Recently I had somebody ask some interesting questions about my bitches that were in heat and how the dog breeding process occurred. It made me realize that many people have no concept of basic canine reproduction.
Maybe it’s just a consequence of urban living. People don’t get to see animals interacting naturally without human intervention much anymore. Farms are less numerous, rural living where people raise their own food is a dying art. So, “how animals do it” is a big unknown. I decided to give an overview of the activity to give everyone a better understanding.
The Process of Canine Procreation
Breeding Age
Bitches, or female dogs, go into heat a few times a year generally. It can be as frequent as every six months, or as long as every 18 months depending on the breed of dog. Some bitches’ first heat can be as early as six months old. My sheltie bitches’ first heat usually occur at about a year old, the cotons seem to start earlier at around 6-8 months old. How often they cycle can also differ from every 6-8 months.
Dogs, or male of the species, are usually used for breeding when they are over one year old. AKC does not accept litters sired by dogs younger than 7 months old. Dogs usually mature at about eight months old give or take a few months. Their sperm should be viable continuously whenever dog breeding is occurring. Dogs can mate a receptive female multiple times with some reduction in sperm count if mating occurs very frequently.
The Bitch’s Cycle
Bitches, can only get pregnant when they are in heat. The time between heats is utilized to recuperate from the last pregnancy and get ready for the next season. So, for example, if a bitch’s cycle is every 8 months, and she goes into heat January 1, she will breed roughly January 9 through 16, have puppies 9 weeks after ovulation in mid March, nurse them until mid to late April when puppies start getting weaned. She then recuperates from May to September when she goes into heat again to repeat the process.
Bitches’ season can last anywhere from 3 to 4 weeks generally.
- First week, non-receptive to the male.
- Second week, receptive to breeding (called “standing heat”).
- Third week, again nonresponsive to the male again.
When the bitch’s season finally starts, there will be a moderate amount of bleeding. Some bitches are very clean and you won’t notice any blood. Other bitches, you’ll notice small spots of blood on the floor, on her or on your furniture.
Her vulva will enlarge and become soft as well. Any males in the vicinity will become very, very interested in her again sniffing and licking her rear and maybe even attempting to mount her. The bitch is not in ”standing heat” at this point, and she would just as soon rip his face off, as engage in any breeding. She keeps the male at bay. At least that is how my bitches behave.
This continues on for anywhere from a week to two weeks. Generally, standing heat began on about day 9 for the shelties. The cotons seem to get to the breeding time quicker. Obviously every bitch is going to be individual. I have had several that are not receptive until day 15.
As the heat progresses, the bleeding usually lessens and the discharge becomes straw colored in most bitches. Although I have had some that bleed the entire time, though less so.
The bitch will then go into what is called standing heat. She becomes more playful with the male, and eventually will turn her rear towards him, stand steady and flag her tail. Flagging her tail is when she moves the tail to one side to allow the dog to mount her.
Outlier Behavior
Occasionally, though not common, there may be a bitch that just will not breed with a particular male, but will do so freely with another. It is unknown why, and isn’t connected to the familial relationship between the two.
In addition, occasionally there will be a bitch who is not particularly friendly during the breeding regardless of the dog. She may snap and attempt to bite the dog even as he is mounting.
From The Dog’s Perspective
The male, on the other hand is interested all three weeks. Crazy interested in week two.
If you have an intact male in the same environment as the bitch you may notice his interest increases in the bitch a few weeks before she even starts her season. Interest is exhibited by sniffing the rear end, becoming more playful and following the bitch around. Buzz was my “canary in a coal mine”. He was the one that noticed first in my pack of shelties when I was raising them.
The male gets increasingly interested and agitated as the days progress. If unable to get near the female he will whine, cry, bark, pace, and do whatever he can to get to her. This is the only time I see any competition between my males, so sometimes I have to separate them from each other as well as from the female at this point in time.
The Tie
The act of dog breeding involves the male mounting the bitch from the rear and with thrusting motions penetrates the vagina with his penis. Once the penis is fully inserted, the base of the penis enlarges like a bulb, in order to lock the two together.
