Holly the Golden Retriever - Pregnant!

Holly the Golden Retriever - Pregnant!

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Discussion

badgerade

Original Poster:

656 posts

197 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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Our Golden Retriever, Holly, is currently pregnant. Initial mating was on the 14th Feb, which puts her due date around the 18th April. I took her for a scan on day 35 which confirmed the pregnancy and the suggestion was that she had around 9 puppies cooking away.

My plan is that if I have a thread to keep updated, then I'm more likely to take photos and remember the experience than just let it all happen. (Things may change when we've got a load of pups to keep an eye on though!)

This is our first experience with breeding so if anyone has any tips they will be gratefully accepted!

First pic from a few weeks ago:



And then a couple of days ago looking a lot more pregnant and pretty fed up with life!





Edited by badgerade on Monday 13th April 16:02

KFC

3,687 posts

129 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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Why?

I wasn't aware there was a shortage of golden retrievers frown

badgerade

Original Poster:

656 posts

197 months

Monday 13th April 2015
quotequote all
You're right, there's not. But we felt like it would be a good thing for our son to be part of, and our dog is healthy and free of the hip/eye issues that affect retrievers.

I'm guessing that you disagree? Would be (genuinely) interested to know why? smile

moorx

3,481 posts

113 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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I'm afraid I'm with KFC here. Obviously you have made your decision, and I hope that it all works out, that mum and pups are all healthy and that you are able to find good homes for them all, but personally I don't understand the need to breed from a pet. I guess because my family and I have always had rescue dogs?

carreauchompeur

17,830 posts

203 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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Hey, leave it out, you're acting like OP is the father! wink

bexVN

14,682 posts

210 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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I wish Holly well, hope it goes smoothly. Have you been reading g up about normal signs of labour in a bh. Also make sure you know how your vets our of hours works should you need them.

There is so.much I could go through but I just don't have time right now, just make sure you read up and make notes, there really is nothing more frustrating than an ignorant breeder who hasn't at least tried to learn what to expect!! How old is she?

Do I agree with what you are doing? not really I don't get it myself but then I guess I see it when it goes wrong not when it all goes smoothly. It will be an interesting experience for your son but not a necessary one so I don't tend to agree with that but it's what you have chosen so now it is time to think of her welfare and wish her well smile. (it is a better reason than those who say that they think it'll be good for the bh, believe me it won't!)

riosyd

611 posts

200 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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Good luck with the puppies, golden retrievers are such lovely dogs (I can't offer any advice as all mine have been boys laugh ).

I look forward to seeing photos thumbup

KFC

3,687 posts

129 months

Monday 13th April 2015
quotequote all
badgerade said:
You're right, there's not. But we felt like it would be a good thing for our son to be part of, and our dog is healthy and free of the hip/eye issues that affect retrievers.

I'm guessing that you disagree? Would be (genuinely) interested to know why? smile
I don't think there is any need at all to breed from pets. We need higher end breeding to ensure the breeds all continue, and we have completely unwanted pregnancies (accidental breeding of pets, stray dogs having litters in the wild). We already have too many dogs being born, I think its pretty selfish to deliberately add to that problem. I appreciate it has some value for your son to be part of but you could have achieved similar by reserving a puppy of a dog that was already pregnant, and visiting them when they'd had the pups etc, up till the time you took one home. Or he could have read a book about it and then taught why it was a good thing to take a rescue dog smile

Right now absolute best case scenario is no health scares, 9 new puppies born, all are rehomed, and 9 dogs in rescue homes get killed because of it.

riosyd

611 posts

200 months

Monday 13th April 2015
quotequote all
What about the irresponsible breeders who don't even do the basic health checks on their dogs, why don't you give them such a hard time! Where do you think rescue dogs come from - it's hardly responsible breeding!

bexVN

14,682 posts

210 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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Just a thought have you discussed with your vet when to worm her?

What sort of diet is she on? Her need for extra food should only be needed in the last 3 weeks of pregnancy. Was she at her correct weight before getting pregnant?

Look up how to build a whelping pen!

We were so lucky where I work as one of the nurses put together a fantastic handout going through everything you'd ever need to know!! (it was free aswell to our clients with pregnant bhes)

Buy a digital thermometer smile

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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You're not a registered kennel club breeder and you are looking for advice after getting your woofer knocked up? Have you had her hip and eye scored?

