Breeding my girl

Question
Hello
My female came into heat.
What day should she be bred to conceive?
When will she have pups?
How long to weaning the pups from her?
How do I care for her during having pups and feeding them?
How do I dry her up?

Answer
Hi, a dog's heat cycle breaks done into 3 segments basically.  The 1st 7-10 days, they tend to bleed heavier and will not accept a male, the 2nd 7-10 day segment their vulva will swell and they will be willing to accept a male.  The last segment also will last approx. 7-10 days and they will be going out of heat and not accept a male.  If she has never been bred before but shows a lot of interest in the male, you may have to hold her up to get them bred as a lot of new females won't accept the weight of the male on them the first time.  By no means should you force them to breed.  If she really freaks about you holding her up, and the male being on her, just let her go.  You can go to the vet and get a smear done on the female to see how far along she is in the heat cycle so you can better estimate when the male should be with her.  I normally have them breed three times, basically once a day every other day.  Again, the smear will tell you exactly when you should breed.  It takes approx. 63 days for them to have puppies.  Mark your calendar from the first day you breed, and the last day you breed.  Anytime inbetween there she could have the pups.  2wks before she is due you need to setup a whelping box for her to have the puppies in.  You want her to start sleeping in it and setting up a nest in it.  When she starts labor, she will circle a lot, lick herself and strain to have the puppies.  If it looks like she is having a lot of difficulty or there is a lot of time between puppies being born, then you do want to get her into a vet right away.  You can get an x-ray right before she is due  to try and count how many puppies are in her so you get an idea of how many she should be having.  Puppies will nurse up until about 6 weeks old.  You can start introducing puppy food soaked with warm water 3 times a day to the puppies when they reach about 3-4 weeks old.  Still let mom nurse them, but start taking her away for longer periods of time (especially when you feed them) so that she can start to dry up a bit and also force them to wean.  You should worm the puppies for roundworms around 5 weeks and start their vaccination series around 6 weeks.  You will need to worm them again at 7 weeks to kill the larvae left behind that would have hatched after the last worming.  Vaccinations should be given 3 weeks apart and rabies given at 4 months.  Hope this helps,

Dawn