Gestation

Question on gestation period.


Lucy is expecting pups any day now but how would I know for sure of the due date

Lucy and Busta first tied on the 7th March and again on the 10th March....which date would i go from and how long over the due date do i leave it before contacting the vets or should i contact them as soon as. I have read that you go from the last tie but i am unsure...any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers all

http://www.debbiejensen.com/ have a look at this link it is really good

I always go by the last mating date but also by the general condition of the bitch.

Depending on the size of litter she is having she could go anything from 58 days upto 72 days.
Its reading her signs - start taking her temp and keep a record of it. Has her milk come in? Has her tummy dropped and move back? Is she eating still? Has she started making her bed? All signs that whelping could be within 24 hours.

Every bitch is different. But if all the signs are there and she is doing nothing maybe a trip in the car helps get things going. If she starts to push but nothing happens.....a bit of Oxy works a treat.
If there is green fluid BEFORE the first puppy....get her to your Vets ASAP

Hope its been of some help.

I have been trying to rack my brains from last year when we had pups...some of the symptoms but i cant remember much....and if memory serves me correct Lucy was actually early by a few days. One of the memories I have is a sac appearing, which scared me so i phoned the vets straight away, only to be told that it was perfectly normal and that it was the 'plug' coming away and labour would follow soon after, to which it did.

Lucy is very clingy, has been all week and has only tried to nest 3 or 4 times...I have a sneaky suspicion she may well have the pups on the settee again lol, but having said that given half the chance she will try and hide under the decking so she has to be watched when going out in the garden

Milk is being produced and teats are hanging low now, pups are very active. She is still eating but not had anything yet today but that could change as she normally eats afternoon to tea time....She has a good round belly on her, just past her rib cage to her waist but not sure what you mean it being moved back, so could you please explain a little more, thank you.

I havent tried taking her temperature, i have read about it but would i need the vet to show me how to do that or could i do it without? and what about a thermometer? any will do i take it?

She does have little bits of clear fluid coming out but again i have been told that it is perfectly normal (another thing i cant remember from last year)

I might take her down the village in awhile, in the car, see if that jigs things along, need to go as i want some rehydration drink which i found really helped her last year during labour, and could get one of the girls to have alook and see what she thinks also.

Thanks for the help, much appreciated

Temperature you can do yourself with a thermometer. Just make sure it is in about 1 inch at least and leave for 2 minutes....don't let her sit down lol. Get her to lie down is the easiest way.

Belly Moved Back - looks like it has dropped and she regains he waist from viewed from above.

I also advice you getting a copy of
The Book of the Bitch JM Evens & Kay White.
It is the Dog Breeders Bible and no breeder should be without as it covers EVERYTHING!

I will have to go get a thermometer and start checking her temp, well hubby can lol.

I have The Book Of The Bitch, i bought it last year on the advice of my vet and have managed to dig it out of its hiding place....Dont get me wrong I do like to read up on this kinda thing but I also feel that personal experience helps more esp on here as there are quite a few breeders, like yourself.

I will see if i can get some piccies of her when standing up....see what you think. I did manage to video the pups kicking/moving, think they were having a party lol and currently uploading to pb as we speak.
oo its done...the following link should be to the album it is in, any probs let me know

https://s953.photobucket.com/albums/ae20/mazh/

Wow they ARE lively!

It is hard to tell as she is lying down but they seem quite high up still. Although I could be wrong.

This bit is a bit of a personal question: lol

Is her fanny soft and large because that is another sign. When they are ready to go into first stage it becomes very soft and squiddgy and the plug starts to come out as a guey blob.

I think, she will tell you when she is ready and because you know her nature you are the best person to say if there is a call for intervention.
Trust in yourself and your own judgement....and the bitch.
Calmness and confidence will help her. Keep her quiet and comfy and you might find yourself with babies this weekend.
Forgot to ask what is her 63rd day?

all she seems to do atm is sleep or just lay there....so i am just awaiting her highness to get up and walk about for awhile so i can take some piccies.

Her fanny is large (seems large to me lol), not sure about soft as not touched it (will try and take some piccies if i can)

If you go off her first tie, then day 63 is today, but if we go on the 2nd then its on Thursday.

Ah right! Well I would make my bet for Friday through the night!!!! and to guess how many I would need to know how long they tied for each time they mated! Alasdairs old stockman rule of thumb is roughtly 5 mins per pup.

i dont mind the weekend, that suits me just fine lol..

as for tying, the first time i would have to guess as they caught me totally off guard so would be about 20mins (felt like a lifetime tho)...the 2nd tie was a little shorter, about 15mins...

Last year i beleive they tied for 30mins, all three times and we had 4 puppies, this year she seems so much fatter/bigger so assuming there may be more than 4

Ok....I will stick my neck out and say 6 however she doesn't look big but again, it is difficult to tell as she is lying down.
Also some bitches only fill the sacs that they can physically cope with.
I had a bitch who was 6 pups, 6 pups and then I put her on HD42T and she whelped 10 but it was obvious it was too big a litter for her to carry as she ended up with oedema.
Mother Nature rules numbers really but I still stick with 6 on your one! lol

Well fingers crossed everything goes well for you but the main thing is relax and give off good thoughts to her, that was she will be calm and whelp easily.
Start to take her temp tonight and then twice daily. When it is constantly at the dropped level, whelping should be approx 12 to 24 hours after.

