surrogate female. - Page 1

has anyone ever used a surrogate female for a litter, mom wont take care of them or if it is a really big litter, say 10+?

what other reasons would you use a surrogate for?  what are some of the things you have to consider when using another female?  how did you go about finding another female? 

john

I have put other females puppies on my nursing girls many times.  I have pics somewhere of a rottweiler nursing orphaned shih tzu AND brussel griffon puppies with hers.  My recently deceased gsd female would adopt other puppies too.  I have also been told by people who have purchased pups from me that their dogs will also adopt orphaned puppies and nurse them with their litters.  you can see one such female at www.mullintexas.com, both gretchen and her sister heidi have nursed orphaned cocker puppies.  Another owner who purchased a male from my female has also told me the same.  he abolsultly loves little puppies and will clean them etc.

Nothing beats a good female with a great temperament.

contact your local breed club, they should know of females fixing to whelp, or just have whelped that can take on puppies

I know that we typically do not do this stateside, but in Germany, S.V. rules dictate that if a litter contains more than eight (8) whelps, then the "extra" puppies must be nursed on a foster dam. The local breed warden is required to be aware of where these dams are located, and of course the breed of dam is not important.

I don't think this is such a problem until the puppies attain three (3) weeks of age. At that end they can quickly nurse the dam dry. I have endured a couple of occassions when it would have been very nice to pawn two (2) or three (3) puppies off to a foster dam.

Regards,

Bob-O

thanks for the info.  i had hoped more people would have answered, but i guess this topic does not bring a lot of drama.

bob-o, interesting  about the German SV rule.  And people in the US wonder why breeders here follow their rules.  I for one, love the fact that they (the SV) have put such rules into place.  No wonder that no matter how many dogs Americans import and breed,  so many breeders still find it neccessary to import new blood to "bring" something back that they have overlooked or lost. 

john

any other breeders out there ever use a surrogate female?  would love to hear about it.

john