I know it has all to do with how many eggs the bitch drops, but do you think it's something that's genetically set. For instance, Grace's mom. While I don't know about her first litter, her second (Grace's) and third both whelped 11 puppies. Grace herself whelped 11 puppies.

I have a friend who's expecting a litter any day. Her first litter was 6 puppies, and her second is supposed to be 6 again (per the xray).

I wonder if we are destined to always have 11 when we breed Grace! LOL I have heard some breeders are only doing 1 tie or 1 AI to keep numbers a bit more managable.

I clearly have little or no knowledge of breeding dogs. But I had asked my breeder how many litters she would have with her bitch and she told me that her first litter had 11 and her second (Lucy's litter) had 11. She said she would only breed her one more time because she has such large litters. So maybe there is something to the idea of you always having litters of 11. Again, I don't know, I'm just throwing it out there.

I also heard that the bigger or smaller the litter the bigger the dog can be. Is that true as well? I was just talking to Lucy's mom about this the other day and I've had it on my mind ever since.

I don't think it's always true Jen. My Piper had 11 and she came from a litter of 10. Her mother typically has larger litters. But with our Abby, she had 4 litters and the numbers were 5, 2, 6 and 1. That's an average of 3.5. She was notorious for her small litters. Thankfully, her daughter isn't following in those footsteps. Emma's first litter was 2 (but extenuating circumstances there; only one tie on the last day of standing heat) and the second was 8. So her average is at 5 right now and I would bet it would be higher if we'd have gotten more/earlier ties the first time around.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the future...with Grace and if I ever breed one of her girls.

I know it has all to do with how many eggs the bitch drops, but do you think it's something that's genetically set. For instance, Grace's mom. While I don't know about her first litter, her second (Grace's) and third both whelped 11 puppies. Grace herself whelped 11 puppies.

I have a friend who's expecting a litter any day. Her first litter was 6 puppies, and her second is supposed to be 6 again (per the xray).

I wonder if we are destined to always have 11 when we breed Grace! LOL I have heard some breeders are only doing 1 tie or 1 AI to keep numbers a bit more managable.

I was told by a vet once that it has to do w/when the bitch is bred (when the levels of progesterone are highest, I believe). There is an optimal window of opportunity, in other words, according to this vet.

I think that's just with fertilization. Granted if you breed at the optimum time, you stand a better chance of getting all the eggs fertilized, but I was more talking about if dams tend to have the same number of babies each time because they tend to drop the same amount of eggs each time.

I think that's just with fertilization. Granted if you breed at the optimum time, you stand a better chance of getting all the eggs fertilized, but I was more talking about if dams tend to have the same number of babies each time because they tend to drop the same amount of eggs each time.


In general I would have to say yes. I have heard many long term breeders saying "good producing lines" or " these lines tend to have smaller litters".

Also true for whelpers. Some lines are known for not being so strong in this department.

Not really applicable in our breed but I do have a friend that Breeds Bostons and for her to have lines that "free whelp" is very imprtant. (compared to those that need c-sections all the time.)