The Difficulty of Whelping Predictions

Hi all!   Are you getting as impatient as I am waiting for puppies?  Remember the saying, ' a watched pot never boils'....Consequently, I am trying to go about my life and not hover over Dixie too much:)

So obviously the due date calculations are quite different from last year.  Last year Dixie whelped on Day 59 (a week before the due date)....this year Dixie is still waiting to whelp on Day 66.  


What is the reason for such a difference in whelping dates?  Were last years puppies very young for birth?  Are this years puppies getting too far along?   Actually, the puppies inside Dixie, may be not be any older at their whelping than the puppies were last year.   Because whelping Due Dates are rather imprecise since they are based on first breeding days and not on date of conception.

The difference between this year and last year is that last year we bred Dixie on Day 13 and 15 of her heat.  Whereas this year we bred Dixie on Day 5, 7 and 9 of her heat.  So I do think that we must have bred Dixie very close to ovulation last year, and this year we must have bred her well before ovulation.  Obviously our experience has shown that the breeding is a success, either way.  This is because sperm can live up to a week inside a female.

It is standard practice to attempt a breeding as early as a female will accept the male....but the actual conception of a puppy is still an unknown factor.  So that is why calculating a whelping date based on breeding dates alone, is not a very precise method.

Veterinarians tell us that....

1. ovulation may occur as early as day 5
2. ovulation may occur as late as day 23
3. ovulation may not be consistent during successive season in the same bitch

So anyway, Dixie is now on Day 66 of her pregnancy, with Day 1 being the first day of breeding.  But since ovulation could have been a week or more after that day, the Whelping date Calculator, may be a bit off this year.