THE ART OF BREEDING GREAT DANES OR,

TO BREED OR NOT TO BREED...
[Excerpt from The Great Dane, Model of Nobility, by Jill Swedlow]

(Please note, illustrations still pending)

...That is the question, to sort of quote the famous Bard. 

The breeding of dogs is truly an art.  The artist’s medium is living flesh.  When one plans a breeding the purpose should be improvement of the breed.  Obviously one must be extremely knowledgeable to have a chance of attaining this goal.  The breeder must be willing to thoroughly health check both parents, to make sure the temperaments of both parents and their ancestors is typical of the breed, and to take full responsibility, both practical and financial, for every dog they cause to be born until the day it dies.  Besides this the breeder must have a thorough knowledge of pedigrees, conformation and the Standard for the breed.  One does not obtain this knowledge overnight.  This is why no novice should breed a bitch unless they have an experienced mentor to guide them, and have taken the time to educate themselves.  Be prepared to spend a lot of money on this litter.  And know in advance that you will NOT MAKE money! Be happy if you break even.

Those of you who have or will purchase a Dane for a companion only, need not even read this chapter because your dog should never be bred.  Your dog was purchased as a pet because he or she did not have that exceptional conformation that made him/her worthy of breeding.  Now I know this sounds a bit elitist, but there are good reasons why the breeder designated your dog to be of pet quality.  Not every dog needs to be bred but that in no way demeans the wonderful attributes of your loved pet.  Dedicated breeders strive (or should strive) to breed only from the very best specimens in the breed in order to, hopefully, keep improving the overall quality in the breed from litter to litter.  If the breeder of your pet quality dog did not sell you the dog on limited registration or specify that your dog should not be bred and you’re actually thinking of breeding it, please give serious attention to the following. 

SELECTING AND EVALUATING A BROOD BITCH

If you want to be known as the breeder, you must own the bitch, not the dog.  AKC identifies the bitch owner as the breeder.  In that light, any Great Dane bitch can produce a litter of Great Danes if she’s mated to another AKC registered Great Dane. However, we want to improve on our bitch and hopefully produce a litter of outstanding, healthy, good tempered, long lived Great Danes.  Great Danes who will grow into dogs who will bring happiness to their new owners.

Becoming a dog breeder is a serious responsibility.  The little puppies that you will cause to be born, have no choice in the matter, nor do they have any control over the life that they will live.  You, and only you, are fully responsible for this so you’d better make some informed decisions.  This begins with the decision to breed your bitch or to purchase a bitch for this purpose.  If you are already an established breeder, the chances are that you already have a lot of knowledge as to what combinations of parents should produce the best litter.  The operative word here is ‘should’.  There are many well-known breeders who will breed bitches without health checks, or who will overlook the fact that the bitch or stud has a poor temperament.  Please, before you decide to breed, be honest in your evaluation of your bitch.  A championship title is no guarantee that a bitch should be bred.  If you have doubts, consult a fellow breeder whom you respect.  Sometimes we become so involved with our dogs that we can’t see the faults that may be obvious to others.  This is called ‘kennel blindness’ and no one should breed if they’re afflicted with it.  These are the breeders that consistently produce garbage, year after year, litter after litter.  I know of several.  Some are even ‘well-known’.

If your bitch is of breeding quality, there is still a lot to consider prior to making the decision to breed.

Whelping a bitch and raising a litter is a full time responsibility.  You cannot expect your bitch to take care of the puppies on her own during the day while you’re at work.  You need to be with her for at least the first 3-4 weeks of the babies lives.  A new litter will turn your household upside down.

Consider that the pups usually wait until you’ve fallen soundly asleep to start arriving in the middle of the night.  You can usually count on at least one sleepless night, and probably several if you sleep by the whelping box so you can be sure that none of the puppies get squashed by mom.  Even the most careful dam can sometimes hurt a puppy this way without meaning to. 

You need to be close by for at least 4 weeks so that blankets can be washed and changed and messes cleaned up.  (Yes mom does clean up after the puppies, but there’s always an occasional stray turd laying around).  Once the puppies are being weaned you’ll be providing from 4 to 5 meals a day.  And OH!  What a MESS they make in their first meals.  They like to swim in the mush.  This is, of course, a wonderful treat for mom, as she licks her little pupcakes clean, but what a mess for you!  It often takes me ½ hour to clean up the floor of food papers, wash the food off the pups that mom missed and then police the area for any stray poops/pees.

As the pups become older and leave the whelping box your work really begins.  10–15 poop runs a day is at least average!  Keeping fresh newspapers down, providing lots of attention and socialization (you know, playing with the little dolls!  Oh how we suffer!) mopping up the spills around the water dish when they begin to learn how to swim (and, incidentally, drink water!) and generally being nearby in case someone gets into trouble, such as becoming stuck between mom and the wall.

Now that they’re older you need to begin lead breaking and socializing outside the property as soon as they have enough vaccines in them, around 8-10 weeks of age.  I will plop mine in the van and take them to a little shopping area where, one at a time, they go on walks around the shops meeting new friends.

All the above is just for a normal, uneventful whelping and litter.  What if your bitch dies, as my friend Wendy's did, when her litter was 4 days old?  Wendy had to hand raise a litter of 7, and it about did her in!  All pups were bottle fed rather than tube fed as puppies need the time sucking to become well adjusted.  Wendy got little sleep for the next 5 weeks.  The puppies also had several problems and had to be taken to emergency care.  (Talk about making huge profits from breeding dogs!  Ha!  I think the final vet bill total came to around $5000.00!)

Just be sure that you are willing to give up having a life of any kind other than being a gofer for your bitch and her litter until they go to their new homes.  So if you’ve decided that this is what you want to do, read on.

My First Litter

My foundation bitch was named Homewood Country Sunshine.  I called her Sunnie.  (How original of me!) She was a big girl with a lot of bone and substance.

Not long after I bred her she began increasing in width just as a pregnant bitch is supposed to.  Then I noticed that she seemed to be shrinking!  My vet and my friends assured me this was nothing to worry about.  When she first started whelping I was sound asleep.  What came out of her were black, tarry things that looked like crow skulls with some black material attached.  I first became aware of them upon rising and stepping bare footed on one!  Yuck!  So at 7 AM this was my introduction to whelping a bitch.  Then I found more of these strange objects around the house.  I think about 4 of them.  Then, once she actually began producing whole puppies, most of them were dead!  I ended up with a live litter of 3, 1 bitch and 2 dogs. My friend had to revive one of the pups with CPR!  He didn’t want to nurse, either, so that meant tube feeding him for a couple days until he was strong enough to hold his own with his siblings.  This litter was born on my birthday and I hope I never have another birthday like this one!  I was so emotionally exhausted, and so disappointed to only have 3 live pups (The litter must have been huge as there were 4 black things and about 5 fully formed dead pups besides the 3 that lived!)  I didn’t know then how lucky I was!  A litter of 3 or 4 is really fun.  Many more than that is pure work!  (Fun work, but work nonetheless).