I have added another video clip and took a few piccies of her belly and fanny....they may be a little dark but atm i am waiting for the batteries to charge for my sony camera....need that to take piccies for when poopies arrive.

Problem I am having atm is that she doesnt want to stand up for long and she kept sitting down...she's fast off again and them pups are having another party by the looks of it but she seems so very relaxed and unphased by it all, bless

Ooh another vid....send the link please

should be in with the first one i did, heres the link again xxx

https://s953.photobucket.com/albums/ae20/mazh/

i was trying to get her to walk so that i could video the top of her, but it didnt quite work as she wasnt playing ball grrrr

Did you just send me a message on FB?

haha! love the ones of her fanny......'dog porn' glad no one else sees this otherwise they would be thinking we are very strange!!!

The one with her walking....the view is from above. She looks still quite high up, but they can 'drop' within 24 hours.

This is her second litter so don't be surprised if the run ups to the main event happen very quickly compared to a maiden bitch.

What I always do with every bitch I have ever whelped is take notes, times, temps, numbers etc etc. It is a handy guide to look back on but again, working with livestock nothing is written in stone.

yes i did, twas me, guilty as charged

sorry...didn't realise. I accepted it, but sorry about the ???? ! lol

I am not having anymore puppies after this one...no way and once the pups are gone Busta is having the chop and then once Lucy is back to herself she will be spayed.

I have my camera up and running now...so will try and take some better pictures...its ok doing it on my phone but it wont always connect to my pc so i have to keep removing a partuicular device then letting it re-install and that is doing me nut in and any case, I cant afford an iphone like some people on here

Do you have all your puppies booked?

I only have one upto now and another in the pipeline...that was one road we never actually though of going down as we was only going to have the one litter but i think hubby listened to too many people and he decided he wanted another litter, i didnt want to have anymore but once they tied i hadnt the heart to go and see the vet about terminating.
They are not KC' reg'd either, I did look into it but after reading about things we decided not to as we was originlly only having the one litter.
I am however quite fussy as to who my pups go to, i was very lucky to have 4 lovely people to take them on, only one moved, he went to live with the guys sister as he couldnt cope too well (he is disabled and already had a gsd) but Zak (the pup) is very happy as well as the others. We had some people come look at the boy pup (before he found his new home)but they were too damned fussy...he was too big for what they were expecting, seems they wanted a miniature jrt...the pup was 8 weeks at the time and admittedly yes my pups were big, but they were well fed and cared for, possibly too much on my part but how can you not make a fuss esp when mum and dad are family pets?? I decided that i wouldnt let him go to them, as they were coming back the next day, however that was done for me as they decided not to come.

Once I know how many pups there are I will advertise them., possibly at 3 weeks old....and hopefully filter out the bad or time wasters. I will only be advertising locally as well. However if you do have some tips on what to look for in potential owners then please pass on, like i say, i was lucky before, but may not be this time and to be forwarned is to be forarmed?? summat like that. I am all ears

If you send me an email I will forward on my questionnaires.....I have three as they are for the three breeds and they all need slightly different way of dealing with enquiries.

Are your Jacks the original, old fashioned, short legged ratters....reason I ask is Alasdair used to have them and he has always fancied another one for running about in the house as a 'pet'. We have been looking for the last years but nothing is 'right' as they all Parsons and that isn't the type he wants. He is after a 'see you Jimmy' type with no papers, just oodles of personality that can run after him when he is walking about and sleep on his lap at night.....and obviously have a big dog in a small body for unwanted guests!!! Hee Hee!

last year we had 3 short legged and one long legged but not quite as tall as a parsons....and all of them have great personalties, but unfortunately I cannot guarantee what this years will be but no-one was fussed with the last lot, they are loved regardless.

No doubt you have seen pictures of Daisy on here, Shelleys jrt? She was our 3rd born, smallest of all four but has turned into a cracking dog as Shells will know doubt agree with me on that.


I will measure height of both Busta and Lucy, i wouldnt have thought that they would be any bigger, Lucys mum was quite small and Bustas mum was a little bit bigger than Lucy with a small head to which Busta seems to have imo anyways.

Hmm very interesting...I have sent you a message via FB to ask more.

Here is one of my questionnaires - please feel free to bastardise it for your own needs.

Hello

Thank you for your enquiry regarding a German Shepherd Puppy. All our puppies are booked well in advance, sometimes even before a mating has taken place.

We have another bitch who we have just mated yesterday, so if successful puppies should arrives approx first week of June being ready to leave approx beg August.

