I am starting to get concerned about my dog. I believe she is pregnant and it is starting to get really close to her due date. I figured it would be in between December 4 - December 11. She is a Golden Retriever and her nipples have been swollen for a little over a month now. Her rib cage is round but not really round. From what I have read about pregnant dogs, their rib cage should start to get really round. Is this normal for a large dog? Or maybe do you think she is only going to have a few puppies, not the average of 8? She has started whinning and moaning every so often like she is uncomfortable. So I'm pretty sure she is pregnant, not going through a false labour. If anyone has experience with Golden's or other large breed pregnant dogs, please could you give me some advice. Thank you.

[reeskujo]

The only way to know for sure is to have the vet do an ulra sound...I'm guessing she was around a male while she was in heat?Was this a planned pregnancy for her or accidental?Has she been to the vet?

Originally Posted by Zyara25

I am starting to get concerned about my dog. I believe she is pregnant and it is starting to get really close to her due date. I figured it would be in between December 4 - December 11. She is a Golden Retriever and her nipples have been swollen for a little over a month now. Her rib cage is round but not really round. From what I have read about pregnant dogs, their rib cage should start to get really round. Is this normal for a large dog? Or maybe do you think she is only going to have a few puppies, not the average of 8? She has started whinning and moaning every so often like she is uncomfortable. So I'm pretty sure she is pregnant, not going through a false labour. If anyone has experience with Golden's or other large breed pregnant dogs, please could you give me some advice. Thank you.

Have you at any stage, thought enough of your dog to take her to the vet?
Whilst there, you might like to consider getting her spayed...........and aborted if its not to late to do so. If prenant and too late for aborting, then talk to your vet about what has to be done this time, then book in for spay as soon as it is OK to do so.

[reeskujo]

Do you have homes for the puppies...can you afford an emergency c-section?Has she been on nutritional supplements during her pregnancy?...Have her hips been checked and OFA certified?...Are her eyes and heart clear?Do you have a whelping box ready for her?...Do you have the money to vet all the puppies and get them wormed and vaccinated?..Are these going to be purebred puppies or mixes?....Most importantly how old is she?

First thing yes, I had planned on breeding my female dog. I also own the sire. They are both purebred Golden retrievers, but are not registered with the CKC (I am from Canada). I have been in close contact with my breeder where I got my female dog from. I get very frustrated with negative responses when I am only asking for experienced dog owners advice. I have been in contact with my vet, actually 2 different vets in my town, and both have said it would be hard to tell if she is actually pregnant with just an exam. They both have told me the only way they could tell would be by doing x-rays and they won't perform an x-ray on a pregnant dog until after 45 days of being pregnant. They do not offer ultrasounds in my town. Since I am not completely sure of when my dogs conceived, the advice that I have recieved from my vet was to wait. My female has been on puppy food for the last three weeks and will continue until she has weaned her pups. I have read not to give vitamin supplements to your pregnant dog. It is not necessary and could also cause your bitch to not produce enough milk for her puppies. I have many books on breeding. My female is 2 and a 1/2 years old and both of my dogs have their hips certified and heart and eyes cleared as well as the parents of both of my dogs. And yes I do have a whelping box ready, has been for the past 3 weeks. I have also checked into how much it would cost for an emergency c-section, $1200, and yes I plan on having all the puppies vacinated, dewormed and microchipped. I have contracts written up for the puppies when they go to their new homes, and every person who wants one of my puppies will have a home visit and will need references to take one of my puppies home. Like any breeder, I will be asking for a deposit on my puppies, which will help with the vet costs. I have dog grooming, obedience training, and veterinary assistant courses. So I am quite sure of what I am doing. This is my first time breeding so I am new at this and just wanted some advice. I love my dogs very much.

