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If you are contemplating breeding a litter
from your chow bitch, take time to mull over a few thoughts on the subject.
Ask yourself why you wish to have a litter. Is it because you want to keep
a puppy for yourself? Is it because you believe the myth that it is good
to let a bitch have just one litter? The truth is there is more to
this than you first imagine. First of all, can you be sure of
selling the puppies? When you bought your chow you may have had to
tour the country in order to get a puppy, at times there is a lull in the
availability of chow puppies then all of a sudden several litters are born
around the same time and there could be as many as 70 or 80 puppies available at
once. Other questions to ask yourself, can you afford it?.
First there is the stud fee, maybe the owner of the stud dog will want all of
the stud fee up front, or some will require £xxx for a handling fee and then so
much for each live puppy born. You must be prepared also, that if
things go wrong at the whelping and your bitch has to have a caesarean
operation, this can cost hundreds of pounds especially if you have to attend the
surgery out of hours, and if after all that there is only one puppy, you can
appreciate that the time, effort and cost will exceed the cost of going out and
buying a puppy. Can you afford the time? After your girl
is mated, approximately 63 days later you can expect her to whelp. All
well and good if she is a good mother, apart from you keeping a eye on things,
feeding her, and keeping her and the whelping area clean, the first couple of
weeks will be quite easy going, but if she is not a good mother, if she is
awkward around the puppies, if she either refuses to feed and clean them, or she
doesn't have much milk for them, then you will have to step in and bottle feed
them, which in the early days will be every two hours.
Then the puppies will be with you for a least 8 weeks, can you spare all that
time? As they get older and bigger, the work starts. You need
to start weaning them, and start potty training them, chows are extremely clean,
and once they get used to going outside, they will not wish to be dirty, they
will soon be letting you know they want to go out, and they do not mind what
hour it is.!!
Well if you have not been put off by the above and still wish to breed a litter,
just a few more things to be aware of.
Your bitch should be healthy, up to date on injections and worming regime, she should also be mature. Kennel Club
rules state you should not breed a bitch until she is over 12 months of age.
At 12 months, that
really is a too young. I personally would not breed a bitch until
she was
around 18 months of age, they have to be mature in both mind and body and some
are just not ready for motherhood until they are nearly two.
Having said that, you would not want to wait until the bitch is 4 years old
before she had a first litter, so it is reasonable to try and mate her on her
3rd season which would probably be around 18 months of age. That is my
opinion. You should ask the advice of the breeder of your puppy,
they may suggest a suitable stud dog, or seek help from other experienced
chow breeders who should be able to give you advice on the matter.
Get prepared, purchase all the whelping essentials.
There are a few dog books available that cover breeding and whelping, one such
book is "Book Of The Bitch" an excellent paperback written by J. Evans and Kay
White. If you get the chance try and get to see a litter being born,
or ask a breeder if they can spare time to be in attendance when your litter is
about to be born.
Fingers crossed, all will go well, and you will soon be naming your puppies and
sending them off to their new homes.
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News |
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15th November 2009 |
Chris & Winston Clucas
Worcestershire U.K.
Tel. 0 11 44
(0)1562 515400