Lyla

My last girl dropped gradually over the last 5 days or so from high 37's and was hovering between 36.6 to 37.1 in the 2 days before whelping. I was doing temps about 3-4 times a day, got a drop to 36.1 one morning and she gradually went into labour later that day. It was hard reading the signs though as she had big pups, and went on day 63. I had expected her to go a good few days earlier. (wish she had as pups grew to big to be born naturally)

That's crap. Rutherford RSPCA is always full. Guess that just means the poor dogs and cats end up with next to no chance if they aren't claimed straight away.

Excerpt from email I received last week: Dear breeders, I'm looking for a black female pup. Do you still have one available? I would really like the traditional style 'fat head' lab - sorry for the uneducated description. It seems India fits the bill. I know I can offer a dog a good home. My family have had labradores as pets and hunting dogs since as long as I can remember. I'm sure this is the pet for me. Let me know if you can help. Thanks, Dear breeders??? It seems India fits the bill - I think not. For someone who has had labs for as long as they can remember you would think they would actually know a bit about them....or at least how to spell it. Love the generic emails.

Agree! Breeding is more than a beauty contest.

Well I consider myself to be the "general public" as you put it, but maybe with a little more knowledge / expertise / experience in my breed. As a breeder you do have a code of ethics to abide by, so if you tell me I have to let you breed your dog because it's no longer mine, where does that leave me? I have had plenty of bad experiences in my short time as a breeder, so isn't it in your best interest to take some of my experience to save yourself some heartache? My recommendations do not come from being elitist, but purely by trying to do the right thing by my breed and the purchaser...in line with the code of ethics. As for breeding your dogs for free, well that's not really a reality in my world. I have a breed that requires hip and elbow scoring of both parents to register the litter, so that is a mere $600 for each dog. Apart from that IF their scores are good, there are the unexpected pregnancy problems. For example - my only litter last year was lost to a uterine infection at day 52. Cost to me $1600. This years litter - traumatic labour due to large pups (I have a common, natural birthing breed), ending in an after hours emergency caeser, 2 lost pups and maiden bitch has ruptured uterus. Cost of $2500, and bitch cannot be bred again. So out of 2 litters, I have 5 live pups, one I will keep, 4 to sell will barely cover the cost of 2 vet bills. Anyway, the point is that breeding pedigree pups costs money. (though if you are a vet maybe this makes my point redundant!) If someone asks you should they breed their dog, you could say that in your opinion the dog appears fit and healthy, but they should refer back to their breeder for mentoring and advice. Nomatter how magnificent the dog, whelping requires knowledge (and usually some back up funds). ;) I only say this as while vets can give certain lines of advice, so can the breeder. Maybe the pup was put on limited reg as it may be a carrier of a certain genetic condition. Some times the breeder knows things the vet cannot. Hopefully my post has not offended you as I am only trying to show my viewpoint as Joe Average who happens to breed the odd litter, and has had her share of bad luck in doing so. I don't quite get, though, why I would be preaching on the health of my breed? Plenty of potential health issues in any breed IMO.

So you are expecting a breeder to use their name and prefix to get you a litter? I think the majority of pet owners think their dogs are fabulous, and therefore are breed worthy, but loving your dog does not make it breed worthy. If you and your friends want a pup, maybe a repeat mating from the same parents is more likely to reproduce what you want. ETA: The breeder also has their own reputation to think about. If I let you breed a nice-ish dog from one of my litters, you sell a pup on mains to your mate, who breeds his ok-ish dog etc etc, before long there are some not so great examples of the breed walking around with your prefix in their pedigree. Just a thought. ;)

Bernese mountain dog .....or the smaller version... black tri aussie!!

Agree with the above. A giant breed should not be bred from until well after the age it is old enough to be scored. There are so many variables with hip and elbow problems, that it is difficult to suggest what should happen from here. No blame can be laid on the breeder if she is breeding from dogs with good hips and elbows. Sometimes it is just bad luck. I had a dog who's parents had excellent scores, yet my dog came back with double the breed avg score. It was really devastating at the time, so I contacted the breeder to find out if any of the siblings in the litter had issues. His brother had a near perfect score, so in my mind that helped me rule out that it was an issue caused by the breeding. Maybe you might be able to find out if any other pups from the same litter have issues. It might help with peace of mind at least.

