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DUX SAMOYEDS |
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Breeding for type, temperament and structure |
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A note on terminology: a girl dog is called a bitch, a boy dog is called a dog. When talking about parentage the father of a litter is called the sire and the mom is called the dam. When a bitch comes into season (heat), she becomes interested in being bred. Hormones in her body change which prepares her ovaries to release the eggs(ovulation) and her uterus for accepting fertilized eggs. We can measure progesterone which is the hormone that controls ovulation. When it reaches a certain level the eggs are released and we know if the breeding was successful there will be puppies born 63 days later (+/- 1-2 days). The eggs are not ready for fertilization until 2 days after being released. It is about this time when the bitch allows a dog to breed to her. Once the eggs are fertilized they continue to grow and float around in the uterus for about 17 days, finally around that time they attach to the uterine wall and establish a connection with the uterine wall (the placenta) which will help supply nutrients to the puppy as it grows. An amazing thing happens as the puppies attach to the uterus...they align themselves up on both sides so they are all lined up. (the bitch uterus is bifid meaning it is ‘V’ shaped and the pups grow in the 2 branches of the ‘V’ ). This becomes important when it is time to whelp (be born) as one pup from one side gets whelped, then one from the other side, back and forth until all the pups are whelped. There is no good way to tell if a bitch is pregnant until between 4-5 weeks (that is half way through the pregnancy!!!). At that point we can do an ultrasound and see the puppy fetuses, we can get an idea of how many puppies there are but it is not very accurate. As the puppies grow they start to move around and you can sometimes feel them moving/kicking. By 9 weeks they are ready to be whelped. 2-3 days before they are due we get an x-ray to count the number of puppies to expect. When the pups are whelped, they are very immature and not able to do much other than feed, BUT they have an amazing ability to find mom, even though they are not able see yet. They do this by smell. If you want to learn more about how the pups grow I will post a new update each week on the puppycam page once the pups are born.
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PRENANCY INFO |