mini girl

Thanks for your help. Yes I have the pups to be grandmother and two other now desexed females so dogs to teach the pups what they need to know so if the mother is not that interested in the pups at 6 weeks and her milk dried up it should be ok to let her go home? It's to be her one and only litter she is with very good friends and they love her so much they will miss her so they are going on a holiday after the pups are born. Hope it all works out but feel it should be ok.

Same here hoping for the best

Just interested to hear of any girls who have come back to their breeder for a litter. How long would you keep the mother with her pups before letting her return home. Of course would not let her go until pups well and truly weaned but interested to hear of others experience in this. I know my girls that live with me were quite content to let the pups go around 8 or so weeks and certainly don't fret when they do go.

Hopes and prayers are with you. My God if you all get through this and keep your sanity you can tackle anything. Nothing worse than waiting and hoping for a good outcome but having her home with you may help her no end. Will wait to hear how it all goes try and keep positive and "cool". they tune in so much as to how we are feeling. All the best to your girl, her babies and of course you.

Sending my caring thoughts it has been on my mind since first reading this post. She pulls on the heart strings saw her photo. I hope for a positive outcome. Try to keep positive.

How did the ultra sound go It must be so much of a worry Do hope all will be well

Good luck I do hope all works out. What did the vet think? Maybe even ring a reproduction vet there is a list of them at the top of the forum on the permanent posts.

Do a general letter and cut and paste into the reply. Saves a bit of time. Tell them to ring if interested. Dealing with the public can be trying at times but the good ones make up for the ones just trying to find a cheap pup. Also what about the ones that are all interested till it comes time for the deposit and do t even bother to let you know they no longer want the pup.

Lovely story Mini girl!

I too am happy to persevere if they are strong enough in other ways. I had a tiny puppy in a previous litter, born with a broken tail. He too had trouble latching on, and I hoped it was just a lack of strength as he seemed to be a fighter. I tube fed him for a few days and he took off. He caught up and even passed some others, did everything first in his litter - opening eyes, getting on his feet, eating solids etc. He now lives overseas as a family member and military working dog (mascot & welfare). He is so treasured by so many - the couple of days lack of sleep were well worth it long term!

Sometimes pups are weak for reasons we don't know and it's not meant to be. Sometimes they can use a little extra support to find their feet, if the spirit is willing.

I need a Kleenex getting all misty but isn't it wonderful to see and just one of the reasons we keep doing it. He sounds like he turned out to be a wonderful boy. I love happy endings. We should start a thread on pups that beat the odds to go on and become special.

Haven't had a chance to read the forum in a while but just read this one on the puppy not suckling - took me back several years to a pup that was born on the pavers when his mother wanting a toilet break squatted and delivered him - he unlike this one was first born on a St Patricks Day so named him Patrick. He was tiny and couldn't seem to get a hold on the nipple - so I fed him with an eye dropper for quite a while till he could - he had a funny little mouth that wouldn't quite close and his tiny tongue poked out a bit. I worried about his future and rang my vet who said he could be pts but to me that was not an option - he also said the telling point would be if he could eat solid food when the time came. He could eat and very well too. A lovely couple came and the wife choose him the smallest pup with the funny mouth - I disclosed his full history but she wanted him nonetheless - her husband said well if you are taking the smallest I am taking the biggest so he can look after his little brother. Now quite a few years have passed and I still see them from time to time and do you know that tiny pup with the funny little mouth grew into a beautiful dog with a perfect mouth - and he is still called Patrick - so hopefully your dear little whippet will do the same.

Good luck with him I always feel they are worth persevering with.

I know of only one dog that was used excessively and developed health problems because of it....because he was used two and three times a week for months on end (dog was amazing, and flavour of the month and anything and everything went to this dog within a six month period) he was terribly underweight and out of condition and as a result, his health degraded (stupid owner at the time could have prevented this but the lure of so many stud fees far outweighed the health of this dog) He was dead in six months.....underweight and organs started shutting down as a result of lack of condition and care....BUT....this was an extreme case....(he was also still being shown for much of this time, until his weight dropped so much that he could not enter the show ring for obvious reasons!)

Surely the pups produced would be low in number - not being able to rebuild himself. But money is paramount to some I guess.

My God how could anyone do that to a dog - poor little fellow - have explained the whole thing to the co-owner as far as the times we may need him and he seems happy now. He certainly won't be overworked but he has produced some very nice pups.

