Our puppy from mating to pick up
In order for you to get your long-awaited four-legged friend and family member, you need to meet many conditions and do a lot of things in "those 4 months".
Quality puppies are not easy to obtain. It takes hours and hours of researching pedigrees, lines, hours of working with dogs, care, sleepless nights raising puppies, not to mention the financial costs. But what does this process actually look like?
HEAT:
The process of getting puppies begins with the bitch entering the heat. Of course, before mating, the bitch had to undergo a health check-up.
tests, a test of innate traits and be evaluated in shape so that she can go into breeding, that is, so that her puppies have pedigrees. Our bitches often visit 10-20 shows before their first litter, and they never have puppies before they are 20 months old and never after they are 7 and a half years old, and a maximum of 4 litters in their life, each at least a year apart. After the bitch enters the heat, her behavior and discharge should be monitored. On the 7th day after we noticed the discharge, we do a progesterone test in a human laboratory. Depending on the progesterone value, we repeat it the next day or in 2 or 3 days. Every bitch is different, but every heat is different. Sometimes progesterone increases quickly, sometimes it goes more slowly. This is the most reliable test that indicates when fertile days will occur and is very important for the mating to be successful, especially if you are going on a long trip for the mating. Bitches usually enter fertile days when their discharge turns light pink or stops. However, this cannot be a rule, nor should we follow it. The heat lasts 4 weeks and each bitch's fertile days are different.
ULTRASOUND:
Choosing a veterinarian is very important for determining pregnancy, but also for the impact on the bitch. If the veterinarian is attentive, the atmosphere is friendly and there are not many dogs in the clinic, it is easier for the bitch to lie on her back while she is having an ultrasound. At 4-4.5 weeks if she is pregnant, the puppies must be visible. During this period, if there are no puppies on the ultrasound screen, she is not pregnant! And if she is, then this is what it looks like.
FIRST MONTH OF DAYS OF PREGNANCY:
In these first months, you can hardly see anything. The owners, and we ourselves, are constantly observing the bitch, now she seems a little bigger, now her mammary glands are more swollen, now she is calmer and slower. Truth be told, all of this is mostly our imagination. The only accurate indicator of pregnancy in a bitch is an ultrasound, which can be done as early as 3 weeks after mating, but we do not do it before the 28th day of pregnancy, because the first 4 weeks of pregnancy are the most critical and we try to expose the bitches to as little stress as possible
5TH AND 6TH WEEK OF PREGNANCY:
The bitch is already noticeably bigger, and now you're wondering why we even thought "is it or isn't it" a week ago and went for an ultrasound when now it's
visibly bigger? The mammary glands are more swollen, but the belly is also expanding, mostly the upper part. She is hungrier (although, we are talking about retrievers, and they are ALWAYS hungrier, so that is no indication), but my bitches are not calmer, but are as active as before. Of course, they no longer go to the dogs outside the kennel or to the lake, but they regularly spend time in the yard, running to the fence when tractors pass by, etc.
7TH AND 8TH WEEK OF PREGNANCY
The bitch is now quite big and you can see her growing practically every day. In the 8th week of pregnancy you can already feel the puppies beating against the walls of the uterus. She is now slower, constantly hungry and requires more attention. This is where the intensive preparations for the birth begin.
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PREPARATIONS FOR BIRTH OF PUPPIES:
1. Whelping box
Before "that day" comes, everything must be ready. The whelping box is the "box" in which the bitch will give birth and where the puppies will spend their first
weeks of life. The dimensions should be at least twice as large as the bitch, and you must also put slats so that the bitch does not lie on any
The puppy was crushed against the edge of the litter box. Our whelping boxes are 150x100 cm in size and are sufficient for the first 3 or 4 weeks of the puppies' lives.
2. Sterile scissors
Not all bitches are born ready to do everything right away when they give birth, especially not first-time bitches. They are often confused.
and your intervention is very important. Our bitches never give birth alone and always give birth in the living room so that they are
under constant supervision. It is often necessary to remove the puppy from the placenta and cut the umbilical cord.
3. lots of towels and sheets
The litter is dirty, there is a lot of amniotic fluid and blood. For that, in addition to having a stomach, you also need to have a lot of towels and
sheets that can absorb all that amount of liquid.
4. infrared bulb
In addition to heating, the infrared bulb also kills harmful bacteria and protects against viruses, so puppies under it are "safe" from external influences.
BEFORE THE BIRTH:
A female dog will eat less or stop eating altogether before giving birth. Some bitches will completely clean themselves and will not start giving birth until their digestive tract is clean, while others will start when you don't even expect it. While preparing for giving birth, female dogs lick their mammary glands, cleaning them and preparing them for the puppies. Milk is already coming out of the mammary glands.
WHELPING:
The actual whelping itself varies from bitch to bitch. Some give birth to all their puppies very quickly, within 15-20 minutes, while some give birth at intervals of up to 2 hours. Our bitches usually give birth quite quickly. Puppies often need to be revived and massaged, and placed on their mammary glands, and some are so active that they quickly find their own "way to food".
When the puppy comes out, you should be careful not to let the bitch step on it, so you should remove it from the placenta as soon as possible, cut the umbilical cord, dry it and put it to suckle. Sometimes more effort is needed for the puppy, sometimes less, it all depends on the puppy itself and its mother. Bitches often like to give birth outside, so when you take her out to relieve herself, you should definitely have a towel and scissors with you. After the litter is over, after the puppies have eaten, we always do an ultrasound to see if all the puppies have come out.
WEEK 1-3
In the first 3 weeks, puppies are completely dependent on their mother. They are fed primarily with her milk, but are also supplemented with puppy milk replacement. They are weighed daily to see if they are gaining weight and how much they are actually gaining. At 14 days of age, most puppies open their eyes, and in the 3rd week, their baby teeth erupt and their ear canals open. At that time, puppies are slowly walking, they are interested in the world around them, and they start playing with their brothers and sisters. At 14 days old, we clean them for the first time of intestinal parasites.
WEEK 4
We deworm the puppies for the second time from parasites. At 19-25 days old, we accustom the puppies to a soaked puppy starter food to which we add milk replacer. The puppies get used to the new diet very quickly and visibly demand more from day to day. In the 4th week, they slowly go outside the house, onto grass, tiles and concrete and begin to explore the world around them. At this age, they begin to notice the television, listen to sounds and are interested in adult dogs.
WEEK 5-6
During this period, the puppies grow very quickly, run, play, but everything still looks very, very funny. At 5 weeks old, they are moved to a new room, a "playroom" because the puppies require more and more space and new challenges. At 6 weeks old, we clean them for the 3rd time from intestinal parasites and vaccinate them. At 6 weeks old, they are registered with the Croatian Kennel Club and are examined by the breeding manager of the Croatian Retriever Club and a veterinarian.
WEEKS 7-8
During this period, we socialize puppies the most. To other people, children, dogs, different sounds, different surfaces. Puppies are already 5-7kg and ready to go to new homes. At 7 weeks, we microchip them. At 8 weeks, puppies are completely ready for new homes.