Female Puppy Heat?

[Shelby]

Honestly, Do not breed your female to a mutt. She can breed to any male dog. Even a Chihuahua if you wanted. Personally, it is easier to find homes for purebreeds than mutts. Actually to be honest a litter of pups can have more than one 'daddy' dog. Females can get pregnant by more than one male while they are in heat.

If you can afford to buy a male to breed her to you can afford a stud fee. Choose another purebreed. Personally there are too many people out there who breed their dogs for multiple idiotic reasons. I've heard everything from

"oh its such a good dog, I bet they'd produce great pups"
"she would make a good momma"
"the babies would be so cute"
"it will help him/her mature"
"everyone should get to be a momma"
"its good to let them breed once before you spay/neuter"

All BullS&*% reasons and none of them are true. Dogs do not mature "more" or "better" if you breed them.

 

[nitro7]

im sorry but i think this post is a bit upsetting,because there is a lot of people out their that just breed dogs for the money,dont care where the dogs go or what happens to them as long as they are better off,i used to empty the bins at a cat and dog center.the amount of pups that were in there was unreal,people can just buy them on a whim and when they get sick of them(well we all know what happens)in my job i have had to pick up dogs that have been left to roam the streets and been run over,dogs that have been miss treat,been to court to get people band from keeping dogs.if you buy a pup its because you want them as part of your family,when you get them they are your baby.it took us 10 years to get another one when our brie died.so all i can say to people out there who just breed dogs for the money(well cant say on here )sorry for the rant but its some thing that realy gets to me

 

[biokid101]

im not breeding for money..im possibly breeding for experience cause it may help me decide what i want to do when i grow up..if i enjoy it or not..i might become a vet or animal rescuer or anything that involves animals rlly..
i was just using her to breed with a mix male as an example no dog in specific. but for the sake of her health i may not breed her with a mutt..i didnt know they can get pregnant by more than one dog!!?? thats a shocker

 

[Shelby]

Honestly, you will NOT enjoy breeding. The amount of work that goes into it is unreal. Momma cleans up for 4 weeks. Then you wean the pups and are cleaning up massive amounts of pee and pooh for another four weeks, possibley longer if you can't get rid of them right at 8 weeks. At six possibly 7 weeks you will have to start separating them because they begin to fight for dominance. After 8 weeks you try housebreaking or crate training. You are getting up in the middle of the night 3 or 4 times. It's not just one pup you gotta take out so 10 minutes isn't going to do the trick. As soon as one wakes up they ALL wake up. You have to take them all out and hopefully there are no accidents before you can get them all out. By the time my pups were 8 weeks I went through 240 pounds of puppychow. 2 rounds to the vet for shots.

 

[biokid101]

oh wow..that makes me think a little harder..its 8 weeks until they can leave their mom and honestly it doesnt seem like a long time just 2 months but i might say otherwise when i actually have them everyday..she wont have many in her first litter right?? maybe 4 or 5..i never heard of them fighting for dominance in their own home..i can just leave the puppies in the backyard for them to pee and the mother for a walk cause way to many leashes to handle..this is just if i breed her

 

[Shelby]

My female had 3 litters. 10 in the first 2 litters and 9 in the last one! They do fight for dominance and it starts really young. It's just when they hit 6 to 8 weeks that they really can hurt each other. You keep them for 8 weeks because during weeks 6 through 8 they really learn "pack" behavior. Having even a single dog in a home is still a "pack" just with the human as the "pack leader" as Ceaser Milan says. Even though I think he's a fruit that is the best way to explain it. You can't just leave pups outside all the time. You have predaters, such as owls, hawks, eagles, racoons, etc. It all depends on the dog on how many pups they have. Typically as the dog gets older the litters get smaller. Hopefully the dog is able to have them on her own rather than having an emergency C-section. Buckoo bucks there. The mother could also possibly die in birth which leads to a litter of pups that have to be tube fed every 2 hours for the few weeks. Lots to think about.

 

[BethK]

breeding a dog to see if you want to be a vet, is not a reason at all, that is very selfish.

Want to get experience with animals to determine your educational career, volunteer at an animal rescue centre or our local livery stables

 

[Curiosity101]

livery stables

More often known as 'boarding stables' in the US, seems obvious that the terms are interchangable but just incase the OP doesn't know.

 

[biokid101]

the animal shelter here is nasty and its small and the ppl there r..blahh! we found two homeless cats in our driveway by our garbage and they were starving so we took them to the animal shelter(they had collars) and we put em in a box first and they were threatening to fine us!! dont know why but they were clueless...next year im gonna get a job at one of the 3 pet stores in this city.
well if ppl dont breed dog for fun,money experience..then what do they breed for..what do u breed for shelby??
another reason why we want to breed her is because shes goregous and its better than buying another one for 2000 dollars not to sound selfish or anything..and im NOT

 

[Curiosity101]

well if ppl dont breed dog for fun,money experience..then what do they breed for..