I had a beautiful girl all picked out to keep and at 6 weeks an umbilical hernia - not big but nevertheless a hernia - I went onto google and read all I could - also asked my vet - he said it should be fine - her mother had no hernia. I did breed this girl 5 times (one litter was only 1 pup) - she was just great never needed a C section - had her desexed over a year ago now and it was just tucked in. In her litters there were a few pups not many but hard to remember really mostly only one in the litter on one occasion there were two with small hernias all went to pet homes so I personally feel it does have something to do with hereditary - of course its an imperfection but if its only a very small one which is just a little trapped fat - it does not seem to cause a problem - at least from my own experience. I read a blog from a breeder on this who said he had a girl who had a hernia and bred her quite a few times and she proved to be a remarkable mother with no ill effects at all this helped me make my decision. When I did sell pups with hernias I would include a written guarantee that if there was any extra cost incurred from the desexing due to tucking in the hernia I would pay the difference - never had anyone ask for it though.

I co-own a nice little stud dog with another who keep him as their much loved dog. He is 4 in April and he has been used 4 times first time May 2011, second July 2012, 3rd June 2013, 4th October 2013 . He may be needed twice more in the next two months and the co-owner is concerned as he says someone has told him too much action for a stud dog can cause heart problems in later life. Our deal was he keeps the dog which he does love and keeps in top condition and I the breeder use him when needed - I myself searched the net for any information on this but can find nothing . I don't know who told him this but I have never heard it and very much doubt it has any truth for a fit and healthy dog. He performs his stud duties very well and is back to his bouncy self in no time. We share any stud fees.. While this person is the perfect co-owner for this boy he has no breeding experience and leaves that entirely to me.. I just want to alleviate his fears as in a couple more years I am prepared to sign him over to him and he just be a much loved pet.

Just an update - my girl continues to improve out of sight - she is walking so much better and returning to her old self . She is still very much a mummy's girl and plays a bit on this but the treatment is working. We are having a chiropractic treatment one a week which now includes a sort of tens machine on the legs and hydrtherapy once a week which is walking on an underwater treadmill and also swimming. We have also - on advice - started giving her home swimming in our spar heated to 30 deg at present only 5 mins a day also we are able to use our own tens machine at home too haven't done this yet but plan to. All I can say is I have about 80% of my old dog back and it is so good to know we didn't have to put her through invasive tests and surgery. It is costing us $75 a week for the two treatments but we feel worth every penny. I also thought if she had had surgery we would have needed rehabilitation after.

Will keep this updated in case it helps others.

My girl is improving I am so happy to say she is walking a bit better and start ing hydrotherapy on Tuesday. Saw a Border Collie today making great progress with Chriopractor and hydrotherapy at 10 years was close to being pts but is getting a lot better. Will continue massage and exercise and hope she will come good. Thank you to all who have answered. Will keep you posted.

Just a thought - how long ago was she desexed? I wondered if it had anything to do with any surgery.

Poor little girl she is still so young. I wouldn't let a chiro near her either until a definitive diagnosis is made.

Nearly 6 months ago - nothing there she came through it just fine.

I could be way off the mark here, but laying on her back with legs in the air suggests kidneys to me.

Kidneys came up fine from blood tests - heaps of dogs lay this way my other do too.

Only test so far have been the blood test and liver and kidney function etc all good, also he x rayed the hind legs to see if there was onset of crutial ligament damage or any broken bones etc. these xrays showed all good. He said if no improvement there is a very invasive test that can be carried out involves injecting die into the spine and up to the brain - must be done under anesthetic - I don't know if this is a MRI or not - he said the cost for this is around $2000. I want to see if it can come right before going down such a path - she is eating a little better and will see what the chrio says on Saturday - he seemed confident it was a muscle injury - he said he has seen a lot of greyhounds with similar injury. Looked up the DM link - sounds dreadful - she is only 4 1/2 years - sounds to come on dogs in later life - she is not dragging her legs but will walk for a while then sit down. If she seems no better will have to go down the other tests path - she recovered from her litters remarkably well and showed not signs of this before a couple of weeks ago - had her last litter in February and desexed a few weeks after pups went. She is normally a bouncy happy girl who loved her walks - she does seem to improve her walking when I take her onto the grass and let her walk back to the house - but once inside only want to lay in her bed - she lays on her back a lot with both back legs raised.

