My 3 year old whippet (who is in season) had (unprotected!) sex!!

[Whippetinseason]

My 3 year old whippet went into season when we were on holiday, whilst my son looked after her. I explicitly told him not to let her off the lead, but being a 24 year old lad (who knows it all!), he let her off the lead. She normally has fantastic recall but obviously being in season, she went out of his sight for about 5 minutes and by the time he found her, she had tied with an un-neutered male whippet!!!

Anyway, when she tied with the male, she was on day 11 of her season, so by my understanding, at the most fertile time. My son and the dog's owner had to just wait until they'd finished. The woman gave my son her number and was very apologetic but obviously it was my son's fault - no un-neutered male would miss this chance of course.

Now, the one mildly amusing thing about this is that she chose a beautiful KC registered whippet (like she is!) so at least she has taste (!). What are the chances of that!! I know this as I have been in touch with the owner - her whippet is a stud whippet who breeds lots, so he's proven 😖

This happened 6 days ago. What are the chances she is pregnant and how would I know? I've googled it of course, but it talks about ultrasounds etc.

She doesn't seem any different yet, although her nipples are a bit bigger than normal (this could be my imagination though).

I'm a mixture of fuming with my son as this is going to be bloody hard work and I work full time, but also a bit excited 😬 We had considered breeding her next year anyway, but now is not a good time as we move house next month!

Help!

Even the ones who take back adult dogs that they have bred? I have known at least three who have done that, so I know they exist.

The point I am trying to make is that these animal sanctuaries are full and have waiting lists, and are turning animals away. Are begging for donations to raise funds for the existing animals in their care.

Yet people still breed dogs for money. Selfish idiots.

I would suggest you try a whippet specialist website, or google, or even a book about breeding whippets.

Can't imagine there are many whippet breeders who can help you on MN.

A bitches season lasts somewhere between 21 and 30 days ish.. and it varies from bitch to bitch.

In fact one of the reasons people fuck up is that they think this, that a season lasts a couple of weeks - in fact a couple of weeks takes you to the mid point of the season when a bitch is most receptive, but as this is also when most will stop bleeding, many people think thats it, its over, done...

And revert to letting theirs off lead in the park.

exactly no need to breed at all when 100s are being dumped every week. not to mention the amount that are pts. rescues are seeing every type of breed being surrendered or dumped. its the highest its ever been.

This is an old wives tale. No benefits to NOT spaying.

I get your point, really I do. People didn't do accurate assessments of their chances of being able to WFH forever, and of the impact of owning a dog (cost, time, the headspace you need for training). So when they have to go back to the office, and are hit by the cost of living crisis, and have an untrained 3 year old dogs on their hands, loads of dogs will end up in rescue. That is the situation we're in now.

But the pre-Covid dog population in the UK was about 9 million, and in 2019 about 130,000 dogs ended up in rescue. If we assume that double that number is going into rescue now, that would be 250-300,000 dogs.

If we further assume that the average dog lives about 12 years, and that just that cohort of people of owned dogs pre-Covid will continue to own dogs, they'l' be providing homes for 750,000 dogs a year (9mill divided by 12). So even if every one of the dogs entering rescue is rehomeable (and some won't be), there will still be, in theory, homes for about half a million puppies a year within the UK.

Currently, though, the market for puppies is very slow (I know of a very well-bred puppies still with his breeder), so anyone breeding at the moment is either a) doing it because it is their last chance to breed a bitch whose genetics they are very keen to continue; b) already has a solid list of people looking for one of their dogs; or c) is an idiot hoping to make a quick buck. It's that last group I have a beef with - and no doubt some of them were the same ones breeding random dog to random dog and selling the six puppies for 3 grand each during lockdown and directly after, which is a massive part of the problem hammering the rescue centres now.

Or a sodding VET.

I wonder if the Op will ever return, after all she only stayed around for 40 mins or so after posting the thread.

Maybe she was dashing off having made a vet appointment for later in the afternoon after taking all the advice on here...

Totally get that, I think some people choose to neuter for good reasons, and that's fine. I was just making the point that some people choose not to neuter for good reasons as well. It doesn't necessarily mean they are irresponsible or intending to breed, neither of my dogs will ever be bred from, and I did a lot of weighing up the pros and cons before I decided not to neuter. For me and the types of dogs I own, and the studies I've been able to find, the health and temperamental benefits of not neutering do appear to outweigh the health and temperamental benefits of neutering. In some European countries such as Sweden, routine neutering without a specific health concern is legally banned. I guess I'm just keen to point out that it's not a no brainer that all good dog owners neuter.

I think Sweden have lifted that ban - Also though Sweden and other countries have vey strict laws on dog ownership and nurturing ban was brought in as there are very few stray dogs roaming around. This is in part because of a long history of responsible pet ownership and a robust social structure that discourages the abandonment of animals. Sweden in fact actually takes in a lot of rescues especially greyhounds whippets and lurcher breeds from UK and Irish rescues every week. IN Sweden by law a dog must be walked every day. Other European countries have strict rules aswell such as Germany - You have to register that you are a dog owner within two weeks of getting it and by appointment. It is ileagal to leave your dog for more than 5 hours and this is checked regularly, dogs must be walked twice a day. Breeding is strictly regulated. The problem is here yes there are certain laws but they are not followed through correctly, there is no repercussions really for anyone that breaks them . Any one can breed what ever they want and then rescues shelters etc are left pick up the problems. to stop that part you need to go to the source and stop the breeding, hence neutering comes into play. We need to follow the process the likes of Sweden and Germany have in place

Totally agree that dog ownership overall, and breeding in particular, needs much better regulation in the UK. Probably animal welfare in general. I think the UK tends to take either knee jerk reactions or look at things in isolation (BSL being an example of that in my opinion)

Yeah because that’s what we need, more dogs.

dog ownership and breeding needs to be more tightly regulated, more expensive and more inconvenient than it is currently. There should be mandatory training classes, checks that people can provide what a dog needs etc before being allowed to have one. This would hopefully weed the majority of knob head owners out and leave the responsible owners

An old thread, but just seen it... I also agree, what are the chances of a Whippet stud dog meeting OP's in season Whippet?

When they are in season 'proper' they will allow any breed to mate with them - they aren't fussy!

I have a KC Whippet who was spayed after her first season.

She detested being ''sex pestered'' for the days running up to her season.

It meant keeping her very restricted for 5 days- only going out in the garden or on lead walks in the evening where she was unlikely to meet any off lead dogs.

Pic..Recovering after being spayed..Still woozy after anaesthesia.

Happy at vets for checkup a few days later.. Spaying - our vet spays all her own dogs {rescues}.

Actually...It can happen! I was walking my ''just about to come into season'' Whippet, and met this lovely male- but they just had a nose sniff- no bottoms! and no hanky panky! {she was spayed after her first season}