I have a female due to whelp in a few days. The person we had bought her from now seems to us to be a bit shady (ok more than a bit) We had somewhat of a falling out after finding out how badly he took advantage of us and others-but he has bred a lot of dogs. Anyways- this is only our 3rd litter but first litter for this bitch. This person knows that this bitch is getting ready to whelp and stopped by to tell me that I needed to have him come to see her a few days before she whelps so he can see how she is acting to determine if she will kill her pups or not since we bred 2 very high prey drive dogs. It sounded a bit absurd to me- and I don't trust the guy,but I can't say it hasn't sat in the back of my mind. (This guy we heard has been known to have dogs killed- he was furious when he found out we bred her to a stud other than his-which is why I don't want him near any of my dogs)Anyways- is there any reason I should have any concern for this- I mean this female has a good head on her shoulders- the only thing I don't understand about her is her fear of the indoors- she hates to be inside. It took me weeks to get her to come in my office willingly- i just left the door open from our garage to our office and set her ball in the hallway so eventually she would come in on her own-but other places she would just rather not go in.

I admit to not knowing a lot about breeding and temperaments of dogs, however it seems to me if dogs with high prey drive killed their pups, we wouldn't have any dogs left with high prey drive, would we? Prey drive and maternal instinct are two entirely different "animals" and I doubt one indicates anything about the other, however, I know folks with far more knowledge of this subject will chime in.

You already know the guy is shady, willing to take advantage of people and annoyed that you didn't get his blessing on the breeding... In MHO, he is just trying to regain control of the situation. I wouldn't let the cretin in my home or near my dogs.

I agree with Barbara but would add to keep your pups under
(house arrest) if you know what I mean. Guy sounds like a
creep, don't let him near your place. Good luck with your
soon to be new litter.
Betty Reavis

Why did you breed a fearful dog?

 Quote: tara cook

I needed to have him come to see her a few days before she whelps so he can see how she is acting to determine if she will kill her pups or not

How exactly would he determine this? And if he does decide she will "kill her pups" what exactly is he going to do about it... kill them first? (probably he would suggest this, so that the other stud's pups don't survive).

I also don't think fearful dogs should be bred. There are enough nervy dogs in this world. Please consider not breeding her again. (Yes, fear can be genetic).

Thanks so much for all of your replies. She is not a fearful dog- she is actually a very confident dog. I have seen fearful dogs. She is comfortable in every other way-kids,people-inclduing strangers,traveling,etc. She had never been indoors before and we got her at 4 years old. She had never walked on indoor flooring before,she seems comfortable walking on carpet and on the garage concrete floor. Once she is in for about 2-3 minutes she is fine she is just leary about stepping inside at first. I did do my research and got with the breed surveyor who has evaluated her to be bred,and to be mated with who she was mated with. We want to improve the breeding, not just make a buck or have puppies everywhere. I just didn't want any misunderstandings- I do care.

That's good to hear. I've got a bunch of nervy rescues myself, so one of my pet peeves is hearing of someone intentionally breeding them. Good to know that is not the case with your girl.

In my opinion it is none of her previous owner's business. You bought and paid for her and that is the end of his relationship with her. Is he her breeder? (Sometimes breeders like to know about where their dogs end up and how their pups turn out etc, so that is why I ask).

You can't tell in print, but I was conveying sarcasm when I said "how exactly is he going to determine that she is going to eat her pups". Maybe he thinks he can tell the future. I don't trust this guy either.

Has she been bred before? Did she attack her puppies then?

I have known of mothers to attack their young, though I don't think it's related to prey drive. If she doesn't have a history of it, well - I'm not a breeder, but plenty of people breed high-prey drive dogs and they don't kill their young.

If it helps, I talked to a breeder of working line (though I think they mostly produce sport dogs) GSDs when I was looking at adopting my puppy b/c I have a female with high prey drive and I was concerned about whether it would be safe to bring a puppy into the house. They told me that a dog would have to be 'off' (basically mentally ill I guess) to attack puppies, that a normal dog is easily able to make the distinction between puppies and prey. My girl was fine with the puppy.

I agree, that is why when this person said that to me i gave them the craziest look- I do everything to keep my dogs excersized,healthy and comfortable in their setting. If I even thought she would do this I wouldn't even breed her- I would have had her spayed. I actually think by watching her she will be a great mommy- one pup that we kept out of our last litter is her best bud-they have played together since the pup was about 3 months old- she knows when to play and knows when not to and is so loving towards her. I was planning on trusting my instinct anyways, I just wanted to get some responses to ease my mind. I will let everyone know how the pups are when they get here!

OMG. Just because a dog does not like a specific situation does not mean it's genetically fearful.

The dog doesn't like coming inside in a way that says she's been trained not to. Mia was like that. She had not been allowed in the house previously, and if she went in, she got her @$$ kicked. Thus, she didn't want to come in. Genetically fearful? Or smart enough to know how to prevent a beating?

Tara, he sounds a bit odd, to say the least.