Female Co-own

This only applies to those raising litters for FHF to sell. This is to help make sure that when we advertise our general puppy raising that we are all doing the same general basics. We all know we do things a bit differently, but this will help with the basic protocols. 

Pre breeding
Weight
Fat girls increases the risk of C-section and stillborns drastically. Overweight dams also tend to produce smaller, weaker puppies. 
Skinny girls at breeding can also increases the risk of C-section and stillborns. Underweight dams also tend to produce smaller, weaker puppies and may not be able to gain weight for the puppies or produce enough milk when the time comes.
Try to keep girls at a BCS of 3-5 for breeding with 4 being ideal. 

Exercise
The more exercise the better. What we don't want are any hard impacts or overheating. The better shape they are in pre-breeding and during pregnancy, the easier whelping will be for them. This will decrease the risk of C-sections and make the whelpers life so much easier. Exercise has also been proven to help decrease their stress levels. 

Brucellosis
Negative Brucellosis test before breeding. Most studs will accept a month old clear test, so up to a year. It can take up to a week to get results, so run ASAP once showing any signs of heat. 

Monthly heartworm preventative
I still use heartgard monthly in our pregnant females. This counts as their monthly dewormer to decrease the number of roundworms in the newborns.

Safe foods
Most foods on the market are not considered safe for pregnancy and will effect litter size and health. We feed our girls Pro Plan Sport, Adult, or Puppy. We have fed both Chicken and Salmon flavors with no problems. Lexi has had great luck with Diamond and healthy litter sizes. 

Folic Acid
There are a lot of controversial papers about Folic Acid supplementation in breeding females since overdosing can be hazardous as well. Most balanced foods already have some. We used to supplement all of our females, but have not much more recently since our breeds are considered lower risk and there is some in our food. 
If you choose to supplement, Folic acid should be started 2-3 months before breeding and continue until the birth of the puppies.  We use 200-800 mcg for our dogs once a day depending on size.

Whelping place
Moms need privacy for whelping. Keep people, animals, and distractions minimal. Pick a place they can dig a lot and preferably has a burrow feel for them. My girls always want to be in a kennel. Sometimes I allow them a kennel for digging in and take it away when they start pushing. I like to have a show or music playing to drown out outside noises and distractions.

Pregnancy:

Grooming
We sometimes have to shave the pants for breeding. Otherwise we don't change anything until that last week. Then we trim any long hair on the body. We have had puppies get stuck in mom's hair so we try to trim it short enough that it won't wrap around a puppy. I like short hair on the abdomen bot not shaved smooth or mom will have more issues with puppy nails. ACC groomers love to shave despite me not recommending it. I do sometimes leave the tail or trim it minimally. 

Ultrasound


X-rays
If you want an accurate count, less than 10 days before whelping is best. The closer to whelp the better. 
We stopped doing rads years ago. They help the whelper so much, but not the dogs. There may or may not be dangerous to the babies. They do not allow rads on pregnant women for a reason.  

Dewormers
Dam should be dewormed monthly. Most heartworm supplements will work. I use Heartgard in all of our girls.
Some lines (Epic and Novel) may need Panacur starting in pregnancy due to risks of higher parasite load. 

Give Panacur starting at 40 days of gestation through when pups are 2 weeks old
Dosage of 1 ml per 2.2 pounds (1 kg)
1ml per 4kg bodyweight daily from day 50 of pregnancy continuously to 12 days post-whelping (approximately 25 days).
1cc per 8.8lbs starting at day 40 of pregnancy

Food
Food does not need to increase until third trimester (day 42). Some of my girls with huge litters get really hungry second trimester and they will start eating more. Roary’s litter of 12 she looked 8 weeks along by week 3 so you can tell. I have also had a few girls fool me into thinking they needed more and got pretty chunky.

Morning sickness


Exercise
I try to exercise my girls every day while pregnant to make labor easier and decrease the stillbirths. Keeping them lean and with good stamina makes a huge difference. Around 3 weeks is when the puppies attach to the uterus so I try to limit them some then. It is about the same time they decrease their eating and the gums go paler. I do not let them dock dive at all after 3 weeks and decrease jumping to below elbows, but not all will agree with this. Fat girls increases the risk of C-section and stillborns drastically. Overweight dams also tend to produce smaller, weaker puppies.  

Stress
Decrease stress during pregnancy and puppy rearing! This has been proven to make a huge difference on the temperament of the puppies. If moms are going to whelp new places, make sure they are familiar with that place ahead of time. If they are staying with us, have them spend an occasional weekend here with our family and in the palace so they are comfortable there. 

