SO YOU WANT TO RAISE A LITTER OF PUPS

So you want to breed your female. You know what to expect if everything goes right. Your little girl will present you with tiny bundles of joy. She will lovingly nurse them and care for them until they are old enough to be weaned. You and your family will find great joy in watching and playing with these little dolls, and then when the time is right they will all (or maybe you keep just one) go off to special homes to live out their lives as cherished companions. But have you given consideration as to what can  go wrong? I have listed here a few of the problems that can occur.

What if during the breeding...........

1) You pay the $250-$1,000 stud fee up front figuring you will make that and more back when the pups sell. The breeder guarantees the stud service to work or you can come back again. After 2 months you discover it didn't work and now must wait another 4 months to try again. Of course it doesn't work again, so in another 4 months you take your dog to another male and risk losing another stud fee.

2) You get her bred, bring her home, and she bothers you so you let her out (she is still in heat and still receptive to males). You hear a commotion outside and there is your girl tied up with the neighborhood mutt. When she whelps there will need to be DNA tests done on the pups.

3) Knowing she tied with the neighborhood mutt you decide to terminate the pregnancy and try again being more careful next time. But a few weeks later your female is very sick because you had  given a miss-mate shot and now she has Pyometra and needs a complete hysterectomy. All plans of getting a litter are gone and your female's life is now in danger if she does not have the operation.

What if during the birth..............

1) The puppies are too large for the females hips. She never goes into labor, the puppies die and she becomes infected by the decaying bodies.

2) The puppies are coming breach and they drown in their own sacks before they can be born.

3) The first puppy is large and breach. When it starts coming your female starts screaming, and before you can stop her she reaches around, grabs the puppy in her teeth and yanks it out killing it instantly.

4) A puppy gets stuck. Neither your female nor you can get it out. You have to race her to the vet. The vet can't get it out either. She has to have an emergency caesarian section and of course it is 3:00 am Christmas day.

5) A dead puppy gets stuck in the birth canal, but your female is well into hard labor. She contracts so hard trying to give birth that her uterus ruptures and she bleeds to death on the way to the vet.

What if directly after birth..........

1) The mother has no idea what to do with a puppy and she drops them out and walks away, leaving them in the sack to drown.

2) The mother takes one look at the puppies, decides they are disgusting droppings and tries to smother them in anything she can find to bury them in.

3) The mother gets too enthusiastic in her removal of the placenta and umbilical cord, and rips the cord out leaving a gushing hole pulsing blood all over you as you try in vain to stop the bleeding.

4) What if because of some hormone deficiency she turns vicious allowing no one near her or the babies, who she refuses to nurse, and won't let you step in to help.

What if when you think you are in the clear..................

1) One or more of the puppies inhaled fluid during birth, pneumonia develops and death occurs within 36 hours.

2) What if the mothers milk goes bad. You lose three of your four puppies before you discover what is wrong. You end up bottle-feeding the remaining pup every two hours, day and night. After three days the puppy fades from infection and dies.

3) The puppies develop fading puppy syndrome and you lose two. You are bottle-feeding or tube feeding the last remaining baby. It begins to choke and despite your efforts to clear the airway, the pup stiffens and dies in your hands.

4) Your female develops a uterine infection from a retained placenta. Her temperature soars to 105. You race her to the vet, he determines she must be spayed. He does the spay in an attempt to save her life, you pay the hundreds of dollars bill. The infection has gone into her blood stream. The infected milk kills all the puppies and the bitch succumbs a day later.

5) All the puppies are fine but following the birth the female develops a hormone imbalance. She becomes a fear biter and anytime anyone tries to touch her she viciously attacks him or her.

What if the new homes are not so happy?.......................

1) You give a puppy to a friend. Their fence blows down so they tie the puppy outside while they go to work. A roving dog comes along and kills the puppy. Your friend calls you up to tell you about the poor little puppy and asks when you are having more puppies.

2) You sell a puppy to an acquaintance. The next time you see them you ask how the puppy is doing. They tell you that it soiled their new carpet so they took it to the pound.

3) You sell a puppy to a friend (you give them a good price and payments). They make a couple of tiny payments. Six months later they move to an apartment. They ask you to take it back. You take it back and of course the payments stop. The dog they returned is so shy and ill mannered from lack of socialization and training it takes you a year of work providing socializing and training to be able to give it away.

4) You sell a puppy to a wonderful home. They love her like one of the family. At a vet check done by their vet it is determined that the puppy has a heart murmur. (Your vet found nothing when he checked the puppy before it was sold.) They love their puppy and want the best for her. They have an expensive surgery done. The puppy is fine. They sue you for the medical costs. They win, because you did not have a contract stipulating conditions of guarantee and so as breeder you are responsible for the puppies genetic health.

5) One loving home decides your puppy is un-trainable, destructive and wants to return the pup and get a full refund.

6) One loving couple calls you and is very upset because their pup now a year old has luxating patellas and want to know what you are going to do about it. Never mind how you cautioned them about letting little Fifi jump off of high places while her bones were still growing or the fact that she jumped out of her owner's arms injuring her knees. 

The Sale:...................

1) You put your ad in the local paper for your pups at the usual price and get only 2 responses and no sales. You cut the pups price in half and broaden your advertising to 3 other newspapers in which the advertising totals $120.00 a week.

2) You get a few more puppy inquiries from people who ask all about health testing you did before breeding and if the pups are registered. You tell them your dogs are healthy and it was enough and that you could get the papers. The callers politely thank you and hang up.

3) The pups are now 4 months old and getting bigger , eating a lot and their barking is really beginning to annoy the neighbors who call the police who inform you of the $150.00 noise by-law.

4) Your neighbors also call the humane society who comes out to inspect the care of your dogs. You pass inspection but end up feeling stressed and harassed.

5) You finally decide to give the rest of the litter away but still have to pay the $120 advertising bill and the $600  vet bill.

So you got to ask yourself
Was it worth it?