Because I didn’t get the bitch I wanted in this first litter, the breeding was repeated.  It consisted of 3 bitches and 4 dogs.  One of those bitches turned out to be Ch. Sunnyside Daffodil, my first champion.

From the time I began exhibiting her, many of the handlers were hinting around about handling her.  She was a gorgeous puppy.  Handling fees being what they are, I decided to handle her myself, at least through the puppy classes.  I’ll tell you, I was one inept handler, too!  The first time the judge pointed at us for Winners Bitch, I stopped dead in the center of the ring, stupidly pointed to myself and said, ‘who me?’  The second time she took points from puppy, I did the same thing.  After that I decided that she obviously didn’t need a handler but I’d have to remind myself not to go, ‘who me?’ when we won!

I guess the point of all this is to remind you that breeding is time consuming, hard work and can often be heartbreaking

EVALUATING A BITCH FOR BREEDING

Although the page on ‘good and bad reasons to breed’ covers much of this subject, there is a lot more to it than that.  If you do not yet have your foundation bitch and are about to begin your search, you should start with researching the families of bitches under consideration. 

The first thing that will probably attract you is the general ‘type’ that certain lines and families produce.  Once you’ve decided on this, start asking questions about what health and temperament evaluations the dogs in the pedigrees have had.  It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to trace these traits for every dog, but at least try to get an idea.  It isn’t too much to expect that the dogs for the last 2 or 3 generations (hopefully more) have at least had their hips evaluated for hip dysplasia.  Ask to see the OFA certificates or letters from the veterinarian who did the evaluation.

It’s true that many breeders hesitate to sell their best puppies to a novice.  This is why it’s a good idea to attend shows, meet the breeders and try to find someone who will act as your mentor as you learn about Great Danes.

Before you take the first steps to breeding a bitch, it’s a good idea to have at least a working knowledge of genetics.

GENETICS, THE BREEDERS BLUEPRINT

Let me state here and now that I am not a geneticist nor do I claim to be an expert on this subject.  I have, however, done a great deal of reading on the subject and used and studied it in my many years of breeding Great Danes, birds, horses, and Mini­ature Horses.  Once the basic principles are learned and understood, it becomes an invaluable tool to breed improvement.  It helps you to understand why certain traits that were not seen in the conformation of the parents can turn up in the conformation of the offspring. You no longer feel as if you are groping blindly in the dark in your quest to improve your dogs.

I do not intend to delve too deeply into how the sperm and ovum carry the genes or the mechanics of microscopic reproduction.  This subject can be learned from many good texts written for the layman in comprehensible terms. If you have little or no knowledge of these facts, you should learn your basics as it will give you a better understanding of the information contained in this section.  I have included my own basic descriptions in that, without some knowledge of reproduction, you will not understand the following concepts. Mainly I intend to explain how genetic understanding can be used to accomplish your breeding goals and how I use it.

The Importance of a Pedigree

When planning a breeding, the more information you have about each parent’s relatives, the more accurately you can predict what traits that particular animal is likely to pass on to it's offspring.  The ancestral names, which appear on a pedigree, have no value unless you have specific information about as many individuals as possible.  Try to actually see as many of the ancestors as you can.  Evaluate each one in terms of conformation, health and temperament and what they have produced if applicable.  Keep a file on each dog, either on your computer (my method) or on hard copies so you can refer back as needed.  Photographs or videos are also extremely helpful.

If you cannot see the animal in person, interview those who have.  Ask them as many questions as you can think of about each dog.  The more information you accumulate, the more accurate will be your ability to predict what to expect in the litter.

The Mechanics of Inheritance Some elementary genetic principles must be illustrated here in order to understand what follows.

The new pup inherits half it’s genes from its sire and half from its dam.  The genes are the chemical blueprint which determines every inherited physical characteristic each pup in the litter will have.  They determine his size, color, whether his back is long or short, whether his head is pretty or common, on and on for every part of his body inside and out.

There are two types of cells in the dog, as in other living organisms.  The body cells, known as SOMATIC cells, which are found in all tissues of the body such as skin, internal organs, bone, etcetera.  These somatic cells differ from the sex cells in that they carry a full compliment of the animal's genetic material, 78 CHROMOSOMES in the case of the dog.  The GENES reside upon the chromosomes.  The sex cells, called GAMATES, are the sperm cells in the male dog and the egg cells, or ova, in the bitch. The gametes carry only ONE HALF the chromosomes of the somatic cells (Illustration # 2).  Since the genes are found contained within the chromosomes, this means that the gametes only have one half the genes of the body cells.  This seems to be the most difficult concept for the beginning student of genetic inheritance to grasp so I have included Illustration #2 to help clarify this point.

Illustration # 1 is of a SOMATIC CELL (body cell). It contains the nucleus which contains the 64 pairs of chromosomes, which contain the genes. (Only 3 pairs of the dog’s chromosomes are shown for the sake of clarity).

Dominant and Recessive Genes

Without going into deep technical detail it is important to understand the basic concept of dominant and recessive genes. This is probably one of the greatest points of confusion among those who breed animals but have little knowledge of genetics. Because of these traits, there occurs a phe­nomenon whereby an individual may carry genes to express a specific trait (genotype) but the trait is not expressed physically (phenotype). Let me be more specific.  Genotype is simply a word that refers to the actual genetic makeup of the individual; it's the sum total of a particular genetic makeup.  You may or may not actually see the physical trait controlled by a certain gene(s).  Phenotype is the physical body that you can actually see and measure such as fawn coat color or a bad bite.  It is the proof that an animal really does carry a gene to control the trait.  At the risk of being redundant, a trait controlled by recessive genes can often be hidden by a dominant gene, but a dominant gene always is expressed physically (pheno­typically).

I wish to mention here that for the sake of clarity, I have purposely left out discussion of modifiers, complete and incomplete dominance, masking genes etcetera.  Not only would they tend to muddy the water of understand­ing the basics, which is difficult enough, but they are always a handy scapegoat to use if the unexpected occurs in a breeding.  "Oh well, the stud must have carried masking genes and modifiers!", you can state wisely.

