Top Tips For Gundog Breeding

With the shooting season over, the coming spring and summer months are often considered to be the ideal time to breed a litter of pups. While in theory it may seem to be a relatively straightforward undertaking – and for some it often is – actually getting bitches in-whelp is becoming far more problematic than it used to be.

Timing is everything

There was a time, before any of the pre-mating testing options were available, when a bitch would be taken to the stud dog on about the 10th or 11th day of her season. Invariably a successful mating would ensue – and a single mating would have been considered sufficient. Around 63 days later the litter would have been born.

To have had any concerns over what day of the season the bitch should be mated or that she may not even be in-whelp following a copybook mating, were not worth losing any sleep over. How good it would be to have that same confidence today!

As I said earlier, there are still bitches whose journey into motherhood is straightforward and still those owners whose breeding plans are plain sailing from start to finish. For them this article may seem unnecessary but for others the quest to breed a litter is becoming more difficult. And not just for maiden bitches and first-time owners.

No one has yet come up with any good reason why we are now finding that more bitches aren’t ready to be mated on the hitherto normal timing of the 10th to 12th days of the season. Yes, there have always been those bitches that have varied from this, but they were in the minority.

What we are now increasingly seeing are bitches that can be ready to mate as early as day eight of the season or as late as day 17.

Progesterone testing

But since vets have been able to offer progesterone testing it’s now possible to blood test bitches during their heat to ascertain the “optimum” mating window which is governed by the changing levels of progesterone hormone produced by the bitch.

So with your bitch in season – and hopefully with the first day of “spotting” carefully noted – you can speak to your vet who will advise on what day you should take the first progesterone test (cost usually about £80).

It may be necessary to take anything from one to three tests in order to pin-point the best days for mating, but it’s certainly something we recommend for bitches visiting our stud dogs and something that we always do when taking one of our own bitches to another breeder’s stud dog.

But this test can throw up some surprises. In our experience we have undertaken an initial test on a bitch as early as day eight of the season expecting it to give us a “mark in the sand” only to be phoned by the vet to tell us to mate the bitch the next day according to the progesterone reading. In this particular case we followed the vet’s advice and the bitch produced a litter of 10 pups.

A friend recently embarked upon progesterone testing a bitch in season and after numerous tests at considerable cost was told on day 15 that the bitch would be ready in 48-hours. Although somewhat doubtful of the advice being given, the bitch was then mated once to a dog 100 miles away and produced a litter from a successful mating on day 17.

Progesterone testing is becoming the “belt and braces” of dog breeding and many breeders have had very good results over many years.

But equally we have had bitches coming to us for mating that should have been “bang on” and yet have shown no inclination to want to mate – often being very aggressive about the whole thing.

Alternatively some have been successfully mated but not produced pups. Occurrences of bitches not behaving as their test results suggest - as well as bitches not producing litters after successful matings - are becoming a talking point among many breeders.

We have had bitches brought to us for mating on the progesterone recommended days but have shown no desire to accept the dog – sometimes over a three day period. One such bitch in particular was brought back at her next season having been seen to be attracted to the owner’s Jack Russell on day nine of her heat. Based on no test she was brought back to us for mating and was as keen as mustard. She produced eight pups.

So it appears bitches are now “all over the place” in their optimum day for conception. Progesterone testing is still something that should always be undertaken when wanting to breed a litter, but pin-pointing the optimum mating day and achieving the desired outcome is now becoming more difficult.

Spotting the signs your bitch is ready

My advice to anyone with a bitch they want to mate is to definitely use the progesterone test with your vet’s advice, but also use your own observations too – and draw on any past experiences you have of your bitch’s previous behavior when in season.

While every care must be taken not to allow your bitch to be misaligned while she is in a delicate condition, any indications that she is ready for mating (tail-turning, hormone-driven activity with another bitch or even keenness to get to another male dog) should be noted – however early -  and a decision taken about her proposed mating date.

Often a bitch’s behaviour will tell you when she is ready, although the progesterone test is an essential back-up particularly if you are travelling a long distance for the mating.

Conditioning & nutrition

If a litter of pups is being planned it’s also worth making sure the bitch is in tip top order, particularly after a hard shooting season. Bitches certainly don’t want to be fat but neither too thin; the metabolism of a bitch struggling to sustain her own body condition is not going to be conducive to allowing her body to take on more demands by conceiving a litter.

So a bitch that is heading towards a mating needs to be on a rising plane of nutrition and fed a good quality food – probably a protein content of around 25/26%.

Over the years we have found that giving breeding bitches a dietary supplement of wheat germ capsules from DorWest Herbs in the run up to mating and for the first three weeks of gestation can help boost fertility.

Supplementing the diet with folic acid is another option that some breeders report has improved breeding success, but it’s something that should first be discussed with your vet.

So if you are planning a litter it’s worth while being aware that things may not always go according to plan. A failure to conceive can be a real disappointment, not only just because of a lack of pups but also because it may be another year before it can be repeated if the bitch’s services are needed during the intervening shooting season.

Jeremy Hunt
Fenway Labradors
jeremy@fenwaylabradors.co.uk
07798 826179

Jeremy is the owner of Fenway Labradors has been breeding Labradors for over 25 years and is based in Lancashire, England.

Jeremy runs gundog training days offering individual or small group training sessions, by the hour, half or full day.