Delivering a litter is more than just

Mating ............................................To Puppies

Breeding Quality Bitch

Not all Papillons Females or Males should be bred.  And contrary to what many people may think even some nice show Papillons are not good Papillons for breeding purposes.  Making the decision to have a litter of puppies is not a decision to be taken lightly.  First thing to consider,  is if  your female is of good enough quality to breed.

• Is she a conformation champion or have an excellent breeding quality pedigree of several champions in the first 3 generation of the pedigree. 

• Is she large enough to potentially deliver a litter naturally?  We do not suggest breeding a less than 5 pound female.  Females under 5 pounds often do not have a large enough pelvis to deliver puppies naturally through the birth canal.  If your bitch looks like she is similar size or smaller to the picture on the right than I would consult your veterinarian and an experienced Papillon Breeder for advice prior to your female coming into season. 

In addition to her size and ability to free whelp you must consider her additional qualities.  

• Is she of a pleasant breed type and conform to the Papillon Standard?  

• Are her patella's sound?

• Have you had her eye's cleared of Progressive Retinal Atrophy?  

• Does she have a correct scissors bite and the teeth & jaw are not overshot, undershot or level? 

• Does she have acceptable Papillon face markings? 

• Does she have a sweet outgoing temperament?  

• Does she have good front, rear movement and nice side gait? 

• Do you know if her lineage carries any genetic health problems? 

 If the answer is NO to any of these questions, I would suggest she is not of reproducing quality. If your bitch only has a few minor faults, it is important to look for a  stud dog that does not have those same faults.  

 If your female has any health problems or has a family genetic history of health problems she could pass those genes onto her puppies. Please refer to our health page for more information.

Are You Prepared!

• Are you prepared for expenses of whelping a litter?  Papillons have a high incidence of birthing problems. Over half of our puppies born present themselves breach (rear first). Which means they must be pulled out of the birth canal. Depending on the veterinarian and area of the country a C-section can cost anywhere from $200 to $1,000.00  If  surgery is at an emergency clinic the cost of surgery can be much higher. Litters for many first time Pap breeders result in a cesarean section.

• Are you prepared to be grossed out? You must be willing to roll up your sleeves and get amniotic fluid, blood, afterbirth, green placenta discharge, and sometimes poop on your hands shirt, pants and anything else in the immediate area.  One out of Three puppies are usually needing to be pulled from the birth canal.  It is not unusual for puppies to become stuck in the womb.  When they do... are you able to face putting on latex gloves, globing your fingers with K-Y and sticking your index or pinkie fingers into the vagina to assist a puppy that is stuck, or push a puppy back inside in hopes it will turn around?  All the while your just praying the sack doesn't break! Do you have hemostats that will serve as forceps when your fingers are not strong enough to pull on a puppy?  To get the pup out are you ready to take a chance and pull off parts of a tail, or heaven forbid a leg??? Yes, Occasionally it does happen.  Novice whelpers are more prone to birthing accidents and dead puppies.

• Are you prepared for the joy of a live 2 oz puppy, only to go through the sorrow of it fading and dieing  24 hours to two weeks later?  The death chant of a fading puppy is a sound that will burn in your memory for a lifetime.

  This furbaby faded after 1 week of life. Allot of tube feeding and little sleep for the breeder.

Think we are exaggerating?

• Are you poo pooing off what you just read thinking we are over protective, over exaggerating toy dog breeders, or one of the snobby show breeders?    Think again... It takes dedication, and common sense and the knack to know your dogs in trouble to whelp small dogs.   We have seen a number of successful large dog breeders have one litter of Paps, it end in disaster, and never want to breed another litter of Papillons again. Many have found out the hard way... It ain't just catching the puppies before they hit the floor!!!

  Papillons ARE NOT the breed we would encourage you to breed if your wanting a litter so the kids can experience  a "Lesson in Nature".

Stud Dogs

After you have determined that your female Papillon is worthy to attempt  having a litter you must find a good quality male. When looking for a good male you need to ask some of the same questions? 

• Does the potential sire to your puppies have several champions within a 3 generation pedigree? 