Illustration # 1

Somatic Cell (Body Cell) – Contains the nucleus which contains the pairs of chromosomes (only 3 pairs are illustrated for clarity), which contain the genes.


 

Illustration # 2

The gamates (sex cells) when manufactured within the sperm & ovaries have only 39 chromosomes.  The 79 pairs of chromosomes have split, each half carrying their respective genes.


 

Illustration # 3

When the ovum is fertilized by the sperm, each carrying only ½ of each parent’s genetic material, the new embryo has the full complement of 78 chromosomes with their genes. This pup is a unique individual whose total genetic makeup is unlike any other.


 

 [INSERT PHOTO # 12-10] It is also worth mentioning here that, unfortunately, there are very few inherited traits, which are attributable to only one gene.  Most traits are made up from several genes interacting with each other.  In order to understand these principles though, it is necessary to use the simple dominant and simple recessive traits.

I will use fawn and brindle coat color as an example since it is an easy trait to see and understand.  It is also inherited in a straight forward way and is controlled by one gene.  The gene which produces the brindle pattern in Great Danes is a dominant gene.  The gene which produces a fawn colored coat, is recessive to the brindle gene.   Since brindle is the dominant gene, a Dane showing this pattern as his phenotype can still carry the fawn color gene recessively as part of his genotype.  Remember I stated that each parent carries two sets of genes and chromosomes but gives the offspring only half their chromosomes, thus half their genes.

The fawn bitch (who carries only fawn genes donates one of her two recessive fawn genes, the brindle dog [who, for the sake of this example is a homozygous brindle, which means he carries only brindle genes and is himself, brindle] donates one of his dominant brindle genes.  Their offspring carries one gene for each color as his genotype but his phenotype can never be fawn because the brindle gene is the dominant one of the pair.  Now we have a whole new set of genes.  What happens if this new individual, who carries both a fawn and brindle gene (making him genetically heterozygous which means he carries a gene for each color), is mated to a bitch who is genotypically identical to him?  This means that she carries the same genetic makeup for fawn and brindle, being phenotypically brindle.

There is no certain way to predict exactly how the genes will combine unless you are dealing only with animals who are homozygous for the pure dominant or recessive trait.  In other words, a mating between a brindle dog and a brindle bitch, both of whom are homozygous for the brindle gene can produce nothing but brindle offspring all of whom are genotypically homozygous for brindle and all of whom are phenotypically brindle. A dog which is homozygous for such a trait, is said to "breed true" for that trait. (If you are getting confused here, be sure you understand the meaning of homozygous [both genes for said trait are the same], heterozygous [carries genes for both traits, fawn and brindle], genotype [what the genes actually are] and phenotype [the actual appearance of the body pattern]).

Square #1 shows the color expectancy from the above proposed mating of the heterozygous brindle dog and bitch. Let "B" represent the dominant brindle gene and "f" represent the recessive fawn gene. (The geneticists do it a bit differently, but this will be clearer for our purposes).  This average is based on 100 offspring.  We will now take each square of the graph  individually.  Each square repre­sents a pup, its genotype and phenotype for the fawn and brindle genes.

Square and Pup #1

This pup's genotype (BB) contains 2 genes for brindle.  His coat color is brindle.  He can pass on only brindle genes to his offspring since he is homozygous for the brindle gene and does not carry a fawn gene recessively.

Squares and Pups #2 & 3

These pup's genotypes (Bf) each contain one gene for brindle and one for fawn.  Their coat colors are brindle. They can pass on either the brindle or the fawn gene to their offspring since they are heterozygous for brindle and fawn.  Since the fawn gene is recessive to brindle, it is not able to express itself in the pup's phenotypes.

Square & Pup #4

This pup is our example of two recessive genes finding each other and expressing a genetic trait of its parents, which the parents did not show in their phenotype. This pup’s genotype (ff) contains two genes for fawn color.  His coat color pattern is fawn. He can pass on only fawn genes to his offspring since he is homozygous for fawn.  If he carried a brindle gene, he would appear brindle since brindle is dominant to fawn.

The chart is a shorthand method of calculating the probability of any two genes finding each other at the moment of conception.  The heterozygous male has sperm, half of which carry a fawn gene and half of which carry a brindle gene.  The heterozygous bitch has ova with the same makeup, half carry the fawn gene and half carry the brindle.  It is pure chance as to which sperm finds which egg.  The laws of probability tell us however, that in a sampling of 100 offspring, approximately 25% will be BB, (homozygous for the dominant brindle gene with a brindle phenotype).  25% will be ff, (homozygous for the recessive gene for fawn coat color, with a fawn phenotype). And 50% will be Bf, (heterozygous for fawn and brindle with a brindle phenotype).

If you have already grasped the concept, please bear with me as I give one more example.  It is imperative that these principles be understood since they are the very foundation of genetics.  Square # 2 mates a brindle dog (with a heterozygous genotype for fawn and brindle, Bf) to a fawn bitch, (homozygous for fawn ff).

Squares and Pups #1 & 3

Both pups have brindle phenotypes and heterozygous genotypes for fawn and brindle.  Both can pass on either fawn or brindle genes to their offspring.

Squares and Pups 2 & 4

These pups have fawn phenotypes and genotypes since a double dose of a recessive gene is necessary to find expression. If they are bred to a fawn mate they will produce nothing but fawn.

I have taken you through all the above in order to more clearly explain the behavior of simple dominant and recessive gene pairs. Since the chromo­somes occur in pairs in the somatic cells, so do genes.  I'm going to continue with the example of the fawn gene versus the brindle gene.  As previously stated, these traits are controlled by single genes (not multigenetic as are most traits, unfortunately for us!) and brindle is dominant to fawn.

When gametes (sex cells) are formed, they contain only 1/2 of the genetic make-up of each parent.  One gamete may end up with the gene which causes brindle stripes, and the other gamete may carry the other gene for fawn body color.  The same will be true of the male’s sperm cells.  It is pure chance as to which of the bitch's ova becomes ripe first and ovulates into the fallopian tubes to await the dog's sperm.  It could be ones with the fawn gene or ones with the brindle gene.  Since there are an equal number of each, there is a fifty-fifty chance of it being either.  The same holds true of the dog's sperm.  Approximately one half of the millions of sperm contained in each ejaculate carry his fawn gene, and one half carry the brindle gene. If the sperm which fertilizes the ova carries a gene for fawn, and the ova has the gene for brindle, the pup will be born brindle since brindle is dominant to fawn. The resulting pup will carry one gene for brindle and one for fawn and is, itself, genetically capable of producing get of either color depending on the genetic make up of its mate.  If the bitch's ovum happens to be one with the gene for fawn, and so is the dog's sperm, the pup will be fawn and carry two genes for fawn.  If the bitch's ova carries the brindle gene and so does the dogs sperm, the pup will not only be brindle but will carry brindle in a double dose (both genes brindle, eg. homozygous) and can NEVER produce any get except brindle since brindle is dominant to fawn.