If you follow this link it will take you directly to our litters planned page. www.haughmillkennels.co.uk/littersplanned.html www.haughmillkennels.co.uk/forsale.html

We do endorse ALL our puppies in the hope that it aids with the protection of the breed and deters indiscriminate breeding. However, in certain circumstances we have lifted these restrictions and also offered our advise and guidance on the subject of breeding.

The questionnaire below is standard practise for us here at Haughmill. It lets us know a little bit about you, so it is advisable to be as detailed with your answers as possible, because when it is the time for us to allocate a puppy we can choose the best one suited to your personal circumstances and requirments based on the answers given.

Where did you hear about us? (if from a web site, please name)

What attracted you to us? Experience, web site, dogs, or availability of puppy

Have you owned a GSD before? (if your parents/family had one please mention)

If not, have you owned a dog before? (name breed)

If so, give brief history of experience with your dogs. ie how many, breed, what happened to it?

Do you have any other animals currently, if so species, breed, age & sex?

What made you choose a German Shepherd Dog for your breed?

Do you or your partner work? if so, how many hours per day

Do you have any children? if so, how many and what ages

Is there anyone of an older generation within the house?

Is there anyone disabled within the house?

Do you have any hobbies? if so please detail and how much time per day spent on it

Do you go on holidays? if so, where and what do you intend doing with the dog

Do you intend joining any training clubs for a hobby? ie Ringcraft, basic obedience, agility, Schutzhund etc

Although primarily you will want this puppy for a companion/pet, do you intend to show, train for Schutzhund, do obedience or try out for agility as a hobby and extra bonus?

Are you already registered with a Vet, if so for how many years and how often do you use them?

If you are not registered with a Vet, have you enquired about one to appoint?

How long have you been looking for a GSD puppy to join your family?

What research have you done on the GSD (apart from previously owning one)? ie books, videos, Kennel Club or going along and talking with breeders

Is your preference for a male or female? (if female, please state whether you intend to breed at a later date. If male, please state whether you intend to put to stud work at a later date.)

Is your preference for a short or long coat?

Is your preference for a Black & Tan or Solid Black?

Do you intend to keep the dog inside or outside?

Do you have a fully fenced in garden? (fence minimum of 6ft high)

Do you stay in the country or town?

Taking into account the time from mating to puppy being of 8 weeks is approx 4 months, please indicate approx time for waiting for the correct puppy which suits your requirements. (mark each which is applicable)

Immediately

Within one month

Within one to four months

Within one to six months

Within one to eight months

Within one year

No time limit


All Haughmill puppies come with full puppy pack which includes 5 generation pedigree, full Kennel Club registration with 6 weeks insurance, Tattoo with registration, de-flead, wormed, temperament tested, Vet health checked, fully socialised with any eventuality. Royal Canin pack . Also included with the above is the Haughmill Puppy folder which will include your official documentation, with full diet sheet on your puppies food requirements, information regarding health and welfare of your Haughmill puppy, photo album showing pictures from birth up to 8 weeks of age. Full back up service from us here at Haughmill for the life of your puppy. All our GSD puppies are £750.00

We at Haughmill realise that catering for a new puppy can be very expensive, so after quite a lot of requests from our previous clents, we have put together The Haughmill Puppy Starter Packs.

There are three different packs consisting of items that are essential, practical and educational for your puppy.

The Goodies pack contains: Non slip non tip stainless steel bowls, lead and collar, puppy kong with training aids and treats, chewable knots and bones, frisbees, tug toy (battle proof), fleas drops, worming tablets, grooming equipment, dumbells, cuddly toy etc

The Bronze pack consists of a waterproof duvet which will suit from puppyhood to adult size and the Goodies pack. £200.00
The Silver pack consists of a heavy duty, non chewable plastic bed with the waterproof duvet and the Goodies pack. £240.00
The Gold pack consists of an extra large cage (suitable for a fully grown adult), the waterproof duvet and the Goodies pack. £280.00

We have compared our products and prices with some of the large Pet retail outlets and have found that they either did not sell the same items, they were not of the same quality and they were at least double the price. ie the rough equivalent for the Silver pack was over £450.00. With our Silver pack you would make a massive saving of £210.00 This saving could feed your puppy for nearly 6 months!

We have a sample of all the items included within the three packs for you to view. You can order which ever one you feel that you would require to give your new puppy the best start in his/her new home at the time of booking. A £60 deposit is required at time of placing the order.
The balance is due on the same day as the collection of your new Haughmill Puppy.

We also run training classes on a Thursday evening here at Haughmill. Ranging from basic good behaviour to problems with anti social behaviour, basic ringcraft training for beginners and the hobby exhibtor, inc ring etiquette and dress code right through to experienced handlers and dogs.
Training evenings will resume in the Springtime. Call for further details and directions.

Thank you once again for your enquiry for a Haughmill puppy and we look forward to reading through your answers and hopefully taking your application to the next stage.

Alasdair and Carolyne Cowan


Haughmill Foxhounds and Haughmill German Shepherd Dogs
Home of the Drache Krieger

www.haughmillkennels.co.uk