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First thing yes, I had planned on breeding my female dog. I also own the sire. They are both purebred Golden retrievers, but are not registered with the CKC (I am from Canada). I have been in close contact with my breeder where I got my female dog from. I get very frustrated with negative responses when I am only asking for experienced dog owners advice. I have been in contact with my vet, actually 2 different vets in my town, and both have said it would be hard to tell if she is actually pregnant with just an exam. They both have told me the only way they could tell would be by doing x-rays and they won't perform an x-ray on a pregnant dog until after 45 days of being pregnant. They do not offer ultrasounds in my town. Since I am not completely sure of when my dogs conceived, the advice that I have recieved from my vet was to wait. My female has been on puppy food for the last three weeks and will continue until she has weaned her pups. I have read not to give vitamin supplements to your pregnant dog. It is not necessary and could also cause your bitch to not produce enough milk for her puppies. I have many books on breeding. My female is 2 and a 1/2 years old and both of my dogs have their hips certified and heart and eyes cleared as well as the parents of both of my dogs. And yes I do have a whelping box ready, has been for the past 3 weeks. I have also checked into how much it would cost for an emergency c-section, $1200, and yes I plan on having all the puppies vacinated, dewormed and microchipped. I have contracts written up for the puppies when they go to their new homes, and every person who wants one of my puppies will have a home visit and will need references to take one of my puppies home. Like any breeder, I will be asking for a deposit on my puppies, which will help with the vet costs. I have dog grooming, obedience training, and veterinary assistant courses. So I am quite sure of what I am doing. This is my first time breeding so I am new at this and just wanted some advice. I love my dogs very much.

if she is as far along as you think she is, then your vet should be able to tell by palpating her. if she seems uncomfortable - there could be problems - any pregnant dog should be seen by her vet several times throught out the pregnancy.

were both dogs tested for STD's & brucellosis? either can cause serious problems through out the pregnancy & brucellosis can cause abortion or dead birth's.

even if they were allowed unlimitted access to each other, you should still have some idea of the conception date

since you had full intention of breeding these dogs, why are they not registered & how much research did you do to be sure they are not related?

It's not that she is whinning or uncomfortable all the time. She does this maybe 3 times a day, not all the time. Which I believe is normal for a pregnant dog at the end of her pregnancy. Yes I do believe I know when they concieved, which would have been her second or third week of menstration. Which like I said before would have resulted in a due date between December 4 - 11. Give or take a few days. My original question, that no one has been able to answer yet is how big does she get at the end. I believe she should be bigger than she is. Her belly is defenitly growing. I measured her last week, after I started to get concerned and it has grown 2 inches since then. So the puppies are not dead. I just wanted to know if it is likely she is only going to have a few puppies instead of the average of 8. My breeder's female had 12 puppies, and she said she was huge at the end and didn't move around too much and always laid straight on her back when she slept. My dog is still very active, jumping and playing most of the day. I know for a fact that my dogs sre not related, I know where both sets of parents are from. I got my female from a breeder her in my town, and my male from a different breeder inside of the city, and have confirmed where the grandparents are from. Now the reason I do not have my dogs registered is because the parents of my female are not registered. So according to the CKC, I cannot register my dogs if the parents were not registered. I did not know alot about this before I bought my female over two years ago. But I would never give up my dog just to find a purebred registered dog. It's not that important to me. It is very hard to find purebred dogs where I am from and this is one of the reasons why I wanted to breed my dog. I do not want to show my dogs or keep up with the kennel clubs. I love this breed and I am a stay at home mother with plenty of time to spend with my dogs.

It seems like this forum is for people like you guys to ridcule other dog owners and make them feel like their absolutely clueless about their dog. Every other question I've read, there has not been one positive response and helpful advice given out only an attack on that person. I understand your reasoning behind this, but not everyone has a "puppymill", or is a "backyard breeder", which you have labeled them.

I am not a breeder, never was, however I spent 15 years in sheltering & AC work cleaning up after irresponsible owners & breeders, so I have lived with the other side of the pretty picture you see

you are only kidding your self thinking there is not an overpopulation problem in CA also. shelters & rescues are buldging at the seams there too.

reputable responsible breeders only breed to improve the breed or their particular lines, not to sell puppies. I don't believe anyone suggested you should get rid of your dog to get a PB - we all suggested you don't breed.

no one can diagnose your dog over the internet - take her to the vet

Originally Posted by suebgone

I am not a breeder, never was, however I spent 15 years in sheltering & AC work cleaning up after irresponsible owners & breeders, so I have lived with the other side of the pretty picture you see

you are only kidding your self thinking there is not an overpopulation problem in CA also. shelters & rescues are buldging at the seams there too.