Most responsible breeders breed to produce good healthy examples of their breed of dog. And by good examples, I mean conforming strongly to kennel club listed specifications for the breed. For examples the spanish water dog breed standard can be found here --> Spanish water dog breed standard

They also normally only breed a good conformational dog if it is also free of any breed related diseases/deformities and has a good temperament.

The people who breed to improve/retain the characteristics of the breed are often part of the showing circuit and so their lifetime goal is to breed pups which win medals and rosettes for being 'good examples' etc etc.

People who don't show often breed their dogs because there is a demand for the pups in the area and they have gone through the checklist of whether their dog is suitable or not for breeding in the first place. And have also home checked any potential homes/quizzed any potential owners and have a waiting list ready for before the mating even happens.

 

[Shelby]

Yay History lesson time. The original breeder/founder/genetic engineer of the German Shepherd Dog was Max vom Stephonitz in Germany. In the early 1900's he created a breed standard test spefically for the GSD called Schutzhund. Literally translated schutzhund is "protection dog" passing the breed test is more than prancing around the ring with a pretty dog. Schutzhund has 3 phases. tracking obedience and protection. If you google schutzhund you can find out what all three phases actually involve. You must pass all three phases with your dog. In Germany the dog doesn't pass all these tests they don't get bred. Our dogs begin training at 8 weeks old and we train literally every other day until the dog is old enough to show at 15months for the first test of the BH. that is temperament and obedience. tarin for another 3 months if you pass your BH to get your SchH1 (schutzhund 1) at 18 months. some dogs wash out before they can achieve the Schutzhund3 title. Then of course you have to of had the hips and elbows x-rayed to make sure there are no issues. Then you have to make sure your dog is within the breed standard looks. Color (for the gsd no white markings or toenails) Coat (under coat and outer coat cant be too long. Long hair is a fault) body length, height, eye color, chest depth,weight, etc. I spend hours upon hours, months upon months, even years, training my dogs. Why do i breed? Because my dogs are true working german shepherd dogs. I breed to better the breed and to try to strengthen the watered down deformed american version of the German Shepherd. My GSD's are correctly formed structurally with flat backs rather than the sloped american version and they are working dogs.

google search images of american german shepherds and then go to www.gonetodogsgsd.com and check out the structural difference.

 

[Curiosity101]

Wow, I never know that GSDs had such an in depth breed standards test. Do you know if this applies to any other breeds?

And this is marginally off topic (And probably means very little) but... I totally support you keeping up the original standards. I'm really not a fan of the american GSDs, they just don't look right...

 

[Shelby]

American GSD's tend to be deformed unfortunately. with the sloped back it totally deformed thier hips. you can really see a difference in xrays. just looking at them you can see the way thier butts are so low to the ground its impossible for them to move correctly. its a big reason alot of police depts actually went to the belgian malinois. they are now going back to the gsd because of temperament issues with the mals. i really didnt mean to hi-jack the thread and make it about gsd's though. i just wanted to point out that breeding isnt about just throwing two dogs together and hoping you get puppies. you really need to know about bloodlines, standards, achievements, etc before you breed. a responsible breeder really works hard to better thier chosen breed. breeding because you dont want to pay for another dog is rediculous. especially because by the time you are done paying for puppy care and the like you are spending way more than the cost of buying a puppy from a reputable breeder or rescuing one from a shelter. breeding to see if you want to be a vet is also rediculous. being a vet involves a genuine love for ALL animals. there is NO comparison between breeding dogs and treating sick and dying animals or putting a perfectly healthy animal to sleep because you cant find a home for it and there is no more room for stray unwanted dogs and cats. interview your local kill shelters and find out how many healthy animals are put down every year because no one wants them and then think about contributing to those numbers. because that is what you would be doing.
to answer curiosity101, a lot of breeds actually participate in schutzhund. it has become a sport all over the world. off the top of my head i can list boxers,dobes,rotties, giant snauzers,malinois, a lot of the bully breeds. none preform like the gsd though as it was created for the gsd. look on ypu tube for videos. its fascinating to watch the dogs and handlers preform as a team and see how in tune they are.

 

[biokid101]

wow lots of info lol..lilus been doing good with occasional barking at other dogs when they pass by our house

 

[nessar]

Shelby, I dont mean to hijack this thread but just wanted to ask a few quick questions...

I imagine the straight-backed gsds you breed dont suffer from the same intense arthiritus at such a young age like normal gsds do?

And I was under the impression that kennel club and crufts value the lower hips or is this not the case?

I have had 3 white alsations, and even though their hips are usually higher than the black and tan ones, have had real issues with hips. I wonder if possibly you know of a similar breeding scheme in the uk?