The laws of probability tell us that with animals carrying simple recessive and simple dominants, the chances are always 50-50 as to which gene is inherited by the pup.  The calculations are over the expectancy of 100 offspring so if your brindle dog has been bred to 3 fawn bitches and has produced 15 brindle pups, there is STILL a 50-50 chance that the next litter he sires could contain fawns. A small chance, but still a chance.  This will also tell you something about his genotype.  You know he carries a recessive gene for fawn because he has produced fawn pups even though he is himself brindle.  You also know that he carries the dominant brindle gene because he is brindle.

Sometimes semantics seem to be responsible for some misunderstand­ing.  One breeder once asked me why her brindle dog sometimes produced fawn pups instead of always producing brindle pups if the brindle gene was dominant.  She didn't understand that the gene had to be passed along to the pup (inherited) in order for it to be able to exert its dominance.  The chances of the brindle gene being passed along, when the dog carries a recessive gene for fawn also, is 50-50.  Only dogs that are homozygous for the brindle gene (they have 2 genes for brindle and carry no gene for fawn) will produce 100% brindle pups.

Admittedly the above examples are overly simplified when compared to multi-genetically controlled traits.  There are other types of genes which behave in different ways.  In order to predict the expectancy of certain traits accurately, you must have a pretty good idea of the mode of inheri­tance.

The example of canine coat color can be translated into many traits of Great Danes.  Brindle is dominant to fawn but there are other colors (and patterns) in the breed which are not quite so simple to understand and predict.  The relationship between genes, which is dominant to which, and which are recessive, can be likened to a pecking order among chickens.  The rooster (most dominant gene) is at the top of the heap and bosses everyone around.  Next is the bossiest hen who only takes orders from the rooster.  Below her are the rank and file of her subordinates, all of whom obey their betters, and in turn, control their underlings until you come to the bottom of the heap and find the little hen (most recessive gene) whom everyone picks on.  She never gets to eat or express herself until she is the only one in the barnyard.

Now you are probably beginning to wonder how any of this can be helpful since little is known of the mode of inheritance of many canine traits.  Also, few traits are controlled by a single gene.  Most are multi-gen­etic, such as head shape.  There are probably thousands of genes and their modifiers which make up the blueprint which determines the shape of a dog’s head.  Although it would be very difficult, not to mention impractical, to try isolating each gene and how it behaves in creating the overall blueprint, these controlling groups of genes often tend to act in recessive or domi­nant ways as a group.  For instance, let us say you have a dog with a beautiful head.  You mate him to 10 bitches whose head type ranges from ugly to plain, but none are gorgeous. If 75% of the offspring have beautiful heads like their sire, you can be fairly accurate in concluding that your dog is dominant for his head type.  This can be applied to any conformation trait or group of traits which tend to occur in the same manner.  But what about traits which, as a group, behave in a recessive manner?  Since recessives are masked by dominants, they can be difficult to isolate. (The recessive genes often control undesirable traits such as an undershot jaw or light eye color).

We will use an undershot jaw (the lower teeth protrude forward of the upper) as our example.  Assume you breed a bitch and dog to each other who both possess a correct bite.  Some of their puppies are undershot.  What does this tell us?  It is highly probably that both parents are carriers of the recessive gene, or genes, which produced the bad bite.  (Remember the brindle dog and bitch who both carried fawn recessively and produced a fawn pup?) We are dealing with the same principle here.  What makes a trait like this difficult to breed out is it's recessive nature.  Their pups could as easily have had a correct bite but still carried the genes for a bad bite recessively. (See Illustration #?). These recessives can be masked by their dominant alleles (genes which appear on a common location on the chromosomes) for generation after generation until the time when they pair with another like recessive and express themselves in the puppy’s phenotype.  If you will refer back, once again to chart #?, you will see that there is a 50% probability that an offspring of recessive carrier parents will itself be a carrier.

This is a rather sobering thought, especially when one realizes that such recessives can skip generations and the individual must be test bred in order to ascertain if it is, indeed, a carrier. So what is the logical solution to this problem?  Intelligent breeding practices and ruthless culling, which will be discussed later.

There are several different methods of planned breeding used by knowl­edgeable breeders.  All have their good points and their drawbacks.  Sometimes one must simply experiment with the different methods to establish which will work best under any given circumstances.  This, then, brings us to a discussion of inbreeding, linebreeding, and outcrossing.

Inbreeding

Inbreeding is generally considered to be the closest type of breeding possible.  Full brother to full sister, mother to son and father to daughter.  Ironically, an occasional sister/brother mating may not be genetically close at all since the possibility exists for each sibling to have received entirely different sets of genes from each parent.  This is, however, seldom the case and we can assume it to be inbreeding for our purposes.

Those who do not understand genetic principles often condemn in­breeding, claiming that it weakens the animal which it produces.  In many cases this can be true, but inbreeding itself is not the culprit.

By its very nature inbreeding gives the greatest probability that recessive genes will be expressed.  This is because closely related animals are more likely to carry the same recessives in their geno­type than unrelated animals.  By breeding these close relatives to each other the chances are high that two recessive genes, or groups of recessive genes, will meet and produce the trait they control in the animal's phenotype.  Inbreeding's poor reputation is due to the fact that traits which are controlled by recessive genes are often undesirable, such as light eyes or incorrect mouths.  If the trait they control is desirable, then inbreed­ing is considered to be successful, but you usually get some of each.

Inbreeding can be a very useful tool for pinpointing an animal's genotype.  When inbreeding is employed, it is safest after linebreeding has set a type and you have related dogs that consistently produce the qualities you have been striving to "set" in your breeding line.  You should have a very clear idea of what your gene pool is capable of producing and then use only animals whose phenotype is as nearly perfect as possible.  Even then it can be risky, but if successful, you have a real prize.  Inbreeding should be a tool held only in the hands of a knowledgeable breeder, it is definitely not for the novice.

