pregnancy problem

Question
hi,
i own a 2yr old beegle/blue tick mix and this is her second pregnancy. The first one went with no difficulty, but this time she is haveing problems with her milk production, she is less than a week till her due date and she has yet to produce a drop of milk. All of her nipples are swollen and sore. Do you have any idea what would cause this and what to do about it??  Hope you can help!
Thank you
Carli

Answer
Its not unusual for milk let down to be delayed, however the fact that the nipples are swollen and sore worries me as this suggests she may have developed mastitis.  I would take her along to the vet to be sure as if this is the case she will need treatment and there may be implications for raising the puppies.
2 years old is really much too young to be on her second pregnancy, a dog should not be bred for the first time until they are two years old as the necessary health tests cannot be performed until after they are two - and no dog should be bred without them.  It also puts a lot of strain on a growing dog to have puppies - and she will have still been growing when she had her last litter.  Problems are almost inevitable when a dog is overbred and bred too young like this.