My mini poodle for the last 10 days has not been herself at all first noticed it when she seemed reluctant to walk for far would sit down then she became very lethargic and wanted to stay in her bed most of the day. Took her to the vet who gave her anti inflammatory tablets But wanting to get to the bottom of it took her to an orthopaedic vet specialist who could not diagnose what it was - gave her a blood test - all normal gave her X-rays of both back legs no problems and said take her home and see how she goes for next two weeks Spent $500 and none the wiser. I then took her to a dog Chriopractor who said she had muscle injury in the leg I though was ok but he said the muscle was wasting and the what I though was the swollen leg was the good one He gave her an injection to help heal the muscle but not a lot of change yet have another appointment on Saturday morning . She has been off her food but slowly having a little bit and this morning drank some puppy milk have been giving her nutrigel, half an inner health capsule and after she enjoyed the puppy milk so much gave her 5 mls of calcium. Don't know what else to try for her has anyone had something similar and how long before they can start to improve. She just walks a few steps and then sits down on her bottom. She is only 4 and a half years old and a bit of a mummy's girl to be honest. I don't know how she would have injured her leg but she does run around a lot with my other two poodles.. This girl has produced 3 very large litters for a mini poodle - I am a registered breeder - but she is now desexed - she is a bit of a sook and if not well gets very quiet and off her food so maybe she is so lethargic because of the injury and how she feels. I do so want her to feel better have never had this with any of my dogs before.

Current dog would be nearly 8 months when dog number two is to come home. I have looked after their dog while the had to go away on business she is calm and confident and got on very well with my other dogs. They are sensible and I feel would cope very well it's not a whim they had been thinking it through for quite a while.

I have been breeding miniature poodles for many years now and must say our dogs and pups do have beautiful calm and sweet temperaments. One of my pups went to lovely owners who do every thing perfectly for their dog now nearly 6 months old well to get to the question a fellow breeder has just had a lovely litter and the buyers pup who I bred is the aunty to the pups and my. Buyers were very excited and happy to take a male from this litter they already have a female both of course will be desexed purely pets. Well they went to a seminar on owning more than one dog hoping to get some good information on what to expect and the best way to enjoy the two young dogs butt to their horror they found that all the information was so totally negative and and all the issues it could cause aggression etc. she was so upset and rang me to ask my opinion of course I have no problems with two dogs I have had as many as 5 only 3 these days but they all get along without a single problem Also spoke to my vet who I have great respect for and he said often its a much better way to go to have more than one dog. Have friends and family who also have more than one dog no problems and have sold pups to people only to sell another down the track. I feel sad that these lovely people have had to be so upset and wonder why such negative information is being given out Maybe it could depend on the dog breed or age but personally cannot see that it should cause all the dramas they were on about.

I have had some reasonably horrific litters over the years that looking back you wonder how you got through. You cope because you have to.

My last litter Chilli ended up with a c-section after green discharge over the course of a week. It is fair to say the operation didn't go well, normally I stay for the operations but I was escorted out. She took a while to recover but she did and everything went well until about 2 weeks when she decided not to fed them. Coped with that and then at 6 weeks they got kennel cough. Coped with that and then my house was in quarantine with suspected mange. These puppies had homes waiting for them but I couldn't home itchy puppies so the entire litter had to stay for quite some time until we worked out it was an allergy to something in the garden. There were 6 puppies and all my adult dogs being treated for mange. Sadly I can't even say this was my worst litter.

Generally when something like this happens it takes me around 3yrs to have another litter. The first year is never again, the second year memories aren't quite as fresh and it doesn't seems so bad and by the third year I am planning my next litter. You do have to be tough to be a breeder. It is certainly not all cuddly puppies and happy people but there is something kinda cool about being the first person to hold a life and your hands and watching them grow and mature and then age and then being with them when they pass.

Beautifully said.

Sounds so dreadful Crazy Daisy and all the others - I wish I had a dollar for all the times I have said NEVER AGAIN but somehow you try again - my worst experience was to have my beautiul little girl at 51 days deliver 7 perfect little premature babies on my bed and watch them all die being born too early - found out it was a drop in progesterone and she did go on to have 3 more litters with help all of which were perfect - but at present I have no more girls to breed and don't know if I will do it all again or not - know how you feel Daisy - its gut wrenching when things go wrong.

You ask how long it will take to get over it - you may never fully but it will stop hurting so much in time I am sure - after my girl lost her litter it took my girl 3 weeks to get over it - when she was fine again I started to stop feeling so bad too.

Just be happy you were able to get through it - but what an introduction to breeding .

Just an update on this. The girl had a text book delivery of. 4 healthy puppies at day 63 after stopping progesterone tablets at day 59 She is settled and feeding her pups which were a good size and very strong. Happy ending for all.