Due Dates
So how do you decide when the puppies are due?
The gestation time for puppies is 63 days or 9 weeks. But it's not that easy if you don't know the exact day the puppies were conceived.
In her fantastic book The Whelping and Rearing of Puppies, author Muriel P. Lee says that you can calculate the due date(s) by counting 58 days after the first breeding and 63 days after the last breeding. This "formula" works well if the breedings were all natural and both dogs were "willing participants.
But in the case of Kelly and Rapper, becuase we were so anxious to have this work, Ken was doing artificial inseminations almost from the day Kelly got to Oregon until it was clear she was out of season, a span of 8 days, making her possible due dates from October 13 thru October 25!!
In my personal experience, the girls I have bred in the past (all the same lineage) have always whelped 59 - 61 days from the LAST breeding they were willing to participate in, or about 63 days from what appeared to be the most breedable part of their season.
Kelly is of different lineage, so I hesitate to make definite statements about when she is due, but given what I've experienced before, and given what Ken told me abut Kelly's willingness to be bred, and Rapper's interest level, my guess is that her actual span of due dates is probably October 16 - October 25.
My personal "target date" based on what I've seen before is October 21st or 22nd.
Anyone care to place bets on a different date???
The gestation time for puppies is 63 days or 9 weeks. But it's not that easy if you don't know the exact day the puppies were conceived.
In her fantastic book The Whelping and Rearing of Puppies, author Muriel P. Lee says that you can calculate the due date(s) by counting 58 days after the first breeding and 63 days after the last breeding. This "formula" works well if the breedings were all natural and both dogs were "willing participants.
But in the case of Kelly and Rapper, becuase we were so anxious to have this work, Ken was doing artificial inseminations almost from the day Kelly got to Oregon until it was clear she was out of season, a span of 8 days, making her possible due dates from October 13 thru October 25!!
In my personal experience, the girls I have bred in the past (all the same lineage) have always whelped 59 - 61 days from the LAST breeding they were willing to participate in, or about 63 days from what appeared to be the most breedable part of their season.
Kelly is of different lineage, so I hesitate to make definite statements about when she is due, but given what I've experienced before, and given what Ken told me abut Kelly's willingness to be bred, and Rapper's interest level, my guess is that her actual span of due dates is probably October 16 - October 25.
My personal "target date" based on what I've seen before is October 21st or 22nd.
Anyone care to place bets on a different date???
posted by Anne at 6:41 AM
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