Are you planning to sell the puppies?

bexVN

14,682 posts

210 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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el stovey said:
You're not a registered kennel club breeder and you are looking for advice after getting your woofer knocked up? Have you had her hip and eye scored?

Are you planning to sell the puppies?
I assume as he's written she is hip and eye clear that he has.

KFC

3,687 posts

129 months

Monday 13th April 2015
quotequote all
riosyd said:
What about the irresponsible breeders who don't even do the basic health checks on their dogs, why don't you give them such a hard time! Where do you think rescue dogs come from - it's hardly responsible breeding!
They're the worst of the bunch as they're going to be doing it over and over with no real concern for the dogs in question. At least someone in the OP's position is likely only going to do it once.

The problem is the amount of people in the OP's position - loads of people think "oh i want to keep a puppy from my dog" or "i'll be lovely for the kids to experience". All these litters of 6+ puppies a go.... they're not long adding up into 100's or 1000's of puppies and further clogging up the rehoming setup too.

Nobody likes to think about the end result... but the undeniable ending of deliberate breeding of pet dogs in this manner is Timo gets the needle or lives out the last few years of his life in misery - http://www.battersea.org.uk/apex/webprofile?aid=32...

riosyd

611 posts

200 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
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There are a lot of dogs in rehoming centres, I just feel you were a bit harsh on the OP. Thankfully Timo has found a new home and there are no other retrievers in Battersea wink

I have 3 golden retrievers (contribute financially to the Golden Retriever Club of Scotland welfare fund and our local cat and dog home - where we got our 4 year old cat from).

KFC

3,687 posts

129 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
quotequote all
riosyd said:
There are a lot of dogs in rehoming centres, I just feel you were a bit harsh on the OP. Thankfully Timo has found a new home and there are no other retrievers in Battersea wink

I have 3 golden retrievers (contribute financially to the Golden Retriever Club of Scotland welfare fund and our local cat and dog home - where we got our 4 year old cat from).
I know there are a lot of dogs in rehoming centres; wouldn't that be a good reason to not do what the OP has done though?

I don't think anyone is being unnecessarily harsh, we're just pointing out that there is a real knock on effect of what he's doing. His son gets to play with a few cute puppies, and as a direct result I get to deal with the fall out of it at the other end of the chain. It all just pushes through... sure there might not be 9 other golden retrievers available to rehome in his immediate area. But then some of those people would have traveled outwith the area, or they'd have taken what dogs are available. Almost every puppy you deliberately breed in this manner, kills another one somewhere else. Loads of dogs will end up at no kill shelters, at a huge financial cost to everyone connected to the charities. Then when those places are fill up, the dogs spill over into the places that are forced to kill them to make room for the next weeks abandonded dogs.

A goldfish or a hamster would have been a far more sensible way to teach kids about animals being born.

moorx

3,481 posts

113 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
quotequote all
KFC said:
riosyd said:
There are a lot of dogs in rehoming centres, I just feel you were a bit harsh on the OP. Thankfully Timo has found a new home and there are no other retrievers in Battersea wink

I have 3 golden retrievers (contribute financially to the Golden Retriever Club of Scotland welfare fund and our local cat and dog home - where we got our 4 year old cat from).
I know there are a lot of dogs in rehoming centres; wouldn't that be a good reason to not do what the OP has done though?

I don't think anyone is being unnecessarily harsh, we're just pointing out that there is a real knock on effect of what he's doing. His son gets to play with a few cute puppies, and as a direct result I get to deal with the fall out of it at the other end of the chain. It all just pushes through... sure there might not be 9 other golden retrievers available to rehome in his immediate area. But then some of those people would have traveled outwith the area, or they'd have taken what dogs are available. Almost every puppy you deliberately breed in this manner, kills another one somewhere else. Loads of dogs will end up at no kill shelters, at a huge financial cost to everyone connected to the charities. Then when those places are fill up, the dogs spill over into the places that are forced to kill them to make room for the next weeks abandonded dogs.

A goldfish or a hamster would have been a far more sensible way to teach kids about animals being born.
^^ This. I don't think anybody has been harsh at all - they have simply expressed (and justified) their opinion.

