Newborn pups

Serlokas

Hi everyone. I have bitch westie about 2years old, and i think it's right about time to get her a male after witch an operation will be done. Hate neighborhood dogs stooging around my gate cant even get her out for a proper walk without her drawing attention to herself. I'm just worried how should i arrange the paperwork for the pups, chipping and vaccinating? does anyone have experience with it and a rough price?
THNX

lorebringer

Before you take the plunge, it would be a good plan to get her health checked for genetic illnesses - I know they can suffer from skin, eye, joint and other problems so getting your bitch tested/scored before you breed will really help with the long term health of the pups. The father will also need to have the relevant tests to make sure the pups have the best chance at good genes and a healthy life.

Paperwork would be arranged with the IKC (if she and the sire are registered, if not then the pups cannot be registered). They will be able to fill you in with regards to the details - applications, forms etc.

Veterinary costs add up very quickly when it comes to breeding and puppies. If the mother has a difficult birth, it could wipe out your bank account. Pups will need to be vaxed (varies around the country and according to vet so the best idea is to ring you own vet and ask for an estimate), wormed every 2 weeks, chipped and any other health problems that may occur. Sick puppies can be very expensive to get well, and if mum gets ill you could end up hand rearing the pups (feeds every 2 - 4 hours, around the clock) and formula is not cheap. Not to mention the significant risk and stress posed to your pet of pregnancy, birth and feeding hungry pups. Food costs mount up before your eyes - mum will eat like a horse and pup will soon do the same. Profit, if there is any, will be low.

Personally, I would just get your little one spayed. It's much cheaper than any breeding and much less stress! If you are serious about breeding, please do it properly and get your bitch health tested. If something goes wrong along the way the results can be very upsetting and pricey to deal with. Even if everything goes smoothly, it can still be very stressful (for both you and your dog) and expensive to do. Making sure pups go to great homes can be, at times, a more difficult task than it sounds.

Good luck with whatever you choose

Serlokas

thank you for your reply. Have to save some money before taking such challenge. Dog looks healthy, and has all the papers, but thanks for you suggestion and i will check her first.

The Sweeper

Serlokas, as lorebringer has pointed out, you can't trust that the dog 'looks' healthy.

It's an old wives tale that a dog should have a single litter before being spayed. So she doesn't need to have a litter for her health or mental wellbeing. So that leaves the reasons for you wanting her to have a litter.

People will pay for a puppy, that part is true, but again as lorebringer has said, if she has a difficult birth you will be into hundreds and hundreds of euros for vet assistance, plus the puppies may then all potentially die, leaving you with nothing but a whopping bill and a dog who feels very sorry for herself indeed.

Then there's the question of the sire. Some breeders with good studs, fully checked and vetted, may not give you their dog as a stud because you're basically a BYB - back yard breeder. Yes, everyone breeding has to start somewhere, and there's a first time for everyone, but if you're really serious about breeding, you need to take your bitch to some dog shows, show her, get to know the other breeders and get to know about breeding. If your dog places in the shows, then she's a good example of the breed. That is then a good reason to breed from her. One of the breeders you've met on the show circuit may then give you access to a good stud, so you're giving your dog and her pups the best possible chance.

Otherwise you're looking at some other BYB with a male westie with papers. Yes, you'll get pups, but again they may have a genetic predisposition to illnesses that will cost their future owners a fortune. Additionally, if money is an issue the pups you sell onwards won't be spayed. This is one of the biggest problems with back yard breeding. In the most reliable breeding circles, where the standard of the breed and the health of the dogs is paramount, reputable breeders will charge more money for a 'show quality' pup, but even then they won't sell an intact dog to an owner who isn't a registered breeder (this is in countries where vets will desex young - elsewhere they may sell the dog with a caveat that it be desexed at six months).

If you have your dog covered by another random westie with papers, and you sell on intact puppies, they could literally end up anywhere - in puppy mills, or with some BYB who tries to get four or five litters out of the dog from nine months of age onwards, just for the money. They could even end up being mated with the dog you used to mate your own westie, because some BYBs don't care so much about checks like that, not when they can get a few hundred a puppy.

Hope this thread gives you food for thought - there's a lot more to it than a chance at motherhood for your dog and a few quid for you.

morganafay

If you want to breed then do, but think over the things that the two people before me said. I think they covered most things, and made some really good points.

Breeding is so so stressful, you have to love it to be able to put up with it I'd say. And I've only bred rabbits, but that was so stressful, just always worrying about them, that they were doing ok, that the mother was alright, waiting for her to have the babies . . . I'd love to breed dogs in a couple of years, but I can imagine it'd be a lot of hard work, raising around 6 puppies, feeding them 4 times a day, cleaning up poo about 10 times a day . . . but still, it'd be nice to do.

Serlokas

thanks everyone for putting some sense into me.