Whelping:

Whelping Box Supplies:

Flooring-make sure the floor is not too slick. The puppies need good traction. I try to do vet fleece, but some moms dig too much and then we do the foam tiles instead. 

Feeding tubes and syringes
Formula

Stress

Dystocia:

Raising puppies

Weights

​Tube Feeding





Tails/Dews
If docking tails or removing dews, do within the first 7 days. I usually do within
the first 3 days, commonly the day of birth. Always check for rear dews. The tiny ones can be hard to find if you don’t look and feel very closely. These are always removed. I also like to keep track of which puppies have them. 

ENS 
This is done day 3-21. Directions can be found here:
http://www.hokkaido-ken.eu/pdf/ens_program.pdf
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QUhXObz9kt4R8ivX_1_YM8HDYfCVeJPzCzb5LYnNBd8/edit?tab=t.0

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ESI:
Day 3-16
I have a kit at my house, but most household spices make great scents to use. 
There really isn’t any research proving that this helps, but it does look promising so we added it to our protocols in 2023. 
https://puredogtalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Avidog-Early-Scent-Chart-201710110.pdf
https://www.avidog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Avidog-Baby-Noses-Transcript.pdf

Photos:
We do individual pics as soon as they are dry. At least one full body shot from both sides and a front face shot. The next few weeks we just take random cute pics of them to post. Weekly pics from 3-6 weeks and a ton of pics at that point for helping people pick.

Videos. We try to do some cute videos every week of babies but especially the week before picking to help people out. 

Dewormings:
We usually do :
3 weeks: Pyrantel (1 ml/10#) -1 dose
4 and 6 weeks:Toltazuril (1 ml/5#) - 3 days or Albon for a week 
5 weeks: Panancur (1 ml/4#) for 5 days
7 weeks: pyrantel--at clinic
Dam should be on heartgard monthly as soon as she comes in heat to help with roundworms. 
You may see worms in the stool after dewormings. 

Vaccines:
Puppies need to come into the clinic at 7 weeks old for evaluations and first fecal, microchip, and vaccine. We also do BAER testing on our puppies.  If they find something on the Fecal, we retest before going home so we can send a sheet saying they have a negative fecal. 

If high risk for Parvo, the first parvo vaccine should be at 5 weeks old. 

Weaning:
We let moms decide when to wean unless they start weaning before 5 weeks old. Some moms are done feeding fairly early, but still want to be with pups if you put a shirt on to stop babies nursing. Some want nothing to do with the babies at all. Then we let our babysitters step in and raise the babies. Some moms would chase them down the driveway at 8 weeks if we let them. We try to force the weaning at the end-only in overnight after 7 weeks, and shirt on completely last couple days to help them dry up slowly. 
Some moms end up with huge mammary glands if they are weaned too suddenly. This can be pretty painful if you 
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Go Home Bags
We have a huge variety in our go home bags. Let me know if you want to do your own or I can always get supplies.

Bag-We usually get gift bags from Dollar Tree. The have some adorable seasonal and baby ones. 

Toy-We try to use a huge variety of toys with the puppies. I always send 1-3 toys home with each puppy. I usually send the oldest ones home with pups. If there is an amazing pic of the puppy with a specific toy, I try to send that one home with them. I usually use a lot of cheaper toys with the puppies for this reason, but will send home more expensive ones as well if they are at the end of their lifespan. 

Blanket-This is an important part of the bags. We do make some homemade from fleece, but also love the Menards Black Friday Sale blankets. We try to use them in the pens and wash as needed. Preferably they get one sent home that has been in with them the last few days and is still clean. I do get some amazing blankets on clearance occasionally and save those for the co-owns. 

Food-I just send home a day supply of food for those that haven't picked up food yet. I also direct people to TSC if they don't have all their supplies. Last I checked, they carry our food and are cheaper then the pet stores.

Chewie-This really varies pending sales. I like sending home the pressed rawhide chews since I feel like all of my litters love them the most. Unfortunately, they can be hard to get and can get crazy expensive. Sometimes I send home hooves, XL CET chews, or XL greenies. I try to put them in with pups the last few weeks and find some that are started as those are the favorites.

Folder-I don't put much in folders anymore as I am trying to get it all online. Everyone wants these details before pickup. If there is something specific people need to know that is different than the normal, we need to post before picking so people know. Many people have already read the go home page before picking and have already picked up supplies. 

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