Last September my dog had puppies [Photos!]

LAst september, I bred my 4 year old Boer Boel with a purebred German shepherd with the intent of selling the pups. The whole operation was a success (6 males, 4 females, all cute!), but left my girlfriend and I a little bit crazy for a while there. Amazing what lack of sleep will do to you! But anyway, I would like to share my photos of the puppies, I have quite a few. I would like to leave them in my tinypic albums, as when I post them here, the images get so big they break the format of the forum.

http://tinypic.com/a/2p552/1

This was the most exhausting 10 weeks of my life, but in the end, we kept one of the pups, his name is Morris, and we think he's pretty dang awesome:

10 puppies? That was a lot! Did she have enough milk to feed all of them?

Did the mother dog or puppies give you trouble when you separate them from the mother?

I have never heard of a Boer Boel. What an unusual looking dog. The puppies are very cute.

It must have been stressful for the mother and for you guys keeping 10 puppies fed and out of trouble. I imagine they were pretty big puppies, too.

Wow, that's a lot of furry bundles of joy. That definitely must have been a very exhausting time for you.

I remember one of my students telling me about his two Dalmatian bitches giving birth at the same time. Twelve puppies each. Twenty-four altogether.

In his case, the bitches didn't have enough milk to feed all the puppies fully so he had to supplement their food with bottle feeds. I asked him how he managed to differentiate between all twenty-four Dalmatian puppies. Just imagine all the dots!

He told me that he tied a ribbon to every puppy. In the morning, he would bottle-feed them one by one. When the puppy was full, he removed the ribbon. So he knew which ones were not fed yet. Then in the evening, when he fed them again, he put back the ribbon. so he would know which ones had been fed.

(06-16-2012 02:44 AM)Ram Wrote:  10 puppies? That was a lot! Did she have enough milk to feed all of them?

Did the mother dog or puppies give you trouble when you separate them from the mother?

Yeah she had enough milk, it was no problem. She is also an experienced mother so I am sure that helped. And whenever anyone came to buy one, they would all freak out when one left. All except the mother, lol. She kind of felt like they were annoying or a hassle. Once they were able to eat wet food, she was like "meh."

Boer Boels are indeed an interesting breed..You'd be hard pressed to find this Mastiff offshoot outside of the Netherlands. It's a dutch dog used a lot in animal-herding. They're also excellent pillows.

Oh wow, they look adorable! Congratulations to the huge litter!

So, what do you plan on doing with the puppies? Will you let the mother take care of them until they grow? Or were you planning to give them away for other family members and friends to take care of? Or maybe sell them?

(06-18-2012 11:37 PM)Rphoenix Wrote:  Oh wow, they look adorable! Congratulations to the huge litter!

So, what do you plan on doing with the puppies? Will you let the mother take care of them until they grow? Or were you planning to give them away for other family members and friends to take care of? Or maybe sell them?

Oh, they've been out of my life (THANK GOD) since last december! We let the mom take care of them until they had their teeth, then we weened them and put them on moistened puppy food, then eventually we slowly worked the water out of it, and by month 2.5 they were eating crunchy kibble

In the end, my girlfriend and I sold them for 500 euros per pup. I kept one and one of my very good friends kept another. Also I have one customer on facebook, so I've been keeping up on their growth. I am still very proud of all that work I did to bring 10 little lives into this world! It's such a rewarding experience...If you have the time, space, and patience, I strongly suggest you give it a try!

(06-21-2012 09:13 PM)reydempto Wrote:  Oh, they've been out of my life (THANK GOD) since last december! We let the mom take care of them until they had their teeth, then we weened them and put them on moistened puppy food, then eventually we slowly worked the water out of it, and by month 2.5 they were eating crunchy kibble

In the end, my girlfriend and I sold them for 500 euros per pup. I kept one and one of my very good friends kept another. Also I have one customer on facebook, so I've been keeping up on their growth. I am still very proud of all that work I did to bring 10 little lives into this world! It's such a rewarding experience...If you have the time, space, and patience, I strongly suggest you give it a try!

It's great to hear that they found homes for themselves! I'd personally try it, but I wouldn't be able to handle a whole litter where I currently live. My friends do that though, from time to time they ask around if anyone wants a puppy or a kitten. It's a regular thing for some people I know. And they're all just adorable (they usually come to work with pictures).

They look gorgeous. I'm so pleased it all went well and you found good homes for them. How lovely you can keep up with one on Facebook.

When I was a child my dog had pups, they were just common mixed breed dogs but the whole experience was one that's always stayed with me. It was so exiting. I clearly remember having a book that said if she has too many, take them out and pop them in a warm box next to the mother. That way she won't roll on them. Well my dog had never read the book. Every time I took them out, she patiently took them all back again before giving birth to the next one. LOL.

I've never had any pets that have given birth to a new generation. (With the exception of some wild raccoons I keep feeding and each generation brings their offspring over to be fed.) I would think it would be a very rewarding experience. I've never heard of a Boerboel either. My niece has some kind of Mastiff - huge dog! Anyway, are you thinking of breeding your dog again for more pups in the future?

(06-27-2012 04:16 AM)laurasav Wrote:  I've never had any pets that have given birth to a new generation. (With the exception of some wild raccoons I keep feeding and each generation brings their offspring over to be fed.) I would think it would be a very rewarding experience. I've never heard of a Boerboel either. My niece has some kind of Mastiff - huge dog! Anyway, are you thinking of breeding your dog again for more pups in the future?

Absolutely not. While it was amazing, miracle of birth and all that jazz, it was the most difficult period of my life, having to take care of 10 puppies plus the mother. Freaking nightmare.