Things to Be Considered When the Newborns Arrive

Newborn puppy care can be extremely tiring, especially. There are a number of problems that can arise with newborns. Many knowledgeable breeders, who have been breeding dogs for years, are still learning the right and wrong way of doing things.
There are certain factors to consider when you find that you dog is expecting. These things include:

* Kennel or Room Temperature
* Bedding
* The Place Where The Newborns Will Be Born
* Injections
* Any Potential Problems With The Birth
If you people know any other points or suggestion, you can post here, it will be useful for everyone, even me :)

There's a lot more that I could add. Because some of it happens before newborns are on the way, but since I have time, I'll add to this. Others with experience with various breeds can add to it too, of course.

My concern was that if your post stands alone, the whole matter looks fairly easy, so I'll give some perspective from our experiences.

Normally when we're planning a litter, it is years in advance, sometimes includes importing a dog, testing it via various breed appropriate methods, formal or informal conformation and character evaluation. Raising to an age when it can be hip, elbow, and otherwise OFA certified. The right mate chosen that doesn't double up on the recessive faults or more serious faults. COI calculated, certificates verified, vertical pedigree and its depth evaluated (eg, are there several dogs in the pedigree for which owners and breeders did not care to performance test their dogs? find out why this is so). Written agreements worked out for what happens if the litter has one pup or three, or normal sized litter & how long the pups must survive to be counted as a 'live pup' under the agreement, etc. Obviously if 3K is tied into the breeding and you only get one live pup and it is a pet quality pup, you're going to be in the red anyway, so work things out. If you do travelling for dog shows there will be several more K invested of course. (only the mass producers who cut all the corners and testing can actually use dogs as a cash crop)

If the dog finally qualifies and the mate chosen, and we're talking about an import, one of our registries that only will register litters from passing parents has to get the dog's documentation before registration papers are issued. (some of our imports cannot be given papers til they qualify). Said dog must pass a visual inspection and have correct occlusion and other details. All of this is of course, rather spendy, especially if the choice male is in another location (another state or country) and you have to ship chilled or frozen semen. That's when you need to do progesterone testing to determine ovulation, and often you need at least three of these, with some vets charging $80 a pop. Then the actual TCI or AI occurs, and you need to pay that too which can range from $130 (in house AI) to $500 (surgical insemination) per procedure. This is all before the stud fee (stud fees are usually the price of one top pick puppy due after the litter is born). When we do AI breedings, they do not always take, so often we sink another 1K or 2K before we actually have a litter.

Before breeding a litter, placements need to be ensured for at least half of the litter. Many people may say, "I want a puppy just like your dog!" But what they really mean is they love your dog, but may have no clue how to raise one appropriately, and they may disappear when it is time to place them. Nonrefundable deposits are a good way to do this. Deposits are not refunded if they change their mind, but are refunded if you do not have a pup that is right for them.

Mom needs to be wormed at least three months before the litter. She should be update on all vaccinations. If vaccinated too close to litter time, the puppy immunities are more likely to affected. That is, normally maternal antibodies normally wear off starting between 1.5 months to 2 months, but if she is vaccinated too close to the litter, the puppies may not attain their own self driven immune functions for another month or two or more. I know of vaccinated mothers which had pups that got their shots through three months but still came down and died of parvo at 6 months (some rottie stories). Which means plans must include keeping the puppies in a safe environment a little longer and pup buyers must be made aware of the effects of maternal colostrum.

Some breeds have a higher risk of uterine inertia or may need automatically to be arranged for C section. Often special diets including increased folic acid content can help some breeds predisposed to cleft palate and other issues. Salmon oil is often given. Females may go off their appetite for various reasons, so you have to stay aware of her health. A temperature drop usually precedes the birth of the litter so a thermometer and some charting starting the wee before (around day 55 or so) 2x a day allows you to become familiar with fluctuations. (birth is 63 days from ovulation, which is not necessarily 63 days from a breeding)

Pups will need worming and their first vaccinations. They need to be handled daily and evaluated so you get an idea of appropriate fit for each home. Sometimes you may have 6 on your waiting list but two are beginners and you find all the pups are going to need families that are not wusses. So you have to screen more families and refund some deposits.

Pups ideally should be left with mom at least 8 weeks but some breeds are a bit more tenacious and provisions must be made to separate the pups when they are not supervised so there isn't gang warfare. Pups will learn their bite inhibition if left with mom and their littermates. Again tenacious breeds may have to be separated from littermates a little earlier. (Anatolians do fine all together normally and learn to be tolerant if fed together, raised together.)

Pups need a rich environment. Not raised in cages of course. They need play, periods of music, loud noises, sometimes machines in the background, need to be exposed to other animals and also to kids and other people. Pups that are a little reserved, need to have special attention given to them and to be placed in appropriate homes. Pups that seem rather 'take charge' also need special consideration.

Housebreaking training, even if the pups are raised outside is a good thing. They should have a clean area and an area where they can potty. This will make it easier for the pups to housebreak. Their muscle control will improve at three months, but this training can start much sooner. Don't just raise them on newspapers.

Breeders should be prepared to keep, raise and train all the pups til they get new homes. In my breed it is not unusual for some breeders to hang on to several strapping 8 month pups eating them out of house and home, before placing them in the right homes. Work out a placement agreement so at least at the time of placement, you know everyone understands what is expected. We like our placements to agree to the genetics program we have set up and that they contribute to the breed by helping us screen their dogs and do neutering based on the dog's development (usually neutered before one year, females of my line tend not to come into heat til 12 to 18 months or more). We keep records of the dogs through their entire lives but this involves cooperation of our placements.

So I guess my breeding details may give some extra things to consider and some of my stuff is breed specific. I know there are more details in my case, but this pretty long already. :rolleyes:

We keep involved our breed club, genetics studies, advising others on problem behavior, working with rescues and we make it a point to continue to learn why other people's placements didn't work out which helps us to do a better job by not duplicating mistakes if possible.

Additionally we need to stay aware of legislation that tries to destroy breeding programs. When you come to love a breed, you need to know everything about it and to defend the breed and be aware of it's problems. We have to encourage others to be responsible to the pups they bring into the world and help others whose policies with which we may not agree. There needs to be more people working together.

Picture this. Much new legislation promotes the idea that only registered champion show animals are healthy and of superior genetics and should be the only dogs allowed 'breeding licenses' --

AS IF -- this can be discerned in the show ring in the 2-3 minutes that a judge has to eyeball a dog. This is a dangerous genetic and logical fallacy which promotes narrow gene pools, popular sire syndrome, loss of protective alleles -- in short is one of the reasons why some of our canine genepools are in serious trouble.

This degree of quality cannot be discerned in pediatric animals. Occlusion goes off, orthopedic problems sometimes develop, sometimes there are problems with the endocrine system. There are breeds where certain colors are likely to win in rings, but these dogs are heterozygotes for certain traits. That means healthy breeding animals are not always "show quality" and many excellent champion producers could never be champions themselves. So we do have to fight bad legislation while encouraging more to be responsible. It starts at home and with the placements of our puppy family.

So there's a lot of homework involved in dog breeding. People make shortcuts all the time, but if they look out after the welfare of the dogs they place, then that is to be commended.