592ab055   
   From: jo-wolf@webtv.net   
      
   Some of the risk to bitches in whelp and during and after whelping comes   
   from the fact that labor and delivery usually involve vets only when a   
   c-section is required.  The serious hobby breeder today (in the US,   
   anyhow, producing show and working dogs) has access to seminars by   
   reproduction (OB-GYN) and neonatal  specialty vets.  Such seminars are   
   rarely announced to the general public; few, if any of whom would pay   
   the money to attend.  These seminars add knowledge to the tough   
   practical experience of years, even decades, of attending to bitches   
   while whelping and the neonatal puppies.  Other educational programs are   
   available from highly admired and experienced breeders  with strong   
   records of raising healthy, mentally and physically outstanding pups   
   with neurological stimulation routines.... although these are also   
   available in magazine articles and books, and on the web.  For the most   
   part, however, it is the bitch's owner, with minimal, if any, prior   
   experience, who attends delivery and tends to mom and pups.  This is   
   where most problems begin.   
      
   We have NO idea of the maternal mortality rate. It's probably not too   
   high, or we wouldn't have the excess numbers of dogs being put to death   
   in shelters around the world.  When it's your own beloved bitch who dies   
   because you handled something incorrectly, didn't read a sign for a   
   complication, couldn't get her to a vet soon enough for an assisted   
   delivery of a stuck pup or an emergency c-section..... it's a very high   
   death rate.  Certainly the c-section rate is nothing like that for women   
   in the US.... and the rest of the world.... but by the time the   
   beginning owner recognizes the need and can get to the vet.... it can be   
   too late.   
      
   The death rate of puppies is unknown.... but in a litter of 7 puppies   
   from a well cared for purebred bitch in a show/working breeder's hands,   
   one survey showed an average of 2 pups lost before age of sale (at that   
   time about 7-8 weeks of age).  This included stillborns, pups eaten by   
   the mother (usually a first time mother), pups fatally injured by the   
   bitch in the process of chewing through the umbilical cord, pups refused   
   by the mother, birth defects (visible or not), pups smothered under the   
   mother in the whelping box, and other causes.   
      
   It is common for a bitch, shown by early x-ray or ultrasound exam to be   
   carrying a given number of pups to deliver fewer than visible; some   
   fetuses died and were reabsorbed.  Sometimes a mummified puppy is born.   
   In breeds with average litter sizes of multiple pups, a singleton pup or   
   just two will be extremely large and may not pass through the birth   
   canal.  When this is known, c-section can be planned.  Very large round   
   heads of pups of breeds such as Bulldogs prevent normal birth.  X-ray or   
   sonagram late in pregnancy can give a more accurate picture of numbers   
   and of head/total size to allow for planned c-section.   
   And then there is Murphy's Law and the old adage about expecting the   
   unexpected.  Uterine inertia, where the uterus just stops pushing the   
   pups out efficiently or effectively.... for instance.   
      
   As the mother is not being cloned, and the pups not raised entirely   
   identically to the mum, the puppies will not be "the same" as she is.   
   Not just physically, but in personality, temperament, behavior.  What   
   the breeder doesn't know about the other dogs in the bitch's pedigree   
   (even mixes have pedigrees, by definition), and the sire's pedigree can   
   come back to haunt the puppies.  And you can't trust earlier breeders in   
   that pedigree to be entirely honest..... or to know!..... about physical   
   and mental issues with other puppies in all of those litters.  It's a   
   gamble.   
      
   Placing pupies is an art, rather than a science.  Which homes available   
   are really suitable for the breed?  The individual puppy?  How does the   
   breeder identify the pup who wants to rule the world?  Is that puppy   
   simply mellow or does it have the type of shyness that leads to a   
   terrified biter?  Are the potential buyers honest about their home and   
   lifestyle?  Will they keep the dog secured or let it run loose in the   
   neighborhood?  Will they train it properly to live a well-behaved life   
   or not?  Can they afford basic preventive health care, and will they do   
   it?  What if, because of current economics, no one wants your puppies?   
   What if one or more pups ends up in the wrong home and you learn that   
   the owner wants to get rid of it; if you are responsible, you will take   
   it back at any time, for any reason.  How often do dogs of the breed end   
   up in animal welfare/rescue organizations?  This is a strong indicator   
   of how many suitable homes are out there.   
      
   True, bitches do not have a menopause.  But those eggs get more and more   
   "stale" by age.  There's a reason that commercial breeders   
   ("puppymills", "puppy farms") euthanize or dump into animal welfare   
   bitches older than 4-5 years of age; the litters get smaller, they may   
   see normal litter size, but more defects or neonatal deaths.  In their   
   case, the bitch is no longer a profit center.  For the serious hobby   
   breeder, who only breeds a bitch annually or every two years, retirement   
   usually comes before the age of 7..... at 5-6 years.  The retired bitch   
   stays in the breeder's home or is sold to a home that wants a settled,   
   mature dog.  More and more, I am hearing that the reproductive   
   speciaists are suggesting no more than 2-3 litters per bitch, and as   
   many breeders do not breed a bitch before two years of age, alternating   
   years for breeding put the bitch at about 6 years for her last litter,   
   at 4 years for annual breeding of 3 litters.   
      
   This all is why I said to discuss this with your vet.  Breeding a dog is   
   not to get a carbon copy of mom or dad.  It's Only to produce the   
   healthiest, most typical dogs of a breed.   
      
   Jo Wolf   
   Martinez, Georgia   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)