Breeding Question

mommydanford · Oct 7, 2014

I have a female EB that is almost 16 months old. She went into heat the first time at 9 months (March), swelling, bleeding everything normal. In September her vulva was very swollen and my two males were having a fit to get to her. One was actually howling and moaning, lol. I planned to breed her on her second heat but all I noticed was a tiny bit of white discharge when I cleaned her, no blood. Because my males were so persistent I performed AI's on her ( I have done this before with my other female with no problems). From her first AI September 17, she should be 3 weeks along tomorrow. Her nipples are a little swollen and beginning to somewhat sag. My question is, could she have had a silent heat and now be pregnant even though her first heat was normal or should I expect this to be a false pregnancy? I have never had a female with silent heats. All my females, even her mother, have go into heat regularly every 6-7 months. Her first heat started a week after my other female had puppies. I am excited and also confused. I have never had a female wait for nine months to go in heat. Do some EB's only cycle every nine months?

Davidh · Oct 7, 2014

It is not unusual for a pup to get their first heat 8 or 9 months of age. Sounds like your girl had a light heat cycle this time, but it doesn't mean she is not pregnant. The only real way to tell when they are ready to bread is do progesterone testing. This will tell you when she is ready to ovulate and ready to breed. I recommend to do an ultra sound about 5 weeks after the day you did the AI. That will tell you if you have pups in the oven. We always do progesterone testing so we know when she ovulates and then we know what day she will be ready to whelp the pups so we will schedule the C-session. I hope you are planning to do a C-session on her when the time comes. Some people will do natural births on English, but that is very dangerous and you could loose the bitch and all her pups. If breeding, do it the right way and don't cut corners to save money, or you could be sorry.

mommydanford · Oct 7, 2014

She will definitely have a csection, she is really small for an EB (36 pounds). All litters are delivered by csection. I will try to get a picture of her this afternoon to post and see what everyone thinks. Her nipples got bigger during her first heat cycle but not like they are now. Thank you for your response.