Linebreeding

This practice usually includes pairings such as, niece to uncle, grand child to grand parent, half sister to half brother or a pairing which includes one animal's name somewhere within the first three gen­erations on both sides of the pedigree. Linebreeding is probably the safest approach when establishing a breeding line.  Although recessives can certainly be expressed when using this method, the frequency is not as high as with inbreeding.  There is a wider margin for error here because progress is more gradual.

As with inbreeding, you must be sure to use only superior quality individuals when linebreeding.  You must also be certain that the ancestor being linebred on is himself or herself a superior specimen of the breed, and has the traits you are trying to set in your line.  If you linebreed on faulty animals, you're more than likely going to get faulty pups.  You must also be sure not to breed two animals together that have faults in common.  In other words, if the dog is a bit cow-hocked, make sure that the bitch is perfect in her rear legs.

Outcrossing

This is the mating of unrelated animals who do not have any ancestors in common within the first 4 or 5 generations. Unlike inbreeding and line-breeding, this method will do nothing to make the resulting pup more homozygous genetically. It is very difficult to predict with any accuracy what results might be obtained from such a mating unless the outcross mate is, himself, line bred.  The continued use of this breeding method will never produce a group of animals which breed true for any characteristic.

One advantage of this method is that you are less likely to encounter any recessive genetic problems unless the parents each carry these genes.

Outcrossing can best be used when, after several generations of line­breeding you have established a gene pool which breeds true most of the time for the traits you desire, but you find that your gene pool does not contain genes for producing, for example, a beautiful head.  You will try to locate a stud dog, who is from a linebred family with beautiful heads, and who has himself consistently produced pups with beautiful heads.  Even though this animal himself is the result of linebreeding he is unrelated to your own animals and the resultant breeding is considered an outcross.  Then you take the good headed results of this mating and breed it back to your own linebred bitches.  You have now obtained the genes you need to work with in order to put beautiful heads on your future puppies.

Besides the above outlined breeding techniques, there are several others.  I will not go into them here, but many breeding books can fully explain them to you.  Much can be learned from books concerned with breeding other types of animals such as horses, cattle and chickens.  The principles are identical.

The Canine Genome Project

There is currently a world wide effort to map the canine genome.  According to an article entitled, Mapping A Brighter Tomorrow by Melissa Goodman, DVM which appeared in the AKC Gazette dated January 1998, “The goal of the canine genome project is to produce a map of all the chromosomes in dogs.  This map can then be used as a framework to identify which genes cause a particular inherited disease, as well as genes for other inherited characteristics, such as behavior and conformation.

The development of a genetic map of the dog has already resulted in several helpful assays, including tests for progressive retinal atrophy and copper toxicosis”.  Breeders are already using this information effectively to eliminate this malady in affected breeds.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize the potential for such a study!  Imagine being able to select dogs who are genetically free of health problems, temperament problems and who’s conformation comes close to the standard!

Selecting a Stud for Your Bitch

You’re bitch has finished her championship.  Her temperament is wonderful and her conformation worthy of passing on.  You are fully prepared to be responsible for her puppies until the day they die, no matter that they live elsewhere.  Her OFA hip rating came back normal as did her thyroid screening.  (These are the 2 tests I consider essential when I screen my own bitches and for studs I breed to).  I also screen for cardiac normality.  Unfortunately, unless the dog has a heart problem at the time, the screening test cannot predict that she or he will never have a problem.  I guess we just do the best we can with the tools we have.  You’re ready to breed her!

Judges are supposed to evaluate dogs in a positive manner, rather than ‘fault judge’.  But when you evaluate a bitch for breeding, you must know the faults that need improvement as well as the assets, in order to select the right mate.  If you have a bitch that toes in, you do not select a mate that toes out.  You select a stud that is correct for this trait.  Otherwise you’ll get puppies that toe in and puppies that toe out.  Do not overcompensate for your bitches faults.

When you think you’ve found the future sire of your litter, one who is correct where your girl is faulty, but also has most of her desirable traits, you next need to find out about his relatives.  What about his sire and dam?  Were they also correct for the traits you’re trying to improve?  What about siblings?  Aunts and uncles?  Check them all as this will give you a much broader picture of what the genetic make up of this male might be.  Of course one of the most important things to look at are any puppies he has sired along with their dams.  If the dams have some similar faults to your bitch and the puppies are correct for the traits, it's a good bet that this dog can help to accomplish your goals.

The pictures of Skylark and Randy (below) illustrate a pair of dogs that compliment each other.  The litter is even better than I hoped!

When you’re evaluating possible sires, please make temperament one of your priorities.  This breed is far too large to excuse dangerous temperaments.  I’m sorry to have to say that there are some well known breeders out there who care little for temperament!  Some of the most frequently advertised and top winning animals are overly aggressive or shy.  The owners continue to breed them or allow them to be used at stud.  I think that this is both irresponsible and criminal!

I’m not condemning the breeder who has an occasional shy or aggressive dog.  This can happen no matter how cautious we are as breeders.  When one considers the original temperament of the first Great Danes imported from Germany, it’s amazing that the breed has as good a temperament as it does!

You’ve selected the best stud you can find for your bitch and you’ve signed the stud contract and fully understand what it does and does not guarantee.  As your bitch’s season nears, you have several things you must do prior to breeding.

What To Do Before You Breed

Brucellosis testing

Most stud owners have, as their minimum requirement, a request that your bitch be tested for brucellosis.  This is a disease that will render both bitch and stud sterile, for which there is no cure.  You should also request this test from the stud owner as well as a copy of the test.  You should produce a copy of your bitch’s test, too.

Additional testing

You should provide the owner of the stud with copies of the OFA papers and all other health tests that have been performed on your bitch and the stud owner should have provided you with same.  If the dogs are microchipped or tattooed, it is desirable to have the vet who performs these tests, verify that he is, indeed, testing the dog that is represented.

It isn’t uncommon for dogs that are clear for certain health traits to be substituted for others that aren’t.  Without permanent identification, there is no way the veterinarian who performs the tests can verify that the dog is who it’s purported to be.  If the dog’s ID is shown on the test papers, you can be assured that the dog is really clear.

Cultures

I routinely have my bitches cultured a couple days after they come into season if they are to be bred.  I request a culture and sensitivity be run.  This way, if there’s an unusual growth of anything, we know immediately which antibiotic it’s sensitive to.  Vaginal flora are a normal occurrence in the vagina.  However, if one of these organisms produce a large growth, it’s a good idea to control it.