This is what’s called a tie.
This tie continues for anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes. It is difficult to impossible to separate the two at this point. The old, “throw cold water on them” does nothing to stop the dog breeding. Because the tie continues for a while, the dog will slip off the back of the female swing his rear leg over her back while they’re still connected and end up butt to butt. It allows the male to be able to stand on all four legs for the remainder of the tie.
If the pair is tied and the female sees something of interest, she may just as well decide to start walking towards whatever it is. Dogs being dogs, means they don’t consider the other’s condition or “feelings” at all. The male, has no choice that but to be dragged along. This can cause physical discomfort to both the male and female.
Eventually during the tie, the bulb at the base of the penis shrinks, allowing the male to disengage and walk away. That is the end of the dog breeding process.
After The Breeding
Dogs have no idea what they have done in terms of a resulting litter of pups.
After about a week of standing heat, the female stops being receptive to the male, but the male is still intent on breeding. Once again, the bitch refuses the male, telling him in no uncertain terms she is done with him. My girls will snap at him if he persists. So basically about 2 weeks out of three he is an unwelcomed suitor.
Then suddenly, miraculously a switch is thrown and the dog is instantaneously, no longer interested in the bitch. They go back to being “good buds”. I let out a large and long sigh of gratitude for the returning peace and relative quiet. Separation of dogs no longer needs to occur. Relief.
Canine Reproduction In the Wild
When a bitch goes into heat, any males in the environment will want to breed with her. Once again, dogs are animals, not humans. They cannot establish any moral or ethical concepts. Therefore they are perfectly happy to breed with their own mother, sister, daughter, father, brother, uncle or other relative. What humans would consider incest can happen regularly in the wild. They also don’t care if they are mounting a dog of the same dog breed or not.
So the silliest story that I’d heard about people “rescuing” purebred Golden Retrievers wandering the forests and roads of Turkey, freely breeding in the wild (apparently only with other card carrying purebred Goldens), is a crock. Dogs are either purebred by an owner deliberately selecting for a particular breed or they are mixed breed strays that may vaguely resemble purebred Goldens.
Specific breeds are maintained by careful selection of the male and female, requiring humans to make the decisions on which dog pairs up with which bitch. If that didn’t occur, there would be no breeds just lots of generic mongrels.
How Much Of Canine Reproduction Do Dogs Comprehend?
Dogs do not understand that the act of breeding creates puppies. They do not conceptualize that these puppies may not be healthy if generations of inbreeding occurs. (one or two inbreedings does not an idiot make. Many breeders do occasional and carefully considered inbreedings.) Dogs do not look to the future. They don’t try to find the best mate.
They are opportunists.
If they smell a bitch in heat, they breed.
End of story.
They will breed the same bitch as often as they can during standing heat. That can mean daily or more often.
If there are multiple bitches in heat, they will breed them all.
The bitches in turn, will usually let any male breed with them during the same cycle, so the resulting litter can be from multiple sires.
What you have is a floozie and a gigilo getting it together without any hesitation or regrets. This is the reality of unsupervised dog breeding.
People ask if dogs recognize their family. I don’t know. They may smell something that registers as “known” or familiar but they sure as heck don’t care if there is an opportunity to procreate with any of them.
In the wild, bitches would also breed each and every season, have done so for millennium, and have the physiology to allow them to do so.
Even though a bitch may be in standing heat, receptive to the male by standing and flagging her tail, she still may decide for whatever reason to lash out as the tie occurs. In the wild, the dog would have to put up with this reaction. Which is probably where the idea that someone is “such a bitch” became popular.
Human Intervention In Canine Reproduction
I don’t breed my bitches on the first heat, because I feel that they still have some growing and filling out to do to complete maturing. I will breed them once they are about about one and a half years old which could be at the second or third heat cycles
It used to be common practice to either breed a bitch two heats in a row, and then skip the third heat or breed every other heat. But the newest research is that it is healthier to breed a bitch each and every season. It keeps the uterus active and functional. This may be politically incorrect, but anatomy and physiology, i.e., science, trumps political correctness.
