Should we let our beautiful lab have puppies?

[SmiledWithTheRisingSun]

I know it would be SUPER hard work. But I really live the idea of letting yer have a litter & the kids are desperate to have pups. Then at the same time the grown up sensible side of me says it would just mean shovelling poo for 12 weeks & no sleep.... can anyone share their experiences of doing this? What are the pros & cons? 🐾

If it’s a pet and the puppies would be going to pet homes it’s probably more trouble than it’s worth. On the other hand if it’s worked, lived outside, and is known locally to be decent, and the puppies would be going to shooting homes it may be very much more straightforward.

Our last two have come from litters that had reserve lists twice as long as the number of puppies. But deposits were taken before the bitch went to the stud, and no non shooting homes would be acceptable. The chap who sold both has never had a puppy come back that has gone to a working home, his wife sells pet breeds and budgets on a third coming back.

I wouldn’t worry about health scoring etc on a bitch if her close relatives were scored and the stud has good scores, our chap has no trouble shifting workers from an unscored bitch (she produced 40 puppies over three litters and is now done with breeding) the pet market is a bit different though.

In short if you can get 20 firm commitments to buy and 8 deposits, and already keep outside in a kennel/run suitable for whelping go for it. Otherwise I wouldn’t bother.

I wouldn’t. For many of the reasons here. You could lose not just the puppies but also your bitch.
You have to know what you’re doing. The health tests. Getting the bitch safely through pregnancy and whelping.
And I agree that if your breeder was really good then your bitch would have endorsements that mean you can’t breed and KC reg without the permission of the breeder.
I have a lovely bitch I adore. I know she would not benefit from having a litter and I don’t have the knowledge to support her through it and ensure healthy puppies. Then give lifelong support to the owners. So I won’t.

I should probably add for context once our current dog has had at least a seasons trialing we will make a decision over wether she is of a standard suitable to breed from. It probably won’t be till 3 years old or possibly a little later that the call is made.

It probably won’t be till 3 years old or possibly a little later that the call is made.
IME (admittedly not vast) trialling bitches seem to have first litters at three or four, almost never younger and sometimes a bit older (5).

@TimeWastingButFun yes I can't imagine letting them all go!
I am really not tied to the idea. Just wondering about people's experiences. It would be a couple of years off for us anyway, if we were to go ahead.
Seemingly some very strong opinions on here

Good advice re: talking to her breeder @SlothMama thanks will give her a call.

And thanks for sharing your experience again @icedaisy it has really given me lots to think about 👍

@PollyPolson I couldn't help myself

Do you really think there’s a need? Aren’t there enough Labrador puppies?

A dog I help look after died while having puppies and all the puppies died after. No

No

Get her spayed.

There are too many unwanted dogs in shelters needing a home.

Trying to profit from people's snobbery over pure breeds is iniquitous.

Seemingly some very strong opinions on here

No - some very sound opinions on here from people who feel very strongly about animal welfare.

There's nothing at all wrong with strong opinions if there are good reasons for them, is there?

Its worth noting lots of breeders ask you dont breed without permission(good ones should anyway)

The rescue i work with gets a lot of pregnant dogs handed in because pregnancy care can be really expensive. They get a lot of dogs where owners were relying on selling puppies but hadnt got the cash for a c-section prior. Sadly our vets recently had two dogs in labour die, one because the owners didnt know what they were looking for so hadnt realised things were going wrong and the second because they were holding out because they feared the vet bill.

I would recommend you set aside several thousand pounds prior in case of this (also in case puppies need support) and that you have someone experienced there for the birth as like with people, its not always easy to know when support might be needed.

The rescue also gets a lot of teeny pups were the owners weren't able to cover vet bills, monitor feeding or hand feed. We tend to have an idealistic view that they will just get on with it but its not the case a lot of the time. Its not all disney

A bit like watching sheep lamb etc, its a wonderful experience for kids but theres a real possibility that it could end with their adult dog being unwell, or a good likely hood that pups fail to thrive, or possibily die. The kids would need to be prepared for that also.

What a load of pseudo speculative tosh. You are going to do it, but pretend to be mulling it over.

All you seem to see are cute little puppies. Probably also pound signs given the fact that COVID has artificially inflated puppy prices which is abhorrent

No wonder there are so many unwanted dogs in shelters whether there are owners who are like this.

It’s also an insult to breeders who devote their lives to something you are so casual about

Your poor dog. Did the breeder you bought her from know this was a possibility?

My DMs dog (lab) had a litter.
4 of the 6 puppies died/were stillborn and the bitch nearly died too because of complications of the birth.
Dm was left with a massive vet bill.
We kept the 2 puppies because we couldn't bear to sell them.
The bitch dogs personality completely changed, it ruined her.
The money was fine, it was only about £3k (this was 20 years ago) but 'losing' our lovely family dog because she changed so much was heartbreaking & the trauma of the whole event, we all still talk about it and regret the whole thing.

Don't be ridiculous, this is such a silly idea. She is a family pet, be responsible and get her spayed.

"Apparently it's good for bitches to have a litter - reduces chances of them getting hormone related cancer."

Neutering will also do that... but then you won't get cute puppies so never mind.

Don’t do this.

You have a fantasy image of your dog having an easy pregnancy and birth and then having a litter of perfectly healthy puppies. How would your children feel if your dog died giving birth or if there was a dead or deformed puppy born?

It's 8 weeks of chaos, poo and pee everywhere and everything up to 40cm from the ground chewed to bits. They're cute for about 10 minutes a day. From my experience with puppies (a family member bought a dog who turned out to be pregnant) the mum couldn't wait to get away from them either, she was miserable.

I really wouldn't breed her. It's expensive, time consuming, messy and risky for the bitch. There's no shortage of labrador puppies and I suspect a lot of young dogs/ pups will be looking for homes after lockdown. Labrador puppies have a habit of getting rehomed for £50 on gumtree after 4 months at the best of times, about the time they start getting big and boisterous. As far as I'm aware you also need a license to sell puppies if you're in England, unsure of the rules elsewhere.