Hi,
I'm new to this forum and have a question. Can someone help me! I have a 3 yr choc. lab and have been trying to get her breed to my 5 yr old male choc lab. The last time I saw them hookup was around the 29 of June. (We started trying to breed her when she was about 2 yrs old.). I don't think she is pregnant. What I'm wanting to know is, if my male and female have gotten together several time, (10 to 15 minutes) why isn't she pregnant?

Thanks

There are many factors to breeding dogs. Get a dog book about breeding. There's one by doctor rice (and ironically there are 14 little choc lab puppies on the back cover) You need to think about pre-estrus, estrus and the rest of the cycle. Also, if she's been bred repeatedly (more than just this heat) and is not concieving, either one of your dogs may be sterile. With the problems you're looking at now with just trying to concieve, maybe its best that you don't actually get a litter... search for healthier reps of the breed. Sorry if that offends you; i'm not saying your dogs are out of standard or unhealthy. There may be possible underlying problems to the rejection of concieving.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but seriously, if you don't know enough about breeding dogs that you have to ask why your bitch isn't pregnant, you probably don't know enough about breeding to be breeding your bitch at all.

I'm not trying to be mean when I say that. Please understand that there's more to breeding dogs than putting a male and female together and waiting 9 weeks. And I'm not really talking about the health testing, knowing your standard, and having two animals that are reasonable representatives of the breed, although those are strong considerations.

I'm talking about the biology involved. You have to know more than how to get the job done. You have to know when. You have to know what can go wrong. You have to know when it's time to consult a vet (and I'd say now it's time to consult your vet). You have to know how to deliver puppies if the bitch needs help. You have to know how to hand raise puppies if you have to. You have to know a lot of things, and it doesn't sound like you do.

[wishbone]

Take a look around, visit shelters and rescue house. A lot of poor dogs being euthanized everyday because of lack of home for them and also because of illegal breeding resulting to incurable defects. Hope you are prepared, have all the documents and responsible enough on your act of breeding.

Originally Posted by wishbone

Take a look around, visit shelters and rescue house. A lot of poor dogs being euthanized everyday because of lack of home for them and also because of illegal breeding resulting to incurable defects. Hope you are prepared, have all the documents and responsible enough on your act of breeding.

Illegal breeding? I don't think there is such a thing. And the causes of "incurable defects" are a lot more complicated than just being legally allowed to breed.