Chances of Dog Getting Pregnant on First Time
An astonishing 40% of female dogs get pregnant after only one mating session. A single session is enough for a female dog to get pregnant on her very first heat cycle (although not recommended).
Accidental breeding is frequently observed in the first heat cycle of young females even if they are not finished growing.
The chances of getting pregnant after just one try are good news for people that purposely want to breed their dogs, but it’s a complication for someone that cannot take care of an unwanted litter of puppies.
You have to be very vigilant about letting your female pup roam loosely whenever she is in heat.
Dogs are indiscriminate when it comes to mating brothers with sisters, fathers with daughters, and sons with mothers.
Keeping a close eye on them and preventing mounting or taking the dogs to the vet to get spayed and neutered is recommended if you don’t want new puppies roaming around the house.
Male dogs can start with mating very early between 6 and 12 months of age.
Maturity can vary between individual dogs and different breeds. Smaller breeds mature earlier.
On the opposite, some large breed males need 2 years of development to reach maturity.
As your male puppies get older you will notice that they start acting strangely and develop a sudden desire to hump objects around the house (mostly cushions).
Besides this behavior, coming into maturity is also characterized by scenting things with urine.
The first signs of maturity or puberty in female dogs are redness and swelling of the vulva as the most prominent physical sign.
This too happens for the first time between 6 and 12 months of age. Your dog will start licking herself more often and urinate more than usual.
Mating a female dog on her first heat cycle is out of the question.
Females bred on their first heat are not done growing, raising the chance that puppies will be too big for the birth canal and get stuck.
There are certain health risks for both the mother and the pups when bred too early.
Breeding dogs with health or behavioral issues means passing on the genes that can result in behavioral problems like uncontrollable aggression or anxiety.
How Many Days Will a Female Dog Let a Male Mount Her?
The average period during which a female dog lets male dogs mount her is 7 days. However, this is entirely up to the female and varies between individuals. Some females let males mount them for a couple of days and others more than a week.
Female dogs mate during the estrus.
Estrus in dogs lasts somewhere between 1 and 3 weeks and it can be shorter or longer for some individuals.
It’s important to know when the female started bleeding so you will know approximately which stage of the heat cycle is on.
Doing hormone testing and evaluation of vaginal smear in the vet’s office can help you distinguish the different stages of dog heat.
Experienced breeders let the dogs breed over a period of 6 days, with 2 to 3 total successful matings being ideal.
Since they want to ensure there is a gap between the matings, the owners often separate the male from the female when a single act of mounting is completed.
Don’t leave the dogs alone and assume they will mate. Observe each time the male and female are together to see if mating occurs and separate them if there are signs of aggression.
There is an old tale that says female dogs mate as much as they want and once they get pregnant their desire to mate vanishes.
That’s completely untrue since female dogs don’t have a way of knowing whether they got pregnant or not.
Some females won’t let males mount them even though they are in their fertile periods.
Situations like that happen when the female is inexperienced, afraid, or unsocial.
Other times, the female’s hormones are out of sync and she won’t stand for the male during her most fertile period.
Sometimes the female simply doesn’t like the male presented to her, but will gladly accept another.
If you try to replace the male and the female is delighted, you fixed the situation.
If not, the only solution to this problem will be assisted/artificial mating which is a whole new can of worms.
What Can You Do To Ensure Mating Is Successful?
Surprisingly, male dogs appear to be more stress sensitive than females during mating. Successful matings are more common when the male dog is in its own environment. For this reason, females are usually taken to the male dogs home for breeding.
The time of mating is extremely critical and it is highly recommended that you have tested your female to determine the optimal days for breeding. For most females, the best time for breeding is between the tenth and fourteenth day of oestrus. However, some females ovulate as early as the third or fourth day or as late as the eighteenth day. Blood tests will assist in determining the best period for your dog.
It is normal to arrange for two matings for your dog, often twenty-four or forty-eight hours apart. Check these details with the owner of the stud when making initial enquiries. Also, inquire as to the procedure if your female dog does not become pregnant as a result of the stud service. It is common for owners of the male dog to offer a free service next time.
How to Tell If Your Dog is Pregnant (Without Dog Pregnancy Test)
Welcoming a new litter of puppies into the world is very rewarding, but dog pregnancies can be confusing and stressful, as well as time-consuming and costly.
If you are considering breeding your dog, there is so much information that you need to know. You should be familiar with your breed’s standard and individual breed health test recommendation, as well as the responsibilities you’ll have in raising healthy well-socialized puppies. You will also need to know the signs of pregnancy in dogs and how best to care for your pregnant bitch. Here are the answers to some of your questions.
Dogs are pregnant for approximately 62-64 days, or about two months, although the Merck Veterinary Manual says, “predicting the timing of a delivery can be difficult because the date of breeding does not always match the date of conception. The length of pregnancy can also vary with breed and litter size.”
Dr. Jerry Klein, AKC chief veterinary officer, explains that during the first month of pregnancy, the fertilized eggs travel to the uterine horn, where they embed themselves in the lining at about 15-18 days. Fetal growth is rapid during early pregnancy, and these swellings double in diameter every 7 days, according to Merck.
By the end of the first month, a veterinarian can detect a fetal heartbeat, and the development speeds up into the second month as the embryos develop into recognizable puppies. At the end of the second month and the start of the third, the puppies are ready to be born.