Some dog owners prefer to sterilize them, while others make them breeders instead. Whether it is to consider one or more litters during the life of his animal, the breeding should not be carried out at random. There are several things to take into account to make sure everything goes as planned.
Canine reproduction has specificities that it is essential to know before considering a mating for your dog or bitch. It is the health of the animal, but also that of the unborn puppies that are at stake.
What period to choose for reproduction?
Bitches do not accept mating outside of their hot periods. Moreover, the males are only stimulated during these latter, because the females send olfactory and hormonal signals in this direction.
Heat is therefore the favorable period for reproduction . The first heat occurs at variable times depending on the size of the bitch: 6 months in small bitches (such as Yorkshire for example) and up to 18 months in larger ones (such as the Saint Bernard or the Great Dane. ). Then the heat will reappear twice a year on average.
The heat period has 2 main phases: proestrus and estrus .
- During proestrus, which lasts 9 days on average (from 3 to 20 days depending on the bitches), the female loses a few drops of blood and her vulva is swollen but she is not yet ready to mate . The female attracts the males but refuses the projection
- The following 9 days, which are the estrus phase, the dog accepts copulation, but it can not be fertilized until the 3rd day of this step (ovulation occurs only 48 hours after estrus started).
From there, we can program the dates of the coverings. The ideal would therefore be to reunite the male and the female between the 11th and the 13th day of heat . However, leaving them together too often can tire the dog and increase the risk of penile fractures .
Everything will depend on the availability of the male and the female. The veterinarian can help the owner in monitoring heat through smears or blood tests to determine the best times for mating.
The location of the mating
In general, it is advisable to organize the breeding in the place where the male lives . The latter will thus be in its territory , which will greatly favor its dominant behavior vis-à-vis the female.
In addition, the dog’s body is under considerable strain during mating, which requires a lot of energy on its part. He also needs some time to recover from his efforts. It is therefore preferable to avoid the additional fatigue associated with the journey.
The course of mating
The protrusion has several stages. The duration of the whole is very variable, but the average is generally around twenty minutes .
- The first phase is that of precopulatory behavior: it is a sort of display during which the male approaches the female and sniffs her vulva.
- The second phase is that of the actual mating : the dog rides the bitch and penetrates her.
- The third and last phase is that of post-copulatory behavior: the male turns around, while his penis is still in place: we speak of anchoring. The two partners are then “rump against rump” and thus remain connected to each other for several minutes. It is during this phase that the dog runs the risk of fracturing the penis. This somewhat strange position is important for the projection to be fertile.
If the mating went well, the resulting gestation lasts about 2 months (between 8 and 9 weeks).
To read also: The heat in the bitch
An agreement between the owners of the male and the female
As a rule, the owners of the male and the female agree on the modalities of the service before scheduling it. It is customary for the owner of the bitch to bear all the costs, as he will benefit from most of the litter .
As for the owner of the male, he has two options: choose a puppy from the litter or get the equivalent of the price of a puppy .
In the event that you are the owner of a bitch registered in the French Book of Origins (LOF) and that you have her reproduced with a male also registered, you will have to declare the service and then the births to the Central Canine so that the little ones are also considered purebred dogs. </p
