[Emma Barber]

Hi - I am new to this site and very desperate! I have a English Springer Spaniel who has had one litter already. She came into season end of March and we mated her on her 9th day. She stood for the dog and achieved a tie and spend the night with him. We then went on holiday and our very kind neighbours looked after her but on the 19th day she was caught with a Border Collie and achieved a tie. I have spoken to several vets and the answers are all different. The stud has never had a failure and is a prolific breeder and she caught with him the last time having 12 puppies. What are people's thoughts on her willing to stand with another dog 19 days after her season started if she was pregant by the first dog? When she was first mated, her vulva was not that swollen and she was not bleeding that much. My friends says that in the last week she was very swollen and bleeding heavily and pitching her tail to the side. One vet has said she has probably caught with the first, the other said she would not have been interested in the second dog 10 days down the line. My options are to abort (if she is preganant) or proceed. What are other people's experiences and thoughts? I would really welcome some comments. Many thanks, Emma:

[cigwyllt]

It is quite possible that she could have two litters at the same time from the two dogs. The window of opportunity for her to mate is quite small isn't it - so she is unlikely to have been fertile at both ends of a 10 day period but would she have stood for the collie if she wasn't? I don't know how you can tell or what you should do. To produce a large litter of cross breeds isn't the responsible thing but to lose a litter of purebred spaniels would be sad. I don't know what to suggest. But I guess on balance aborting would perhaps be a more responsible action - why risk adding to the ever increasing problem of cross breeds flooding rescues and pounds. Plus the financial outlay would be the same if they were pure bred or cross bred but the money you would recoup would be much less.

I have my suspicions (and lots of people who know my dog think I'm right) that my Jack Russell was the product of a second mating as he strongly resembles the West Highland terrier dog the breeders owned alongside the Jack Russells they had put with a neighbours stud.

[OrangeDog]

it is possible for a little to have multiple sires and at this point the only thing you can do is run a DNA test on every puppy to determine parentage.

[pinsnpugs]

Yes, your girl can certainly be pregnant by both males. The length in which a female stands for breeding will vary per female.

There is no way to tell at this point if she was more fertile at one of those times or the other.
The choice is up to you whther you want to abort or follow through with the litter. Of course, you will have to have the parets' DNA'd along with any puppies you plan to register...the pups will also need DNA'd.

My main concern would be the maturity of the puppies at whelping time. Since she can take by both males and the time between is so great....one litter could be over matured and be too large for her to pass, or if she whelps by the 1st breeding, the pups from 2nd mating may be too immature to survive when whelped.