May 23, 2011

My female just had a C-Section and killed her puppies. Do you think it was because of the C-Section?

Full Question:
Hi Ed,

I have just come across your great and informative website. I have a question that I have asked many GSD helplines but never really got the answer. I own 2 German Shepherds that I bred last year both at 3 years old. My bitch was contracting for several hours and ended up a C- section. We brought her home with 10 huge healthy pups . I put the pups on the bitch every 2 or so hours as she did not seem to know what to do with them . After 18 hours and several feeds she seemed to be accepting them eg licking and cleaning them . I put my bitch in another room so I could get two hours sleep, she obviously heard them cry and managed to flip the door handle, removed them from thier warming box and killed them all .I now realise I should not have left her or called in a friend to help. Do you think she may have panicked not knowing what to do with them or the C- section ,or that she has a screw loose . I have since had her spayed ,do you think she would have done it again ? .This is a very hard lesson I have learnt from, that is to leave it to the experts.

Donna
Great Britain
Cindy
Cindy Cindy's Answer:
You jumped the gun on the “C” section. I would have waited longer – much longer.

It can be difficult to have a “C” section and then have the female figure out the pups are hers. Especially when it’s the females first litter. What I would recommend is to keep some placentas and when the pups are home rub them on the pups so the bitch gets more of her own scent on the pups.

I think it was also a mistake to not put the pups on the female full time – it was probably a mistake to stress them and take her away from the litter like you did.

With this said – I give you a lot of credit because you probably did the right thing in spaying the female. Any dog that kills her own pups should not be bred.

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Expert Dog Trainer Cindy Rhodes
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