Gun Dog Forum

Hello everyone!
I'm a new member of GDF and a relatively new dog owner. I'm still learning a lot of things. I grew up with dogs and livestock a big part of my life, but hadn't had my own dog until December 2020. The adoption of my first puppy, Rainey, was not a planned adoption... It was a head-over-heels thing and I couldn't pass her up. Rainey's a Mini Aussie mix cattle dog. My second puppy is a gundog. None of my family has much experience with bird hunting or gundogs so it'll be a new experience training her.
I'm in a quandry of sorts. Rainey is now nearly ten months old, probably around 25 lbs or so(?) and is in her first heat cycle. I decided against spaying her. I noticed her early on in her cycle before my family's male dog even seemed interested in her, so I started keeping her in her kennel and away from him. Then I'd switch the dogs, ie., put him in and let her out, because I only have one kennel. About 5-6 days after I started noticing that she was going into heat (it was probably a day or so-ish after she started flagging) I went to the kennel and found Rainey in there with the male. I have no clue if they mated or not. Immediately, I got him out. After further investigation, I found out my little sister accidentally let him in. I was not intending for it to happen this way. I could just let it go, but the big problem is that this male dog is her sire. He's around 50 lbs, but overweight. I could wait and see what happens, but if she whelped wouldn't I just have to do away with the puppies anyway? Do any of you have advice for me? I'm not at all interested in giving a mismate shot. Wouldn't care to kill her just to get rid of potential unwanted puppies. Any experience with Ivomec, flax, or anything else, or do you guys think I should just wait it out and deal with the puppies if they come?
I would really appreciate any advice y'all can give me. I'm young and inexperienced and don't exactly have much good advice coming from elsewhere, besides what I can find searching the internet. Thank you.

Too bad that happened , but you aren't the first one to have that happen. I can only suggest you talk to your vet about safe abortion methods.

https://www.bing.com/search?q=inbreedin ... 01&PC=ACTS

Thanks for the advice. Have any of y'all had a litter from a father/daughter or mother/son breeding? Some dog breeders intentionally breed that way. What do you think the chances are that things would be okay if I just let this play out (and then find homes for the pups if there are any)? Of course then, I'd want to let the new owners know the risk and that they might want to spay/neuter.

If you read the link, the chances of a healthy dog aren't great , but it is entirely your decision. Having new owners spay/neuter their pups won't solve future problems as the above link describes. One also has to wonder about the integrity of selling that kind of pup.
Something else to read:

https://thehappypuppysite.com/inbred-dogs/

There are expert breeders (dogs) on this site. Hopefully they will respond with good advice.

Too bad that happened , but you aren't the first one to have that happen. I can only suggest you talk to your vet about safe abortion methods.

My vet should be happy to answer any questions I may have; I've spent $2,600+ at his clinic this year just on this dog. :roll: Kinda funny though. I give him good buisiness

Thanks for the references. Thankfully, this only happened to my mutt and not my setter!

Your dog is a real cutie, but is not breeding material. Get her into the vet and get her spayed right now. She can be spayed while she is pregnant if you do it really early. She will be more fun for you as a pet after she is spayed and you no longer have to worry about keeping her locked away, especially when your other family members aren't careful.

You could let her have the pups and place them as pets and they would probably be OK (meaning normal and not inbred idiots). But it costs a lot of money to raise a litter of pups and there is always a risk of a C-section for Rainy, which can pose a danger.

Another option is a dose of Cabergoline. Terminating pregnancy is off label but it is effective and safe. The drug is a bit on the expensive side but it is safer than the mismate shot. You can't get the drug, you would have to go through your vet.

My choice woud be to have her spayed. No sensiblle reason not to have her spayed It isthe best option for her health if she will not be used for breeding. No reason to have a litter like that. She possibily may not be pregnant but spaying will be a good poption either way.
If it was only 5 or 6 days into her cycle it is highly unlikely that she is pregnant. However it is an excellant time to spay her and solve al issues.
Why the big vet bill previouly........Cj

My choice would be to get the dog spayed. You planned on doing it anyway, this incident just pushes the date up.
Then spay the setter and avoid another mess.