reputable responsible breeders only breed to improve the breed or their particular lines, not to sell puppies. I don't believe anyone suggested you should get rid of your dog to get a PB - we all suggested you don't breed.

no one can diagnose your dog over the internet - take her to the vet

I was not asking for a diagnosis over the internet by the way, and yes I will be taking her to the vet when they have advised me to. I do have a purebred, not a mixed breed by the way. Just because she is not registered does not make her any less pure. Please do research yourself for thinking that. I don't agree with what you said about breeders "trying to improve their breed. How is that an excuse to breed? That involves imbreeding, which could go well...or very wrong. To try and get the best traits in their dog. So every puppy that doesn't get the best genes, should they be tossed aside or aborted if possible? I have two very healthy, well behaved dogs. Now tell me how is it wrong to breed them. I understand the pet control issue, but why not ridicule every breeder for breeding their dogs then. Why should only registered breeders be allowed to breed thier dogs? I would love to open up a haven for rescued and abandoned dogs, if I could. I am a animal lover. I plan on opening up my own kennel and to provide obedience training and pet grooming in the near future. Your picking a fight with the wrong person, and I really wish you would realize this. This is a very heated subject and would very much appreciate answers from someone not so biased in their opinions. Like I said, I just wanted the opinion of someone with more experience with pregnant large dogs. That is all. Not for a diagnosis for my dog.

I never meant to imply your dog was a mixed breed. I made a mistake by writing PB - I meant to say registered as that is what you had said. no one ever said you should get rid of either of your dogs to get ones that are registered.

to improve the breed does not REQUIRE imbreeding altho it is ocassionally done. there is a standard that reputable breeders aspire to, be it in conformation, fielding, guarding, herding or what ever but not just for puppies. they have waiting lists of pre approved homes before they breed.

puppies that are not considered up to being succussful at doing the job they were bred for are sold into pet homes.

I am not picking a fight with anybody - we just have very different opinions on the need for more puppies on the planet.

I have little to no experience with breeding, but I don't think anyone can actually tell you, even an estimate on whether or not your dog will have a large litter or a small one... either way, what does it matter?

I'm sorry, but I have to say I agree with a lot of which has been said, even if it wasn't said in the right way. Good breeders DO breed to better the breed, not to sell puppies of purebred quality because they're in low demand in their area. I was schooled by a guy who breeds GSD's in BC, and he deffinatly does it to better the breed, but it doesn't include inbreeding at all. He's never inbred, and therefore he's finding it hard to find dogs outside his lines in around here anymore, especially of the quality he's looking for. Because of this he's actually having semen shipped to him from outside Canada, or at least he's trying to. Apparenlty shipping semen is a lot harder than it sounds lol

I wouldn't suggest you have the puppies aported, but I would suggest you consider and think about your reasons for breeding. Are they truely helping the breed? This includes having both parents tested for health concerns that run in the Golden Retriever breed. Breeding only regristered dogs means that your dogs fit the breed standard, and if your dogs fit the breed standard it makes people see them as "true to the breed". If you breed for sound body and tempermented dogs that fit as closely as you can to the breed standard, and keep breeding to achieve these goals better and better, it means you're breeding for the good of the breed. If you're breeding because it's hard to find purebeds in your area, no matter how much you mean good and try to go by doing good things with your breeding program, personally I still think you're not breeding for the right reasons or helping your chosen breed at all.

I live in an EXTREMELY remote area, so I know what it's like to have trouble finding a purebred dog... but if that's what you truely want, you'll go out of your way and spend the extra money to get one from out of your area. I think if one doesn't, they really shouldn't own a dog. Who's to say they will go that little extra bit of effort if the dog needs medical treatment or something along those lines?

I think if you direct your question at your Vet, s/he should be able to answer it a little better than people over the internet.

I hope you don't take my post in the wrong way, I don't mean to rain on your parade or anything like that. I just think maybe you should look into the CKC, and what good breeding is all about before starting your own breeding program. This doesn't mean get rid of the dogs you have now, just put off anymore breeding until you've given it a bit more thought.