Awesome! You've really nailed that one. :D

I think it's about $200ish for a lab boy, and around the $300+ mark for a girl around here. I think the GE thing is pricey, but it's good to know it's there if something unexpected happens. I nearly needed it recently for my $2200 bill for after hours caeser and puppy resusc. Thankfully the inlaws credit card helped out, as it's not so easy to access cash at 5am on a Sunday morning.

Nice pic, but the first one looks more wolfish to me, I think because the ears look small. I think the snout looks a bit dishy, but that could be the lighting or shading making it look less square between the eyes. Maybe colour rather than black and white would make it look a little more GSD. I think your shading of the ears is really good though. :D ;) It's a very handsome doggy none-the-less. I love your pics.

I have also donated. Will do another donation on payday. If I were closer I would love to take one of the dogs. Great work Julie and everyone helping out.

Excellent post. All of us are always learning, no one knows everything. Even though I would consider that I know far more than joe average, I have refrained from asking questions that I would have liked some knowledgable answers from, because I KNEW most of the answers would be snide and belittling. Think back to when you started on DOL, and think of where you are now. Isn't it the point of this forum to educate people and help the become "dog savvy"? To the OP: owning entire dogs is a lot of hard work. How you describe your male is exactly the behaviour I get from my boy. I also recommend desexing when they are old enough if they are not required to be entire for showing/ breeding. I find my male far too unpredictable because he has this drive that I cannot control, mainly in regards to recall and training. If he gets a girly scent, that is the end of him. He zones out, he cannot ever be offleash, he wont eat, he gets very loud and overprotective. He has even cocked his leg and marked me. He drives me nuts. When he is just being him without the distractions he is a beautiful, big, loving sook. I much prefer desexed males.

What an awful thing to go through. Glad the kids didn't get hurt.

The butt pic makes me think bulldog, and the last pic reminds me of my neighbours boxer. That being said, I am no pug expert. Don't pugs have more prominent eyes?

Great work Lola! No worries with the milk supply here. At 1 week old my lot weigh the same as my last litter at 2 weeks old. No wonder she had trouble giving birth. The are a bunch of porkers.

Just noticed I am down for a few more pups than I have! I have 2 boys, 3 girls.(plus 1 boy and 1 girl died)

Congrats to all the new additions. All the bubs are gorgeous. Cazzie so sorry for your loss. It must be heartbreaking for you. Choc bc hope mum is better. Shellbyville I can't believe how enormous your girl was in those pics! My pups are 6 days old today but are such fat little piggies they could pass for twice their age. Indi is doing great with her mothering, and has recovered well from her ordeal. She is none too impressed that she can't hang out with the rest of the gang though, but she is on "light duties" for 2 weeks to recover from surgery.

Great pics! Love the first one, and great catch with the 3rd last.

RIP Folly. :D

Great work! I think the sharpei pic is the better of the 2 doggy ones. The muzzle area on the horse does not look quite right to me. I think it is the shading making it look like it has 2 mouths. I am no art critic though. I look forward to seeing more pics.

Shelbyville my girl had a slight creamy discharge at day 60, so I was convinced that was the day. I think it was just the pressure pushing a bit of fluid out. Being so enormous and uncomfortable I also expected Indi to go early. Temp drop andl abour started day 63, puppies born day 64. I was hoping for them to be a bit early so they wouldn't be too big. (my other 2 girls had both delivered at day 60) I normally do an xray in the last week, but did not do it this time. (mainly from many comments in DOL threads about the topic, saying there was too much risk from xraying unnecessarily). I will xray in future, as I think knowing they were huge puppies might have ended differently. Good luck to everyone still waiting. Lots of labby toes crossed here for you!

Sorry, me has dumb...

I clicked like and it stayed at 482. Maybe they don't like me?

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2088...mp;l=2c953b8a9b couple of piccies