As for the comment about there being no other GRs at Battersea - oh well, that's okay then, we can all rest easy knowing that it's only staffies and other 'rejects' in rescue centres rolleyes

(Before anyone says anything - I have owned two staffy crosses, and many other 'rejects') wink

badgerade

Original Poster:

656 posts

197 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
quotequote all
Wow. So you know those threads in General Gassing about stretched tyres and ‘stance’ biggrin

carreauchompeur said:
Hey, leave it out, you're acting like OP is the father! wink
Can confirm that this is definitely not the case!

bexVN said:
I wish Holly well, hope it goes smoothly. Have you been reading g up about normal signs of labour in a bh. Also make sure you know how your vets our of hours works should you need them.
There is so much I could go through but I just don't have time right now, just make sure you read up and make notes, there really is nothing more frustrating than an ignorant breeder who hasn't at least tried to learn what to expect!! How old is she?

Do I agree with what you are doing? not really I don't get it myself but then I guess I see it when it goes wrong not when it all goes smoothly. It will be an interesting experience for your son but not a necessary one so I don't tend to agree with that but it's what you have chosen so now it is time to think of her welfare and wish her well smile. (it is a better reason than those who say that they think it'll be good for the bh, believe me it won't!)
Thanks. Yes, my wife and I have done a lot of reading around the subject, and have been talking to the breeder that we got Holly from. I think we’re probably about as prepared as we can be, but obviously nothing is as good as real world experience.

riosyd said:
Good luck with the puppies, golden retrievers are such lovely dogs (I can't offer any advice as all mine have been boys laugh ).
I look forward to seeing photos thumbup
Thanks! Will get some pics up when available thumbup

KFC said:
I don't think there is any need at all to breed from pets. We need higher end breeding to ensure the breeds all continue, and we have completely unwanted pregnancies (accidental breeding of pets, stray dogs having litters in the wild). We already have too many dogs being born, I think its pretty selfish to deliberately add to that problem.

I appreciate it has some value for your son to be part of but you could have achieved similar by reserving a puppy of a dog that was already pregnant, and visiting them when they'd had the pups etc, up till the time you took one home. Or he could have read a book about it and then taught why it was a good thing to take a rescue dog smile

Right now absolute best case scenario is no health scares, 9 new puppies born, all are rehomed, and 9 dogs in rescue homes get killed because of it.
I’m not sure that your best case scenario is really best case? Obviously you have more experience in this area than me, but from the enquiries we’ve had from prospective owners, they are set on getting a Retriever. If they hadn’t approached us, then they would have gone to an alternative breeder rather than a rescue centre.

bexVN said:
Just a thought have you discussed with your vet when to worm her?
What sort of diet is she on? Her need for extra food should only be needed in the last 3 weeks of pregnancy. Was she at her correct weight before getting pregnant?

Look up how to build a whelping pen!

We were so lucky where I work as one of the nurses put together a fantastic handout going through everything you'd ever need to know!! (it was free aswell to our clients with pregnant bhes)

Buy a digital thermometer smile
She’s in the final week now so is on an increased diet, spread throughout the day. She was weighed at the vets several times in the few weeks leading up to pregnancy when we had her boosters and then a general checkover and all was fine in that area.

Whelping box is all built and ready for her and she is having her temperature taken on a daily basis 

el stovey said:
You're not a registered kennel club breeder and you are looking for advice after getting your woofer knocked up? Have you had her hip and eye scored?
Are you planning to sell the puppies?
Erm, we are registered as a breeder with the KC. Yes she has been hip and eye scored – if the results were not as good as they were then we would not have considered breeding from her. And yes, we are selling the puppies. (Would have thought it was unlikely that anyone would keep a full litter of pups?!)

moorx said:
I don't think anybody has been harsh at all - they have simply expressed (and justified) their opinion.
As for the comment about there being no other GRs at Battersea - oh well, that's okay then, we can all rest easy knowing that it's only staffies and other 'rejects' in rescue centres rolleyes
(Before anyone says anything - I have owned two staffy crosses, and many other 'rejects') wink
Agreed, no one has been overly harsh. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and it’s refreshing to actually have opinions that are well presented!

