Culling pups from the litter - Page 5

Stillbirths seem to be the biggest problem, therefore... the c-section. Also short lives, and some lines are plagued with bone cancer. And supposedly this is happening in the upper tiers. I name them that because they are winners.

A healthy female that is a good mother should have no problem whelping and raising a litter larger than 8 on her own.  Perhaps the breeder could spend a few minutes a few times per day (with a large litter) simply making sure the smaller puppies got enough to eat (on the female's  nipple - no need to bottle-feed a healthy litter raised by a healthy mother dog).  I've had litters of 10-12, and have heard of litters of 14 whelped and raised without incident by the healthy and good mother dog. 

molly

Beetree: Dang, that sucks.Such great dogs, too. I knew about the short lives, but they are rather large dogs, so it makes sense. Thanks for the info, though! :)

Don,i think PL got the # because that is the number of tits she has. you knew that i'm sure. i do agree with jenni that nature should  take its course. yes, nature is sometimes seemingly crueal. i think it is better than nursing one that would die without help. also PL never said he praticed this. he just started a thread!

actually there are 10 nipples.  But no female can nurse 10 puppies at once - unless she rolls on her back like a cat, which most female dogs do not do.  so puppies have to take turns no matter what, unless the litter is small 4-5 puppies.    with large litters mother dogs will have milk in all 10 nipples, and she will produce enough milk to feed all puppies large or small litter (larger litters she will produce more milk)

I do not tube feed or like to intervene much at all, I would rather the pups have the strength to survive on their own.

My recent litter of 13 I had was a surprise, it was the first time my dam  (She is 5 years old) had 13 pups.

and it was the stud dogs first litter. 

One of the

 pups wasn't getting any nutrition, and I had to put him to sleep, he was not keeping his food down and was wasting away, it was so so sad to see how smart he was and I felt like I was betraying him in some awful way, but something was not right, so I had to make an executive decision to not let him suffer, I still felt so sad>I cried  and cried.

 His sister that was like him wouldn't eat on her own so I fed her with a syringe and she finally got the hang of it, she was the runt, she ended up with a small heart murmur that she will probably out grow.

Years back I had a litter of 11 Labrador retrievers and one pup had puppy strangles, so I brought him to the vets around the corner from my house cause it was a blizzard outside, and I'll be darned that pup survived, but later needed a hip replacement and an elbow operation.

 Had I not brought that pup to the vets, he would had died.

 I don't like to mess

with mother nature, I now understand when a pup doesn't make it, maybe there was something wrong and it wasn't meant to be.

Mirasmom,
I agree with having to humanely PTS a puppy that has a problem,..However, I doubt it seriously that I would ever cull a litter only because mom has a big litter....I could never understand why there was a limit to the number of puppies a bitch could nurse......Seems to me as long as mom and puppies are healthy, there should be no need to cull any puppies.....But since we live in the good ole USofA and there is no requirement such as that, why should any puppies be culled if there is no health issues....? 

However to those who believe that culling is the way to go, then who I am to judge, we all have to live with our own decisions.....To each his own.....JMO

I pretty much let nature take its course with a litter.  I wouldn't cull a litter down to X pups just because I thought mom might not be able to take care of them, I'd let the mom try.  So far my girls have been able to raise as many pups as they have produced.  The only time I interfere is if the pup has an issue and I know it's not going to make it, then why let it waste away and finally die after a few days, may as well be kind and just get it over with.

If a pup was injured (mom stepped on it or something) then I would help raise it if needed.  Or if something happened to the mom I'd help the pups.  I had one female who had a singleton, and her milk never really came in, so I gave that pup to another female to foster.   But unless it's something like those scenarios, I figure nature knows more about it than I do, so let her do what she's going to do.  No point in saving the weak, especially when many times a fading pup is fading for a reason.  Save it, and later you will just find out what that reason was.

First time commenter lol.great thread.I currently have a bitch nursing 11fat shiny vigorous pups and the thought of culling any of them because they might have a whitespot on chest, or I only want one is horrible. And the number is ten on the teats(count em)lol. Without mans hand there would be no purebred dogs of any type,culling happens to thousands of pups when developing any breed,except maybe the cocker-doodles or whatever they are called. I don't think anyone who breeds a nine year old bitch has much concern for the mother or pups much less improving the gene pool. One more point, I think mans ability to manipulate the wolf in order to help us is a gift from god,or the aliens who put us here(lol), and you can bet he,or they are watching to see what we do with that gift.