If you should be unlucky enough to have a growth of mycoplasma show up, it would be a good idea to forget breeding on this season.  Mycoplasma almost always results in either no pregnancy or dead/dying puppies.  Best to treat the infection and try for the next season.

Rather than using a systemic antibiotic, I prefer to use an antibiotic douche.  Most often these organisms are sensitive to Gentocin which your vet can make into a douche solution for you.

Douching your bitch is easy.  A 500 cc dose syringe and a stallion catheter is all you need.  The bitch, being in season, usually is quite receptive to having the catheter inserted.  It will usually go up into the vagina about 8 inches.  You then depress the plunger and you’re done.  I douche my bitches for 2 days, AM and PM, prior to breeding.  DO NOT  douche within 48 hours of the breeding as you may kill the sperm.

Stud owners would be wise to occasionally culture their studs sheath and treat any problems accordingly.

Progesterone Testing

Depending on the breeding method you use, progesterone testing may become necessary.  I progesterone test even for a natural breeding, especially if the bitch or stud are virgins.  If you’re doing an artificial insemination or shipping chilled fresh or frozen semen, you must do progesterone testing.  All progesterone testing is not equally accurate so talk to other breeders and stud owners who have used these methods, and go to the vets and laboratories who have had the highest rate of success.

Semen Evaluation

If the stud is a virgin, or if he’s missed his last bitch, it’s a good idea to have a specialist do a semen evaluation.  Even though it only takes one sperm to fertilize one egg, it’s necessary to have a very high number of active, normal sperm in order to impregnate the bitch.  Ask the stud owner for a recommendation or contact one of the cryobanks that collect and store sperm.

The Bitch’s Estrus Cycle

Most bitches will come into season every 6 months beginning from the age of 9 months or so.  Mine tend to have their first season after the age of 10 or 11 months.  For some bitches it is normal to cycle every 4 months.  For others, every 5 months or even only once a year can be the norm. 

The first thing you’re likely to notice when your bitch comes into heat is the discharge of blood from the vulva.  If you have a really bad case of ‘puppy fever’ and you’ve been watching your girl like a hawk, you’ll notice that the vulva will swell prior to seeing the first discharge.  Every book I’ve ever read on this subject tells us that the discharge will change to a ‘straw color’ as the bitch approaches the time she’s fertile.  I’ve NEVER seen this in my bitches.  They continue to bleed right through the breeding dates.  The only change I’ve ever seen is that the blood becomes a little more dilute as the days progress.

If you’re planning a natural breeding, you may wish to skip progesterone testing and go by what the dogs ‘say’.  If this be the case, you might want to present the bitch to the dog on her 10th day for a first ‘check’.  The most common breeding dates are day 11 & 13 if you’re going to do only 2 breedings.  These are the most common ‘fertile’ days for the bitch, but remember bitches can fluctuate.  If you’ve followed this rule on a virgin bitch and she came up empty, I’d strongly suggest progesterone testing prior to breeding on the next season.  Some bitches are fertile on day 8 and some not until day 18!  (Days are counted from the first time you see blood discharged from the vulva).

Natural Breeding

When I take my bitches to be bred, I ask the stud owner about their procedure.  I much prefer to begin with both dog and bitch on lead and the bitch unmuzzled.  I like them to be able to say ‘hi’ first and play a little, which is what nature intended.  Even if a bitch isn’t ready, and snaps, it’s highly unlikely she’s going to harm the male.  She’s just warning him to ‘stay away’ and he’ll understand this and comply.  Sometimes he can talk her into standing while he mounts, and other times, it’s just not quite the right time.

On another note, if a bitch will not stand and tries to savage the dog, she should not be bred at all.  One of the most important traits for which one should select is fertility, and dogs who breed readily.  It’s interesting to note here that the dam of the litter mentioned above that had the temperament and health problems, was a very reluctant breeder.  I had to muzzle her and hold her up in order for the stud to breed her.  Guess she knew more than I did!  I remember too, that her sire GROWLED during the tie!  The resultant litter was full of problems, both temperament and health.

Natural breeding is the most common and most successful method of breeding.  Even with all the scientific advancements I still believe that the dog and the bitch know best when the moment is right!

I like to allow the dogs to meet each other while held on a 6 foot lead.  Some dogs will greet the bitch and invite her to play with him.  If the bitch seems so inclined, it’s to everyone’s benefit to let them both off lead in a small enclosure and let them play.  The dog will usually try to mount right away.  If the bitch is receptive, she’ll brace her hind legs apart, and ‘flag’ her tail to the side.  Often you can allow the tie to occur before steadying the bitches head and helping the male to turn.

The ‘tie’ occurs when the bitch’s vaginal muscles contract and hold the ‘ball’ that forms at the base of the penis.  The natural impulse of the male is to dismount with both forelegs on one side of the bitch.  He will then lift a hind leg and try to turn so that the dogs are tail to tail with only the tie holding them together.  It is during the tie that the bulk of the sperm is ejaculated.  The first fluid is usually clear seminal fluid.  When the fluid becomes milky, it’s full of sperm.

Be sure and have a good hold on the bitch’s head when the tie occurs.  This is often painful for her and she may try to turn and bite.

If the dog is interested and trying to breed, and the bitch is standing well but they’re just not connecting, don’t panic.  The chances are that you’re a day or two early.  Commonly, when you try on the following day, it’s a case of instant tie!

Often the handlers want to constantly interfere with the dogs in an attempt to facilitate the breeding.  It’s been my experience that the dogs are far more adept than we are and if left alone, will accomplish the breeding when the time is right.

The first time I ever attended a breeding was a real education!  I was rooming with Penny Twaits whose mother Kathleen Twaits, together with Jackie White, shared the Tallbrook Farm’s prefix.  (It’s all Penny’s fault that I’m involved with this hobby!)  It happened that Penny and I were at Kathleen’s house when a young, virgin bitch was brought over to be bred to Tallbrook’s Darby Dan, also a virgin.  The dogs were introduced and all seemed to be proceeding normally.  The bitch was interested, Darby was doing his thing, but they were having trouble.  The bitch was not very tall and Darby was having trouble lining up with the target.

This went on for hours it seemed!  They’d try, fail, get too tired, or Darby would get an outside tie, and we’d put him away to rest for awhile.  Then someone got the bright idea of propping the bitch’s rear up a little higher.  Out comes Darby again and it looks like its working!  He’s certainly closer to the target than before.  But still he’s getting outside ties.

