Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 1:36 pm Post subject: Breeding again...
I bred my beloved Rosie last year and she had 6 beautiful puppies... all gone to wonderful homes
I have been indecisive about doing it all over again. Mainly because I would be devastated if it all went wrong and I lost my princess. However, I want another dog and it will mean so much more if it was one of Rosie's pups...
So after months of changing my mind and thinking about it, decision has been made. I am breeding her again next year.
It will be the very last time I do it and I am keeping one!! Then I will have Rosie spade.
Should be easier this time as I know what to expect... but I am sure the nerves will still run wild.
Anyone ever thought twice before re-breeding? What were your concerns? Was the 2nd experience better?
Thats a very open ended question 'Is the second time better'? Depends if the first time wasn't to your liking...? Often a bitch repeats how she mated, whelped and raised the puppies.... so if something in that was a real problem its always better to call it quits unless you really go in with your eyes open.
Of course you know what to expect a little bit more the second time. So not quite so much is crazily worrying or might cause you to overreact as most first time breeders do to things which are entirely normal but 'look wierd or wrong'.
Any decent person or breeder with morals thinks through each time they mate a bitch, and there are usually *some* negatives against the positives. Maybe timing. Maybe a problem that occured last time healthwise. Maybe your own slightly unpredictable circumstances with maybe work, moving house, weddings, funerals and holidays!! Its rarely 'the perfect' time to mate a bitch.
If you aren't mating her anytime soon you still have plenty of time to think it over and change your mind fifty times, and I expect you will. But try and enjoy it, settle on a stud dog as quickly as you reasonably can so you can spread the word and gather a decent waiting list (the puppy market isn't *brilliant* at the moment) and settle into the idea and enjoy the ride
Di
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The boys!
Read: Wylanbriar Dog Blog on the website: Updated! 1st February 12´!
I allow my bitch as much contact with her pups till the day they go as she would like unless its ridiculously zealous, and the little bitey, snarly, grabby ratlets generally put them off if you give them their head
The only thing I insist on is she stays away from them for an hour before I feed them a meal, so they eat MY food not hers.... but they always find room for milk afterwards from mum!
From day one I never shut her in with them so how much contact she has is up to her, but by weeks 6 and 7 i find they want to interact with each other more than mum and just hurl themselves at her boobs when she appears
Chances are if you thought last time was genuinely 'perfect' this time won't. As few matings, pregnancies, whelpings and litters are perfect, start to finish, so prepare yourself for a roughier ride and if it IS 'perfect' again you are one lucky soul!
Di
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The boys!
Read: Wylanbriar Dog Blog on the website: Updated! 1st February 12´!
Interesting... and I was told it was important to wean them off mum by 6 weeks. You didn't find this was the case?
I used to feed them first and when the odd occasion I allowed Rosie in with them they would want more milk. So I suppose next time I will not worry as much about that and just let her play.
Every breeder will tell you something different because thats the way *they* do it. I have never had set goals in my head for anything. No-one holds a gun to me on any part of raising a litter because each litter and bitch is different. Over the years, some of my girls want nothing to do with feeding pups from the minute you start weaning t around 3 weeks. Some will be right 'earth mothers' and want to go in constantly. Some, which are in the majority, will go in when their boobs fill, and not when they don't.
I manage how much milk my bitch produces as far as possible by reducing her own food back to normal adult maintennce food and two meals a day by the time the pups leave, so she has next to nothing anyway, it just looks like she does as she will produce a fair bit of fluid, but its got no real consistancy to it and no real benefit to the pups, its more of a comfort thing, possibly for both of them, so whether she is doing it or not, it matters not! Those who want to go in, i just keep away for an hour before each pup mealtime....
Bitches who get 'suddenly stopped' who WANT to feed go through a LOT of discomfort as their milk drys up.
So the balance is, as you up the pups food, you down the bitches food, and give her complete freedom to escape from them 24/7, and nature tends to work its own magic.
Pups who get a sneaky suckle now and then up to the day they go aren't 'harder to settle in new homes' or anything like that. And its far less stressful for everyone (you, pups, mum) if you take a laid back attidtude to it all and just make it so that there ISN'T milk worth a damn there by way of how much and what she is fed.
Di
____________
The boys!
Read: Wylanbriar Dog Blog on the website: Updated! 1st February 12´!
Or you can see it on the 'Breeding' part of my website 'www button below' which has other breeding articles you might find interesting... but VERY happy to email it too.
Di
____________
The boys!
Read: Wylanbriar Dog Blog on the website: Updated! 1st February 12´!
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Breeding again...
'Is the second time better'? Depends if the first time wasn't to your liking...? Often a bitch repeats how she mated, whelped and raised the puppies.... so if something in that was a real problem its always better to call it quits unless you really go in with your eyes open.
