Possible mating - Page 1

Really need some advice. I have a 9 month old GSD dam and an 11 months Sire, which have pretty much been together the whole time we've had them. We plan on breeding one time after Sasha is 18 months or older then getting her fixed. To prevent any "accidents", my husband built an additional pen area so the dogs would be separated when needed and even put up extra post around the bottom. I noticed Sasha bleeding about 13 days ago so we immediately separated the dogs. Everything was fine, my male was digging some but not able to get out of his pen until last night. This morning when I went to feed them, Boomer (sire) was in the pen with Sasha. She is not bleeding anymore and not AS swollen as before but still swollen. My question is, how/ when would I be able to tell if mating took place? She is so young and I'm worried about her well being. They are both from great bloodlines but I'm not breeding them for money. I have 3 grown children we will be given the puppies. that's why we are only breeding them once. I've had GSD all my life and only breed one time about 12 years ago and everything was fine, it was planned and she was older. She passed about a year ago so that's why I have the new puppies. I just don't remember all the signs.

9 months is VERY young - but shit happens. You may go to a vet ( very soon ) to end a possible pregnancy - there are advantages and disadvantages. In case you are able to find good homes for the puppies I'd gamble ( pregnant or not ) and spay afterwards.
All the best, whatever will happen.

I would care for her like she was pregnant...Food, exercise, keep separated for duration of her season (21 days long). You can do ultrasound anytime 21 days after they were together. 21 to 28 days.

Thank you for your replies. I'm going to keep the separated and let nature take it's course whatever it may be. Hopefully her season is close enough to being over that nothing happened.

You can go to your vet's and they can give something to end the pregnancy...BUT...There can be problems with doing this...Be sure to ask your vet about it...There can be side effects...

~Bob~

P.S. I guess you learned when a female is in Heat...a male can do amazing things to get to her...We live and learn...

If your male has already figured out not only how to get out of his pen but also into hers, you need better separation--like one is inside the house while the other is out in the pen--or else you'll definitely have pups. For anyone who REALLY, REALLY doesn't want their unsprayed female bred, you should always plan on preventing access to the female by any intact male for 30 days, because dogs don't read the textbooks that specify they'll be in 'standing heat' at day 9 to 14. I've had females wouldn't stand for the male until the 21st day of their heat, and then whelped 12 pups.

If you noticed her bleeding 13 days ago, there's a pretty darn good chance she's been bred...and if she wasn't bred by him during this incident, it would only be because she wasn't YET ready to stand for him. Make sure you wrote down the date you found them in the pen together, since that's the date you'll start counting from.

I agree with those who have suggested you handle her as if she DID get bred--except I'd still keep them separated until she's finished her heat, just in case you got lucky and she wasn't ready. Thirty to thirty-five days after the above-mentioned start date, get your vet to run a relaxin blood test to determine if she's pregnant or not. [It can be done as early as 21 days, but it's most accurate when done at 30 to 35 days post-breeding--if you test at day 21 and get a negative result, it's recommended to retest again at day 35, so might as well wait until day 30 when the accuracy is higher.

If the test indicates she's pregnant, that's still plenty of time to start increasing her food intake so she isn't robbing herself to provide nutrition to the developing pups; if the test is negative and there's no outward signs of pregnancy, then you haven't put unnecessary added weight on her still-developing body by increasing food intake earlier.

9 months is a bummer. :-( I'd be pretty confident she's bred; a male isn't usually going to go to all that trouble for a bitch who is "almost" ready. If she's typical, she's right in the middle of prime time. I'd be planning on puppies. Start looking for homes. Keep them separated just in case you got lucky.

FYI, dogs aren't ready while still super swollen and bleeding- this is how so many accidents happen. Dogs are ready when the bleeding lightens up or stops and the swelling goes down. Sooo many oops litters happen because people put them back together when the female stops bleeding.

Yeah, and then there's the internet sites that tell you a female's heat period is 2 to 3 weeks, so that encourages people to think it's over when she stops bleeding, and is at her most fertile time... :(

 

AKC no less!!    http://www.akc.org/content/dog-care/articles/how-long-are-dogs-in-heat/  

Sunsilver, that's one way to increase the number of registrations, I guess!

You know what? I have another idea, if you don't want this litter.

Research OSS (ovary-sparing spay). This would remove her uterus (thus preventing pregnancy) and leave her ovaries intact for the necessary hormones to finish developing properly. Obviously, you'd have to scrap the future litter plan, but if my 9 month old got bred, I'd strongly consider this. I would never encourage any of the chemical means of pregnancy termination- far too dangerous.