After about 3 hours of this, Darby returns from still another rest period and is happy to keep on trying.  I’m standing behind him just as he begins to penetrate the bitch.  Without thinking, I put my arms around Darby from the rear, grabbed onto the bitch’s stifles, and held Darby against her with my pelvis.  Everyone starts laughing at me and it suddenly occurred to me the picture we must present.  Here’s the bitch standing with her butt in the air, Darby is mounted on her, and I’m mounted on him and he and I are thrusting away at this poor bitch!  (Yes, there was a litter.  At least they didn’t put my name on the pedigree!)

Artificial Insemination

This method is used under several circumstances.  When a stud won’t or can’t, breed properly, when the stud is many miles away and you don’t want to ship the bitch, or when the stud has died and his semen has been stored.

Whether you’re using frozen semen or cooled, you and your bitch will have to put yourselves in the hands of the experts.  The bitch is inseminated in one of 2 ways, surgically or transcervically.

Surgical insemination requires that the bitch be anesthetized and the semen is introduced directly into the uterus through an incision through her side her side.

The procedure with transcervical insemination introduces the semen directly through the cervix into the uterus and the bitch does not need to be sedated.  Until recently there was a higher rate of pregnancy with the surgical procedure but I understand that not it is equally successful transcervically.

In either case the bitches hormone levels must be closely monitored prior to breeding.  The bitch is only fertile for a very short period of time and it’s just prior to this that the insemination must occur.  Make sure that the vet performing this procedure has had a great deal of experience and success.

Sometimes it’s necessary to do an artificial insemination even though the stud is right there and seems willing, but cannot achieve a breeding.  In a case like this, you still need knowledgeable people around.  It’s not enough to simply collect the semen and squirt it into the bitch.  There’s a reason for the ‘tie’.  It’s during the tie that the bitch’s vaginal and uterine muscles are contracting and helping to move the semen along into the uterus.  Because of this the vet or technician must ‘feather’ the bitch.  This involves inserting 2 or 3 fingers into the vulva as high as possible and then knotting them to simulate the stimulation she would get from a tie.  It’s also a good idea to gently pull against the vulva as would happen during a real tie.

Pregnancy, Is She or Isn’t She?

You’ll never know how long 63 days can be until you’re waiting for your first litter!  Such an exciting time and there’s much to be done while you’re girl is cooking the kids.

First you’ll want to verify that she is, indeed, pregnant.  There are 3 methods of doing this.  The first, oldest and least accurate, is palpation.  The vet will check the bitch at approximately 28 days post breeding.  He will feel the uterus through the abdominal wall in an attempt to palpate the walnut sized fetuses.  In smaller breeds this is probably much more accurate but in Great Danes very difficult.

The next, and most accurate method of early pregnancy detection, is ultrasound.  This test is performed at about 32 days post breeding.  The bitch is laid on her side and the vet will squirt some contact jelly on her abdomen to facilitate the ‘reading’.  The fetuses are difficult to see to an untrained eye.  They basically look like black holes!  If the vet counts 4 puppies, you can almost always count on twice that number!  It’s hard to do an accurate count. [INSERT PHOTO #12-13]

The most accurate method is when a live puppy falls out of your bitch!  There is no longer any doubt that she’s pregnant, but this is not early detection.

Please DO NOT X-ray your bitch in early pregnancy to check for puppies.  You could do harm to the fetuses at this early stage.  Only agree to X-ray during the last few days of a pregnancy if for some reason you simply have to know how many puppies there are.  The other good use of X-ray is to verify that there are no more puppies after whelping.  Most vets can easily palpate to verify this, making X-ray unnecessary.

When Skylark had her litter she seemed fine, all 8 babies were fine and I had no idea that there was still one more puppy up there.  I just packed her and her babies up and off we went to the vets for the routine post whelping check and pit shot.  The vet said she felt another puppy in her and wanted an X-ray to see how it was positioned.  She wasn’t sure if it was dead or alive.  I figured it must be dead after all this time.  The bitch had begun to whelp around 8 PM the previous evening and it was now about 9 AM.  I was quite worried as I sure didn’t want Skylark to have to go through a C-section for the last puppy!

She was given IV calcium and a pit shot to stimulate contractions and she and I went out into the van to await developments.  About 20 minutes later after a couple half-hearted contractions, Dr. Eaton came out to check on her and gave her another pit shot.  Suddenly here came the contractions and, hallelujah, the PUPPY!  AND HE WAS ALIVE!  If we hadn’t checked her it’s possible that she could have died from infection caused by that last puppy had it not passed.

So your bitch has been verified to be in whelp and it’s time to get everything ready.  What will you need?  What should you expect?

What to Expect During Gestation

Obviously you’ll expect your bitch to become much larger as her pregnancy progresses.  Depending on the number of puppies she’s carrying, this is a reasonable expectation.  Trouble is, it doesn’t always happen!  Great Danes are BIG dogs and there’s a lot of room in there for puppies to hide!  A bitch carrying a litter of 1 or 2 puppies may not show at all!  While a bitch carrying 9 might only look to be having 2 or 3!  My little Narcissus was a good example of the latter!  She was a little girl to begin with, standing only about 30½ inches tall.  At only a few days before whelping, I thought she’d maybe have 4 at the most.  No one was more surprised than me when she had 9 puppies!

Be prepared for the possibility of a personality change.  Until Skylark, all my bitches became quieter and more loving and snuggley than normal during their pregnancies.  This is, of course, a nice change.  Then I bred Skylark and I got an education in the power of female hormones!  Lark, who was the baby in the family and had always been the omega bitch (bottom of the heap) suddenly became SUPER BITCH!  She personified the word ‘bitchy’ as applied to temperament.  Every time I turned around Lark was attacking one of the other bitches.  Never her mother Poppy, but poor Jonquilla and Narcissus were fair game!  She’d strut around the house as if it had been built for her and her alone!  She’d pull herself to her full height (in her case that’s TALL) and give the two old ladies the evil eye.  It got so bad that I would kennel her when I had to leave the house, even if for 15 minutes to go feed the horses.  On the advice of a handler friend, I kept a large cooking spoon upstairs and downstairs.  She told me that if a fight started, to shove the spoon into the mouth of the dog biting and it would let go immediately.  I also kept some pepper spray on hand.

I was really devastated because I thought my sweet and silly Lark-a-Loonie, had changed into some terrible devil.  Once she’d whelped and the puppies were 4 and 5 weeks of age, she began to return to the old Lark we all knew and loved.