• Is he of a pleasant breed type and conform to the Papillon Standard?

•  Are his patella's sound? 

• Has his eye's been cleared of Progressive Retinal Atrophy?  

• Does he have a scissors bite? 

• Does he have acceptable Papillon face markings?

• Does he have a sweet outgoing temperament?  

• Does he have good front, rear movement and nice side gait?  

• Does he have any genetic history of health problems?

• Does he excel in quality (or cross fault) where your female needs improvement?

After you find a male that may be suitable for your girl you must approach the stud dog owner and find out if the dog is available for outside stud.  

Stud Contracts

Stud Contracts can range from $200.00 to $1,000.00 depending on the dog, if he is a champion, or group placer. Other criteria to that reflects in the stud dog cost is he is proven stud dog,  or has champion, group placing offspring. Is the Stud Dog a sire of merit or distinction meaning he has produced 6 - 13 champion offspring. Stud agreements can also be easy with you only paying for semen, to requiring that all offspring that the breeder does not  keep must be spayed or neutered.  It is also very common to have a first right of refusal to purchase all offspring clause in the contract.  Expect to have your bitch tested for brucellosis and micro plasma.  And possibly have her smeared or progesterone tested for the most optimum breeding time. To protect dogs from breeding diseases some  some stud dog owners will only artificially inseminate a female from another kennel. Click to see an example of what a Forevr Stud Contract  may look like (please note this dog is at private stud and is bred only to select champion bitches.)

Waiting for Your Bitches Heat Cycle

You have now decided that your bitch is of a worthy quality to produce nice quality healthy puppies that could have the potential of being good representatives of the breed. She has had two or more normal heat cycles and is less than 5 years of age for her first litter. Your vet has examined her, performed the necessary tests that the stud dog owner requires and deemed her good criteria to carry a litter and free whelp puppies. You have also found a stud dog and agreed upon the terms of a stud contract.  

Your bitch is in Season

Your bitch just now come into her heat cycle. Separate her away from any intact male dogs. If she is a house pet, to keep bloody spots off furniture and clothing  you may want to invest in a pair of bitches britches for her to wear. It is time to call the owner of the stud dog and make arrangements to drop or ship your girl off for mating.  

• A female heat cycle usually lasts between 9 to 20 days. Most of our Papillons cycle runs around 17 days.  

• A female has three stages of their heat cycle.  

• The beginning of the cycle is when the vulva swells and bleeds a bloody discharge. At this time she will not be receptive for breeding.  

• The middle of the heat cycle the blood discharge turns to a straw color.  This is usually between days 9 - 12 of the heat.  The vulva softens to the touch. Her tail will flag side to side and she will flirt with the males.  This is usually a good indication that she is ready to start being breed. There are other ways to determine whether your bitch is ready to be bred.  1.) Smearing the vaginal discharge and veterinarian examination through a microscope.  If she is producing eggs the cells of the discharge will be cornified when viewed. 2) Having your vet test your bitches progesterone level.  A significant drop means that your bitch is ready to be breed.

• The end of the heat cycle the discharge will change from a straw color back to a bloody discharge, or the discharge will stop without bleeding again.  A sudden stop of discharge can be an indication that your girl is pregnant..  The vulva will firm back up and reduce in size.  It is not unusual for a pregnant bitches vulva to stay slightly swollen and the nipples to enlarge.

Breeding Your Bitch

There are a number of methods toy dog breeders use while mating dogs naturally. The first two descriptions are the what we suggest for natural breeding.

• Sitting on the floor holding the female and helping the male tie the female.  Holding the tie until the completion of the breeding.

• Holding the female on a grooming table and helping the male tie the female. Holding the tie until the completion of the breeding.

• Putting the male and female together in a confined area and not assisting in the breeding.

• Leaving the male and female together to breed at will during the heat cycle.

   

  *The breeding pictured produced two female puppies in the middle of the night by Emergency Cesarean Section .  The first puppy was to large to pass through the dams small birth canal.  After several hours of hard labor the owner sought  medical treatment.  The female was so tired the owner was in jeopardy of losing mother and litter.

