size difference in male and female - Page 1

Can a True breeder shine a light on this for me with  GSD breeding experience

I have two gorgoeus working line GSD's

The beautiful black sable female is small @ 60 plus Lb's and a very stocky build.

My Male is  about 5" (inches) taller than she!

I just bought her and the seller told me she was 75 plus Lb's ... so wasn't expecting a small dog.

I paid quite a bit for her and want to breed these two with their nice bloodlines... but

Does anyone know if there is a problem with the two breeding? Will they need assistance or should I AI ?

1st time for both !

Thanks

is this for real or a joke or trick question?

Just as with humans the 7 foot basketball player and the 5' 2" female seem to find a way to copulate and become pregnant and dogs are no different.  If there is a problem with the male and female it will likely not be one of differences in the size of the animals at mating.  More likely any size differential problem might stem from the size of the puppies and the difficulty of delivery when the female delivers the puppies at whelping.  Smallish females attempting to deliver large puppies may experience a longer or more difficult labor and delivery.  There is no way to predict if this will be a problem prior to the mating.  It is well known in humans, other animals and livestock that some male and female combinations produce larger offspring at birth.  This is in part genetic and in part environmental with the liklihood of mothers with either diabetes or gestational diabetes producing oversize babies being a common cause of oversize young at birth.  The other likely cause of oversize puppies in dogs is a small litter size of one or two puppies.  In cases of a small mother dog with a small birth canal an x-ray close to delivery may indicate the number and size of puppies likely to be born.  The more difficult the delivery and the larger the puppies the more likely the mother or the puppies could be damaged or die so in some cases having the birth occur under a vets care or having a c-section performed may spare the mother or the puppies should things take a turn for the worse.  Some breeds of dogs with large heads such as some bulldog breeds I believe have been bred with such large heads that a c-section is obligatory.  With a normal litter size of 4 or more my GSD females seem to be able to deliver naturally irregardless of their size in the range of 50-80 pounds.  Further compounding the delivery problems is the fact that a GSD female can deliver live puppies over a period of 12 hours or longer after labor begins which makes knowing when the female is in trouble difficult for even experienced breeders and owners.  However it is not uncommon for females with a long delivery time to deliver one or more of the last puppies born dead due to too much time in the birth canal or umbilical cord strangulation.

I've met a dog who was half GSD half dachshund. And there was a story a while back going around about a westie who got a rottie pregnant.

Where there's a will there's a way.

Hello Rebecca, I once got a call from a woman who asked if I was the owner of the large white dogs that were out with the sheep. When I said I was, she reported one of the dogs was in her back yard in town.

I said I would come right in and pick the dog up and they were friendly to people and I appologized for any trouble he may have caused. She said I didn't have to hurry because he was stuck to her Cocker Spaniel.

Nature has a way of making it happen.

If she's a fit and in good condition, 60# is not 'small'--it's right at the midpoint for female GSDs according to the breed standard. Frankly, I think the perfect size for a GSD bitch is 22 1/2 inches at the withers and 60-65# in weight.  

It's quite possible, you know, that your male is OVERSIZED, if he's five inches taller than the bitch you just bought.

The breed standard calls for males to be between 23 1/2 and 25 1/2 inches @ the withers, and between 66-88# in weight, and bitches between 21 1/2 and 23 1/2 inches at withers, and weighing in at 48.4 to 70.4#