While on this subject, I should mention a couple other things that happened to Skylark during her pregnancy.  One morning about a week prior to her due date, I awoke to find Lark standing by my bed with her back kind of hunched up and her neck stretched out ahead of her.  When she’d move her neck side to side she’d cry out.  All I could think of was that she’d slipped a disk or something.  She’d move around and ate, but you could see that certain positions were painful.

My vet examined her and asked me if I believed in chiropractors.  (Now I’ve always thought they were quacks, but I believed in and trusted my vet).  After expressing my opinion, I agreed to take Lark to the recommended chiropractor.  Dr. Eaton said that Lark’s neck felt like it was ‘out’.  When we arrived at the chiropractor’s office, she examined Lark thoroughly and had me place my hands on a place in her neck where there was an obvious ‘hole’.  After adjusting Lark (very gently I might add) she warned me that she may be worse the next day but should improve by day 3.  She had me feel her neck where the ‘hole’ had been and it was gone!  Sure enough, day 2 found her really gimpy but day 3 she was almost back to her old self!

I had been instructed to return with Lark for one more adjustment prior to her whelping date.  I had been so impressed with Lark’s improvement, that I had her adjust me too!  (I’ve had low back pain for years).  I improved along with Skylark.

What caused Lark’s problem?  Dr. Eaton explained to me that when the pregnancy hormones begin to circulate, they cause the ligaments and soft tissues to relax to facilitate the whelping process.  This affects the tissues throughout the body.  In Lark’s case, she is a boinger’, she’ll stand in one place and leap straight into the air about 3 or 4 feet.  She’s also extremely active.  This, combined with the hormones, caused her spine more flexion than it should have and it moved out of alignment.

Items You’ll Need for Your Bitch and Her Litter

1. Whelping Box

This is an enclosure where your bitch will give birth to the litter and where they’ll remain until about the age of 3-4 weeks or until they start piling out onto the floor!  You can purchase one of these already made from dog supply catalogs or make your own.  I know one breeder who swears by those plastic wading pools that appear in stores in the summer.  Being round they’re a more natural shape for a whelping area.  I might try one on my next litter.  The biggest drawback I can see to them is having an easily changed and cleaned pad in the bottom.

My dad and I made my first whelping box.  I think it would have held a litter of elephants, he made it so strong!  It was on a base made of 2 x 4’s and a heavy plywood floor.  It had sides that came up about 9 inches and then a ‘shelf’ had been run along each long side to keep the bitch from smashing a puppy against the side.  (This, by the way, did not work as I extracted a couple puppies from between the wall and mom).  [Some of the box shaped whelping boxes utilize ‘pig rails’.  This is a heavy dowel (about the size of the pole you would find in a clothes closet) that runs the length of the box about 6 inches up from the floor and about 4 inches out from the wall.  Frankly I don’t see what real good they’d do as a puppy could still become stuck between the rail and mom].

After the first litter was born and I tried to find a place to store this 300 pound thing, I decided that there must be a better way.  I removed the sides of the box and fastened each short end to the long side with hinges.  This allowed the short sides to fold in against the long one, and the whole thing weighted about 20 pounds!  The hinges that fastened the other long side to the two short sides used hinges with removable pins.  All I have to do is pull the pins and it is all collapsed and easily stored.

This four-sided ‘box’ sits directly on the floor and I have a three-inch foam pad covered in naugahyde that completely covers the foam.  From old blankets and sheets I made covers for the pad.  The blanket is one side and the sheet the other.  It fits onto the pad like a pillowcase.  There’s enough left over at the open end to tuck securely underneath the pad.  The beauty of this cover is that it’s easily removed and washed and the puppies can’t become hidden under folds of a wrinkled blanket and stepped on or squashed by mom.

Put the whelping box in an area that is private.  You want to keep other dogs, cats and people away from mom and her new family in the early days.

2. Tons of Newspaper!

You’ll go through a lot of this during the actual whelping.  I use the whelping pad and cover and then spread a very thick layer of newspapers down.  After each puppy is born, I get the bitch up, remove the soiled papers and replace with fresh.  I also use newspapers for the floor once the pups are out of the box and at the end of the box at about 2½ weeks when they start to look for a place outside the nest to relieve themselves.

3. Baby Scale

Each puppy is weighed at birth.  Then they are weighed daily until about the age of 10 days.  Although a small loss of weight isn’t unusual during the first 24 hours, you want to see a steady gain from day to day after that.

4. Lots Of Little Terry Cloth Towels/Rags

Use these for helping to ‘pull’ a puppy from the vagina and/or for drying off newborns.  A vigorous rubdown helps get the puppy crying which bring air into it’s lungs, and helps stimulate it to move around.

5. Garbage Can & Lots Of Garbage Bags

Self explanatory!

6. At Least 2 Mosquito Clamps

Use one to clamp the umbilical cord about 1” from the belly, the other to clamp about 1” past the first against the placenta and then cut the cord with dull scissors in between the 2.  You can leave the one on the pup for a few seconds while you dry it and then remove.

7. Dull Children’s Scissors

When the bitch bites the cord off, it isn’t a clean cut, which means it bleeds very little.  The dull craft scissors used by kids imitate this type of cut.

8. Heating Pad

I use this in conjunction with the box below.  I place the heating pad over only ½ of the box bottom, under a towel.  This way the puppies can move off it if it’s too hot.  As each puppy is born, it’s given to mom to nurse.  The nursing helps stimulate contractions.  As another puppy is about to be born, I put all the previous puppies in the box to keep them from getting in the way.  Once the puppy is safely delivered, he and all his siblings are returned to mom until the next pup comes along.  This is also used in the box when transporting the puppies to the vet for their post whelping exam and for dewclaw removal at 2 days of age.

9. Card Board Box For Pups

A sturdy box about 18 by 24 inches with sides about 18 inches high, is about right.  It makes a handy puppy carrier and a place to corral them while changing their bed.

10. Rectal Thermometer

Use this to monitor your bitch’s temperature beginning about 3 days prior to the expected whelping date.  When the temperature drops to below 99 (sometimes as low as 97 degrees F) you can be pretty sure that she’ll go into labor within 24 hours.  Also monitor her temperature for a couple weeks post whelping to head off trouble.

11. Clock

Note the time (in writing, you’ll be too nervous to remember!) when each puppy is born.  If the bitch goes much more than 3 hours between puppies, you should give your vet a call.  It might be fine, but let’s not take chances.

12. Writing Pen