Where Are We At With Glory’s Breeding? Part 1

I’m going to back track a bit to the beginning for a moment so those who haven’t been following along since the beginning know the phases of Glory’s breeding and will finish with where we are at now and what comes next.

I have been planning this breeding with Glory since last December 2014. Glory has had her health clearances done a head of time so I didn’t have to get any of that done. The tests I have done on Glory are genetic tests that should be done before you even think about breeding. Genetic diseases can be passed on to the offspring . You need to research your breed of dog and what genetic diseases they can come down with, what tests are available and have them done so you know what you are working with when breeding your dog.

(This is a condensed list, I plan on doing a reproduction series in the future that will explain more about what each test involves)

The genetic tests that are recommended for Chesapeake Bay Retrievers are:
• OFA Hip and Elbow Radiographs
• CAER (OFA Eye Certification Registry) formulary known as CERF (Canine Eye Registry Foundation)
• DM (Degenerative myelopathy ) a progressive disease of the spinal cord in older dogs.
• EIC (Exercise Induced Collapse) muscle weakness, incoordination which can lead to life-threatening collapse after small amount of exercise.
• prcd-PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy) disease of the eye that caused the retina of the eye to degenerate slowly over time.

Other tests that can be done are:
• Shoulder and Knee Radiographs
• Cardiac exam
• Long coat gene
• ED/SF (Congenital Ectodermal Dysplasia/Skin Fragility Syndrome) a skin disease that is self limiting- which means if you produce an affected puppy it will most likely die within hours of birth.

Once you do the genetic tests on your dog you need to look for a stud dog that complements your dog in structure, temperament, working ability and other desirable qualities. You then need to compare the genetic tests and breed accordingly .

After you pick your stud, line up the breeding then you wait for your bitch (female dog) to come into heat (estrus). Female dogs come into heat usually twice a year every 6-8 months (except Basenji and Rhodesian Ridgeback that cycle once a year).

The heat cycle according to Wikipedia: Dogs
A female dog is diestrous and goes into heat typically twice every year, although some breeds typically have one or three cycles a year. The proestrus is relatively long at 5–7 days (9 days), while the estrus may last 4–13 days, with a diestrus of 60 days followed by about 90–150 days of anestrus. Female dogs bleed during estrus, which usually lasts from 7–13 days, depending on the size and maturity of the dog. Ovulation occurs 24–48 hours after the luteinizing hormone peak, which is somewhere around the fourth day of estrus; therefore, this is the best time to begin breeding. Proestrus bleeding in dogs is common and is believed to be caused by diapedesis of red blood cells from the blood vessels due to the increase of the estradiol-17β hormone.[13]

Once the breeding takes place and the bitch ovulates her eggs it takes 24-72 hours for the eggs to mature, for this reason if doing natural breeding you should do multiple breedings to have the male dogs semen there at the right time for fertilization. Once mature and fertilized the eggs float around in the bitches uterus until about 17-21 days when they start to implant into the lining of the uterus. At this time their placenta develops and are called fetuses. Pregnancy confirmation can be done by palpation a experienced person should be able to palpate the fetuses between 20-30 days after last mating. A blood test and ultrasound can be done at 25 days. Pregnancy or gestation is usually 56-66 days with a average length of 63 days.

Right now Glory is at the implanting stage. She is at day 17 of her breeding. During this time we don’t want to stress her out so she is relaxing and hopefully implanting little poopy puppies. Next week I may take her to the clinic to be palpated and then a ultrasound the week after.

We are joining Linda at 2browndawgs and Jodi at Heart Like A Dog for this great blog hop.

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