More Scientific methods of breeding are:

• Artificial Insemination (A.I.) with fresh collected sperm. (This is usually performed when a toy dog can not naturally penetrate a female.  Or when a female has not been tested for Brucellosis and Micro plasma.) 

• Fresh Chilled Extended Semen (extended for a maximum 24 hours) and artificially inseminated. Extended Semen can be collected by the stud dogs veterinarian and shipped to the bitches veterinarian for insemination.

• Frozen Semen collected and stored for later use.  Shipped to the Veterinarian for artificial insemination.    

  Note: Consult your veterinarian or reproduction specialist for additional information. You can also learn more at this site:  International Canine Semen Bank their fresh chilled extender products have proven successful with Papillons.

63 Days of Waiting & Watching

After your female has been breed and she returns home from her date with the stud dog, the waiting begins.

• Normal Canine Gestation is 63 days. Most of our females deliver between 60-62 days.

• It is normal for a female to experience morning sickness and lack hunger the 2nd and 3rd week of pregnancy. Feed them their favorite foods at this time if they show signs of not eating.  Cottage Cheese or Yogurt mixed with their daily kibble will sometimes help. Some breeders like to start giving the females a small amount of raspberry tea leaves in their daily food.  The tea leaves are supposed to help with the bitches ability to produce a natural born litter.

• 4 - 5 weeks make an appointment with your veterinarian to have or palpated or sonogramed to find out if she is pregnant.  An experienced veterinarian can often tell if a dog is pregnant by palpating the abdomen, the whelps at that time will fill similar to the size of small pecans. Many theories say check your female 21-28 days.  We have more success between 3 1/2 to 5 weeks. Also, International Canine Genetics has a 95 percent reliable pregnancy test using blood taken 27 to 38 days after the last breeding. For more information, consult your veterinarian.  

• During the last two weeks of pregnancy increase the intake of your bitches food, puppy food is suggested.  Calcium is a must during this time.  The puppies bones are now forming and additional calcium is not given to the mother it could deprive her own calcium levels and later cause eclampsia.  We recommend people to use a natural form of calcium.  A tablespoon of cottage cheese daily thru pregnancy until the weaning of the is what we give. Eclampsia,  is a life-threatening condition of lactating dogs that have whelped (given birth to puppies). It arises when the affected dog’s body becomes deficient in calcium. Usually it occurs within the first three weeks after having the puppies. Infrequently it may also occur before birth of the puppies and up to about six weeks after whelping. Small dogs are more likely to develop this than are large dog breeds.  Many vets will recommend that you sonogram or x-ray the mother during the last two weeks to make sure the litter is normal sized, can potentially pass the birth canal, and determine the number of whelps to be delivered.

• The last week of pregnancy your bitch is probably very uncomfortable. By this time you should have her in place that is safe, warm, and private. We prefer to have our pregnant girls in our bedroom in a puppy pen with a 100 size crate bottom placed inside the pen. Your whelping supplies should be gathered together and instruments sterilized. During the last week, her milk is starting to come in. The puppies are probably beginning to line up in the uterus preparing to announce themselves to the world! At this time your bitches sides may be taking on a concaved look.  Her tummy will not be as round, the backbone may be more visible, and the side of her tummy will almost have a ridge appearance.  The vulva will become soft, pliable, and may have a slight discharge from a clear to a light tan. Start taking her temperature 3 times daily. You should expect to see a fluctuation in the temperature from 99 to 100 degree's.  A temperature drop of 98.9 or below usually indicates that your girl will be going into labor within the next 24 hours.  It is time to give your girl a maternity clip by clipping the belly around the nipples and vulva area with a 12 or 40 blade clipper.   Trimming the tummy keeps the puppies from getting caught in the stomach hair and if you have a puppy that does not nurse well it makes it easier for you to put them on the nipple.  Clipping the britches and vulva area is more sanitary for labor and delivery.  Not to forget to mention the discharge after delivery.  

Whelping Supplies:

The following is whelping supplies that we keep on hand.

The Delivery

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