[reeskujo]

I would really like to know where you came up with the idea that breeding to better the breed means you have to do inbreeding?....That's ridiculous!....It means that you only breed dogs that are not only registered but also have show titles and conformations....If they have those things that means their up to the breed standard...I am a former breeder of large dogs...Akita's and There's no way me or anyone else can possibly tell you if she's big enough or not without seeing her!....It also depends on how many puppies she's having...If your really that concerned about it you should take her to the vet....Me personally I would never breed two dogs that are not registered,titled and confirmed but then yet I bred to better my breed and no I did not inbreed to do that!

stinkey while your premis is right on target, I must correct a big item on your list there. breeding "registered" dogs does not guarantee anything. it does not mean they meet the breed standard at all. the ONLY way to know if they meet the breed standard is to show them in conformation. that is the purpose of showing there are also titles for herding, & field trial dogs

Rees: clean this up for me please. I'm sure you can add some, I pretty brain dead right now

in the US our AKC is the equivalant of the CKC in CA & puppy mills & byb's have tons of AKC registered dogs

Originally Posted by suebgone

stinkey while your premis is right on target, I must correct a big item on your list there. breeding "registered" dogs does not guarantee anything. it does not mean they meet the breed standard at all. the ONLY way to know if they meet the breed standard is to show them in conformation. that is the purpose of showing there are also titles for herding, & field trial dogs

Rees: clean this up for me please. I'm sure you can add some, I pretty brain dead right now

in the US our AKC is the equivalant of the CKC in CA & puppy mills & byb's have tons of AKC registered dogs

Yes, you're right on! It was so late and I was so tired it must have slipped my mind to mention that it isn't all just about regristration, but also about showing and trialing (whether you're breeding working or non working dogs) to prove your dogs meet the breed standard.

Yes, puppy mills and BYB's can easily regrister a couple of dogs and pump out puppies from them that are said to be "from regristered parents". For some reason a lot of people are tricked into the idea that if the dog's regristered or from regristered parents it MUST be of good quality, but that just isn't true! There's deffinatly so much more that goes into it; showing, trialing, health tests to prove against herititary diseases, breeding for good temperment, and how pup is raised until it is sold all go into what makes a good quality puppy! Regristering is just a step to get into the show ring. It's like with the AAC (Agility Association of Canada), I can easily get an AAC card for my dogs, but it doesn't mean their agility champions :P Only way to make them into agility champions is training, conditioning, and trialing!

Hello,
It is now the 17th of December. Has you Golden Retreiver has the pups yet. If not, send a photo of her at the moment.
--- Tiana (adviser on dogs)

What kind of breeder doesnt even know WHEN her dog consevied?? poor breeding at its finest right here.

You do have to realize I own both the male and the female. Both of my dogs will go outside together when they are let out to use the bathroom. I have a huge backyard and cannot supervise them at all times, especially with young children outside playing. I personally did not witness them, but my husband had and didn't tell me until I suspected she was pregnant. He could not recall the exact date that this had happened. I have posted photos of my female and her belly. She has gone through all of the symptoms of being pregnant including morning sickness, enlarged teats, weight gain...and so on. I have been measuring her belly weekly and it has grown 2 1/2 inches. I will give her until Christmas to have her pups, otherwise I am afraid that this has been a false pregnancy.

Originally Posted by Tankstar

What kind of breeder doesnt even know WHEN her dog consevied?? poor breeding at its finest right here.

By the way, I have never claimed to be a breeder. I wanted to breed my dog once to try it out and experience breeding, so that in the future if I really wanted to become a breeder, I would know what I'm getting myself into. I personally just wanted some advice from an experienced breeder, otherwise I would have not picked "dog breeder chat" to ask my question. This was a surprise to me (if she really is pregnant), I did not want her to have pups in winter, when it is too cold to have the puppies outside for periods of time. I would have choose to have her concieve on her next cycle.

[reeskujo]

You wanted to try it out?....Breeding is not something you just try out like a piece of electronic equipment!....You either do it the right and responsible way or you don't do it at all...If you didn't know what you were getting into before hand that simply means you don't know about responsible breeding and therefore shouldn't be doing it!...Wanted to try it!...I can't believe I just read that!!!