IME keeping intact males and females in the same household requires a lot of diligence and/or a bombproof kennel set-up, especially when there are kids around. It's not worth the stress and upset to the dogs or the people involved to try to manage intact opposite sex dogs that are not breeding stock. It can be really difficult on the males to be around females that are ready, and estrus can have undesirable effects on the girls, like false pregnancies after the heat, increased chance of mammary cancer later in life, and what I call "going stupid" when they just become hormonally deranged and lose their minds for a while.

FWIW, I tried avoiding spaying until the dog was a little bit older and physically mature, not once, but twice. What headaches all around for my family and for my males! After that, I either chose male pups or had the females spayed before their first heat. Those early spayed girl dogs lived long and happy lives with no ill effects at all.

Good luck with this, hopefully it all works out for you.

Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it. That last article was very informative and talked about things I wasn't previously attuned to. Yes, I need to get locks on my kennel! I'm in the School of Hard Knocks, but I think I'm not the only one. I've been learning things by trial and error. Sometimes not so fun. Sometimes things do get humorous though...

by cjhills » Sat Aug 07, 2021 4:36 pm

My choice woud be to have her spayed. No sensiblle reason not to have her spayed It isthe best option for her health if she will not be used for breeding. No reason to have a litter like that. She possibily may not be pregnant but spaying will be a good poption either way.
If it was only 5 or 6 days into her cycle it is highly unlikely that she is pregnant. However it is an excellant time to spay her and solve al issues.
Why the big vet bill previouly........Cj
Top

Cj, the majority of the vet bills came as the result of an expensive mistake. I had no kennel yet but was planning to get one in the future. Waiting is not a good idea. I woke up one morning and my cattle dog was outside all wet and hurting pretty badly. I never found out how it happened. It turned out that her femur was luxated/out of socket. My vet told me he could put it back in place but because of popped blood vessel in the hip socket it would come right back out. She had to have the tip of her femur removed so the hip could form a scar tissue that would act as a false joint for her leg. Of course it would happen with my first dog, and in the first six months I had her, too, lol. I'm glad I have a good vet though! And it's nice when I need something I have his personal cell # so I can text him.

by shags » Sun Aug 08, 2021 4:03 am

My choice would be to get the dog spayed. You planned on doing it anyway, this incident just pushes the date up.
Then spay the setter and avoid another mess.

Actually my Red Setter isn't getting spayed at this point. She's an awesome little puppy, though. All legs, and always on the go following her nose!

P.S. Now I kennel my dogs at night...

Blessed Girl
Thanks for sharing the injury information. Sometimes it is hard to believe the trouble dogs can get into. KInd of like raising kids. we seem to learn to avoid bad situations as we go forward.
Good luck. Thanks for some interesting Dialogue......Cj

Update on Rainey...

It has now been around 2 1/2 months since the breeding accident and she never had puppies. Safe for now. Thanks for all the advice on the subject. Spaying has now become an option. It seems more favorable than hassling with heat cycles and all, but haven't decided yet.

BlessedGirl wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 12, 2021 7:27 pm

Update on Rainey...

It has now been around 2 1/2 months since the breeding accident and she never had puppies. Safe for now. Thanks for all the advice on the subject. Spaying has now become an option. It seems more favorable than hassling with heat cycles and all, but haven't decided yet.

Stop thinking about it and get her spayed.

Dakotazeb wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 13, 2021 11:27 am

BlessedGirl wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 12, 2021 7:27 pm

Update on Rainey...

It has now been around 2 1/2 months since the breeding accident and she never had puppies. Safe for now. Thanks for all the advice on the subject. Spaying has now become an option. It seems more favorable than hassling with heat cycles and all, but haven't decided yet.

Stop thinking about it and get her spayed.

Good advice from Dakotazeb.

Thanks guys.

Dakotazeb wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 13, 2021 11:27 am

BlessedGirl wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 12, 2021 7:27 pm

Update on Rainey...

It has now been around 2 1/2 months since the breeding accident and she never had puppies. Safe for now. Thanks for all the advice on the subject. Spaying has now become an option. It seems more favorable than hassling with heat cycles and all, but haven't decided yet.

Stop thinking about it and get her spayed.

Just a thought... I'm not one who likes to take irreversible action before thinking it through. Especially when it's something that's not an emergency. It just causes too much regret in my experience. (Example: Just because a dog is not spayed doesn't mean it has to be a puppy mill. That happens when you let it happen.)

I recently talked to my vet about possibly spaying, and he recommended if I want to spay her I should wait until she's at least two years old.