mating out of season

Question
We bread our bitch on the 3rd of may. She came off heat 2/3 weeks ago. We have just found them tied in the back garden (2nd june) We are not sure whether or not she was pupped from the 3rd may. Is this normal? They have never mated out of season before.

Answer
Hi Lyn. She may have had what's called a split season. It's where a dog starts heat, stops, then picks it back up at a later time. It happens more than you'd think. That may be what happened here. If not, then it is kind of odd. Did she willingly breed? Dogs won't normally breed when the female is out of season, unless something is going on. A trip to the vet may be in order to figure out what happened. It's be pretty hard to say for sure that she took at either times. You can take her in and get the vet to feel for them. That's all you really can do for now. I'd keep them apart, and take the female in for a check up to see what's going on here. Good luck!