Okay, let me start by saying this.....

We have had litters of Labs and Shorthairs before and they have all done well. Have not had a litter for a few years now as our females are waiting at the bridge for us.

I will be breeding my Mal in about a year depending on her cycles. She will be 3 yrs old at that time.
I have had her prelimanary X-rays done and know I need to do another go around.

I am looking for advice on the breed in general as far as pregnancy and attitude, whelping areas and feeding since she is on Raw. I have been reading up and researching on this site.

She is well balanced as far as temperament and she is very good with the GSD pups that I have here now. They have not been loose together but I have introduced them on-lead.

Any book recommendations and/or personal experience is welcome.

I hope I am not seeming way off in left field, I just want to do this correctly, especially with her diet.

I know my breeder feeds raw and fed raw to my pup's mama. Are you wondering specifically about increased nutrition/supplements to accomodate pregnancy?

I wish I could offer something in the experience realm of breeding/whelping, but have none, nada, nothing...(I'm leaving that business to the pros like you!!! )

Thus, I will ask you, do you believe there are differences among *breeds* during pregnancy or do you think the differences are simply in the specific dog/temperment, etc...or is this one of your questions?

 Quote: Michele McAtee

I know my breeder feeds raw and fed raw to my pup's mama. Are you wondering specifically about increased nutrition/supplements to accomodate pregnancy?

Yes, this is what I am looking for, I am trying to get it all straight before she even meets her man....hee hee

 Quote:

I wish I could offer something in the experience realm of breeding/whelping, but have none, nada, nothing...(I'm leaving that business to the pros like you!!!

I may be confident at the work I teach the dogs, but I guess I am a little nervous about a first litter since she is my first Mal.

 Quote:

Thus, I will ask you, do you believe there are differences among *breeds* during pregnancy or do you think the differences are simply in the specific dog/temperment, etc...or is this one of your questions?

I don't know, I guess it is something that crossed my mind for a moment. Which is why I am asking advice. I know that our Lab was a sweetie ALL the time no matter what, but our Shorthair was a force to be reckoned with as far as strangers when her pups were under 4 weeks old.

Cindy (E. Rhodes) would be a great person to ask also, and since she's raised Mals and GSDs she could answer the question about Mal breed specifics, if there are any.

Thanks Sandy,
I have been kind of waiting for her or Ed for that matter to say something. I do not want to bug them with PM's about it.

I am confident that I can care for the litter and my girl, just need some advice on feeding and what not.

The only reason I agreed is because we feel we can bring something to the table with her.
If it does not work then that will be her last litter.

Carol,
A Book that really helped me was "grow your pups with bones"
It talks about before pregnancy feeding during, and when the pups are born to after they leave the dam ect... and also talks about feeding the pups.All raw diet. I absolutely love this book.A very good book to have.Easy to follow..
My litter is now 6 weeks and they are doing well, Orcas' pregnancy was so easy and I did not have to help her at all, she had 6 (5 girls) 1 boy, they eat raw now and can break down bones, they eat green tripe.They look very healthy and are very very busy.Orca (their mom) looks so healthy, everyone that came to look at the pups could not believe how nice she looked.She needs to loose a few LBs BUT as of now the pups are no longer nursing and don't look to nurse.I will tell you this on Raw diet , the pregnancy, the whelping, the weaning process is sooo easy.Let me know if I can be of help
The one thing too that I noticed is that if you use Green tripe do not give it until they are about 6 weeks, it makes them a bit too gassy at an earlier age, but now I just started to give that to them for a few days now in small amounts and they are doing good on it.I add it to the organ meal, every other day or so..

Thank you Angelique, I really appreciate your input. I have the book and just have been too busy to really sit and read it. Looks like I have some reading/highlighting and tagging important pages to do.

The Book is great,I did not follow the weaning menu he gives, but it gives you an idea.I did the same thing you might be doing is flag certain pages to look back on as things progress, it helped.I 'm glad you have it.If you think of any questions you might want to ask, feel free to PM..