On the rescue dog subject. As harsh as it may sound, not everyone wants one. One example, my wife is a childminder. It’s hard enough convincing parents that the 2 retrievers we’ve had since they were pups and are fully socialised are not going to eat their child. If we had rescue dogs I’m pretty sure it would not work. (And before anyone says it – the dogs are kept separate from the childminding kids, and the pups will have carefully monitored contact when they are old enough). As I mentioned somewhere up there ^ in my other waffle, the people who are interested in one of our puppies

Some of the breeders we visited when we bought our first retriever were very casual with the process. No real interest in who we were, what our circumstances were, kids etc. As long as we could hand over some money then it appeared we were fine as owners.

The first breeder we bought from asked us a lot of questions about family, house, garden, local surroundings, experience with dogs etc and made us feel a lot more comfortable.

The second breeder did the same, but then went as far as getting us sat down on her nice comfy sofa with a cup of tea and then unleashed her 4 mental retrievers on us. She said she used that to test people’s suitability – if they recoiled in horror then they clearly weren’t the right people. She also insisted that if we found that the puppy wasn’t right for us, that we contacted her and she would take it back.

Two very different experiences, and although neither will guarantee that puppies enter the rescue centres I’d hope that we will be aiming to reduce this as much as possible.

bexVN

14,682 posts

210 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
quotequote all
When I read this last night, I did not really twig how close she was to her date, sorry if I stated the obvious on a few things!!

The most important thing is once she is in full labour do not let her go more than 20 mins-30 mins of unproductive straining. Phone for advice at this point.

moorx

3,481 posts

113 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
quotequote all
It's good that you are open to hearing other people's opinions smile and it sounds as though you will do your best by these pups. Hopefully you will interrogate potential owners as well as your dogs' breeders did.

Despite that, you're not going to change my mind re breeding and I doubt that I will change yours, so we'll have to agree to differ wink

I accept that not everyone wants a rescue dog, and providing they have made that decision rationally, with all the facts, that is fine. What I do object to is the misconceptions about rescue dogs - 'you don't get pups in rescue', 'you don't get pedigrees in rescue (except staffies)', 'all rescue dogs have issues'. I understand your circumstances/restrictions re children, although I have to say that one of my rescue dogs (a greyhound, dearly missed frown) was previously owned by a childminder. They only gave her up because the husband's work changed and he was unable to look after her. Lily was absolutely fantastic with children - all people actually, I used to take her to street collections for the rescue she came from.

badgerade

Original Poster:

656 posts

197 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
quotequote all
moorx said:
It's good that you are open to hearing other people's opinions smile and it sounds as though you will do your best by these pups. Hopefully you will interrogate potential owners as well as your dogs' breeders did.
That's certainly our aim. The interrogations have already started biggrin It's quite an eye opening experience - some people are sending emails with their full background included etc. Others are taking more of a "I want one of your dogs" approach and then appear to be quite offended when we are asking for more information.

moorx said:
Despite that, you're not going to change my mind re breeding and I doubt that I will change yours, so we'll have to agree to differ wink
I wouldn't even begin to try, and I don't completely disagree with you. I was more hoping to get the point across that although this is the first time we're doing this, we're not completely blind to what we're getting into. My first post was perhaps a little "wow my dog is up the duff what do we do now?!"

moorx said:
I accept that not everyone wants a rescue dog, and providing they have made that decision rationally, with all the facts, that is fine. What I do object to is the misconceptions about rescue dogs - 'you don't get pups in rescue', 'you don't get pedigrees in rescue (except staffies)', 'all rescue dogs have issues'. I understand your circumstances/restrictions re children, although I have to say that one of my rescue dogs (a greyhound, dearly missed frown) was previously owned by a childminder. They only gave her up because the husband's work changed and he was unable to look after her. Lily was absolutely fantastic with children - all people actually, I used to take her to street collections for the rescue she came from.
Agree on the misconceptions. The fact that there are so many dogs in rescue suggests that there is an issue with how easy it is to get a dog in the first place?

Far too many people go into dog ownership without fully understanding what they're getting involved with, and it seems there is very little in place to stop this happening. We have a local garden centre near us that sells puppies as if they are hamsters.. People walk in, see them, buy them. I'd hazard a guess that a large percentage of them end up in a rescue centre frown (And I would doubt that the mother/pups are treated brilliantly either).