If a breeder has a female that likes to punish the male while the tie occurs, the breeder intervenes at that point by holding on to the bitch’s head to prevent biting.
For a virgin male or female, the breeder also assists with steadying the dogs while mounting occurs to better allow penetration and tie without injury.
Canine Reproduction At A Breeder’s House Is Controlled Chaos
Because dogs and bitches could give a rip WHO is in heat, when owning multiple dogs and bitches in the same home, a game of musical chairs occurs during the 3 to 4 weeks the bitch is in season, to prevent the wrong male from mating with the female in heat. A free-for-all is not in the best interest of any breeder or their dogs.
If the girls are outside in the yard, the boys are indoors.
When the girls come in, the boys are sequestered where they can’t get the girls in the transition.
Then the boys go outside for a while usually separate from each other. That’s because the boys can get testy if competition is nearby, even if the girl isn’t in the immediate vicinity. The drive to procreate is extremely high.
Gates between the various rooms of the house, kennels and crates are a breeder’s best defense during this month of high hormones.
Human intervention in dog breeding is as much to prevent the wrong breeding as it is in allowing a pregnancy to occur.
Considerations When Choosing A Pair
Breeding pairs are determined looking at pedigrees, COI (inbreeding percentages), avoiding breeding two dogs with the same fault whenever possible, planning to breed dogs that complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses in hopes of producing healthy puppies that are better than the parents.
Once the bitch is in standing heat, the dog and bitch are brought together usually every other day over the course of a week (2-3 times) since the exact date of ovulation and fertilization is only approximated based on a variety of tests that can be done.
If a breeder is using an outside stud, the bitch used to be shipped to the dog. This prevents the dog from becoming intimidated by a new environment, losing confidence and failing to breed the girl.
These days it is more common to have semen collected from the dog and shipped either frozen or fresh chilled to the bitch for insemination. The procedure of artificial insemination is then performed. But that is a whole other topic to be covered elsewhere.
If You Own An Intact Female
As far as intact dogs and bitches in the human environment, there are a few things you need to be aware of if you own one.
First, taking a bitch for a walk around the neighborhood while she is in heat at any point, is asking for the neighborhood male dogs to follow that scent home to you and her. Or you will end up having your very own traveling dog breeding show.
If you were to take your bitch who is in standing heat on a walk around the neighborhood, and you come across an intact male, don’t expect to have the time to protect your bitch from that male. While many times there is some foreplay involved, sometimes not. The bitch is ready and the male will simply arrive, mount and penetrate in a matter of seconds. Then you are stuck with two dogs in a tie (literally). It can happen in a flash.
Just keep your girl at home until she is well past her heat. Figure 3 to 4 weeks. Without a male in the household, it can be a guess as to exactly how long. Unless, of course, you want a litter of mongrel pups. Letting the girl out into a fenced in backyard is usually safe and uneventful.
For those who purchase my puppies, they will note a paragraph in the contract that specifies a hefty fine for breeding a bitch that was not purchased with breeding rights. That includes accidental litters as well.
Is Canine Reproduction Rape?
Let me close by saying that dogs (or any animal for that matter) engaging in sex, is a natural and normal phenomena. It is not rape, it is a basic drive of all animals to procreate, including dogs. Their hormones drive them to breed.
Those very uninformed animal rights fanatics, who wish to scream that all breeders rape their dogs is about as absurd as it gets. They will hook onto anything that smacks of negativity to attempt to bring dogs of specific breeds to extinction.
If they feel dog breeding is rape, I would encourage all animal rights fanatics to remain virgin their entire lives, since obviously they feel any engagement in sex is considered rape.
After all, what’s good for the goose….
Canine Pregnancy
After breeding, there is the wait to determine if the bitch is pregnant. It takes 21 days from ovulation for the eggs to migrate to a place in the uterus where they will implant. At that point, relaxin, a canine hormone is produced. It is the presence of this hormone in the blood sample that tells us that she is pregnant. The test is performed about a month after breeding.
At that point the bitch is halfway through her pregnancy. 63 days after ovulation is when puppies are whelped. The circle of life has been completed.