Just received a female boxer

Question
My husband and I just received 2 female boxers that are sisters. They are aboout 1.5 years old. One of them just had a litter of 8 puppies, but the sister killed them all. We don't know how, but that is what the previous owner told us. I know that she was too young to have even gotten pregnant. Since she no longer has the puppies, we want to wait to give her time to heal, mentally and physically. We already have a male boxer that we want to breed her with, but how long should we wait before trying her with our male? Also, since we do have the sister that killed the first litter, how do we protect the next litter from the same fate?

Answer
Hi Megan. I would definitely wait until this girl is at least two years old to breed her again. Boxers are slow to mature, and need the extra time. Is it the sister killed the litter, or could it be that something was wrong with them that caused their death, illness, ect.? I would also suggest that you take her in for a check up to be sure that she's healthy, and that she doesn't have herpes or some other problems going on that may have caused the death of the litter. Herpes will usually kill the first litter, and you have to know how to fight it for the other litters to live and thrive. The first litter may have also died because the breeder is inexperienced, and didn't know there was a problem until it was too late. At any rate, this girl needs to be checked out to make sure that everything is ok. If she is bred again, simply keep the sister completely away from mom and babies, even if that means taking her to a friend or relative's house until the puppies are ready to go home. That's all you really can do to protect them. If I can help with anything else, let me know.