Culling - Page 1

New Question for the board:

1)  Have you ever culled?

2)  Why did you cull?

3)  Would you ever cull?

4)  Why or Why not?

5)  Do you "allow" nature to take it's course?  IE, if an experience bitch pushes a pup away and doesn't want to care for it(she is caring for the other pups), do you allow that pup to die?  Either on it's on or by humanely euthanizing it?  Why or Why not?

I will don on my flame retardant suit, and answer the questions:

Yes, I have culled.  Obvious birth defects, etc.

Yes I would cull.  Because I do not want to "waste" energy on pups that might or might not make it anyway.

Yes, I allow nature to take it's course.    I used to "save" every puppy that the bitches produced.  Never failed, the pups that I save had something "wrong" with them.  One had a heart murmur.  2 others had temperment problems(One very fearful, and the other extremely extremely aggressive by 3 months of age.  I mean weirdly aggressive.)

I would definitely cull obvious health problems. I would like to say that I would let nature do it's thing too, but since I just spent three nights on the kitchen floor next to the newborns.... I think that would be hypocritical... 

I did not have to do anything.... I was just worried about the dam squashing one, or the temperature not being right. Everything was fine, though. Now I can go sleep in my own bed again, YAY!

Theresa

PS, Trainer, I LOVE puppy breath AND the little growly sounds!

1 - yes.

2 - obvious birth defects.

3 and 4 are mute.

5 - I don't know.  I've never been put in that position.  Not sure. 

1 no

2 no

3 only if it was absolutely neccisarly

4 if i can give a pup a chance by hand rearing it /veterinary care i will ...i don't give up that easy lol

Unfortunately sometimes litters do need to be culled. It is not fun but it is needed. It would be nice if nature taking its course was quick and humane but to me letting a puppy that has obvious defects starve to death is not humane.  I have had to cull.

Yes , birth problem left problems, Nature doesnt always do it quickly, so watching a pup try hard and suffer is not in my tea cup., Yes

God give us wisdom to know when and how.

Ms. Yellowrose and I are probably on the very same page on this one.

1.  Yes, though God has blessed me so that it's come up only once. 

2.  Puppy was trying so hard, so long, dying, weak and suffering, despite my best efforts.  I gave it a fast end instead of a slow one.

3.  If one had defects.

4.  No reason to pass on the burdens of health issues when so many healthy pups do not have homes.

5.  So far, NO, I did not let nature take it's course, but I do not give Herculean efforts beyond frequent bottling or tubing either.  I have bottled a couple of pups who were weaker, who then later recovered, passed a vet exam at weaning, and did not have health issues later in life.  With the pup in #1, I was bottling and tubing, but she still faded and suffered.  Despite how how painful it was for me, I gave her a fast end instead of the slow one Nature would have given her.  It is my duty to look after my pups in all ways, no matter what form my duty comes in. 

The weirdly aggressive pup, would be my housedog.

What a fascinating question,  the part about trusting the instincts of an experienced bitch.   And to think that although nothing might be evident to "us" at the time,  some of those pups turned out to be non-functioning temperaments (imo, not able to function properly in a normal environment) and she would have let them die very early on.    There would be no way to know so young would there? 

I suspect finding a veterinarian to support your culling decisions might be difficult?   Maybe not in the case of severe and obvious defects.     No one needs to answer that..   just thinking out loud. 

I don't,   and haven't ever bred a litter.   But I'm learning about it for a future just in case.  It's so helpful to read conversations like this,  about things you might not have every thought about until faced with it.

Heather

This is a good discussion, and I am glad to see that no flames have started...I hope it stays that way.

In regards to the "odd" pups, the dam litterally pushed them out of the whelping box.  I chose, at the time, to intervene.  I nursed them, forced the dam to nurse them(she never wanted to, from the get go, through weaning, and I believe she would have attempted to kill the puppy later, given the opportunity)

I had one bitch, kill a pup that was not from her litter.  This pup was about 10 weeks old.  Come to find out, the whole litter had bad hearts.  Not just one, but the whole litter. 

Now, lets take this a step further.....Let's say, you had a litter of pups, and one of the pups turned out to be an albino.  Freak of nature.  Shouldn't have happened, etc.....

Do you allow that pup to live, or do you cull it humanely at birth?