and puppy check up at six weeks, and weaning done at 4 weeks. My bitches generally bounce right back, lose their coats when pups are about 4-7 weeks of age, with no problems, everything returns to normal. Heating lamps are on and regulated at a distance of 36" from whelping box, to maintain regular heat, and prevent any puppy illness. Bedding is changed daily, and we use a flanel type blanket so pups have traction, and get proper exercise when nursing. Pups nails are clipped every 5 days to keep from irritating and scratching moms nipples. Generally we see happy, full, twitching and dreaming babies who are generally quite content throughout the first four weeks. I recommend anyone in the position of expecting puppies, who is inexperienced, get in touch with an experienced breeder for assistance, should you run into complications or anticipate them, or plain just have more questions.

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