# Litter size



## Harley & Dakotas Mum

I overheard a lady today (at the groomer) talking about how she once bred her large dog (can't remember what type sorry, but a LARGE dog, not a Maltese) and she left her to be 'serviced' for 3 days.

She went to collect her, & the owner of the male dog said 'oh, they've been going 'at it' for 3 whole days, you should get a great litter there" .... turned out, this LARGE breed of dog had 14 pups!!! So the lady then believed it was because they 'went at it' for 3 whole days non stop! So, this lady believed that the more times they 'did it' the larger the litter.

This sounded odd to me - but then again, I know less than zero on the whole breeding thing. 

Is this correct? I'm 'humanising' things I know, but I think, well, if you 'do it' once, you can fall - so, ahh, is it different with dogs? If they 'do it' more than once, does it mean more babies?? How can that be??

Am I incredilby dense? I don't mind if anyone says yes! LOL







I did ask!

I feel dumb asking this, but curiosity got the better of me!


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## Ladysmom

From what I understand, there can be multiple breedings/conceptions during one heat cycle. That's why it's possible for puppies within the same litter to have different fathers. I guess that could mean more puppies, but I've never heard that before.

Hopefully some of our breeders know!


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## Jacki

I hadn't heard that mating multiple times within the same heat cycle could result in multiple conceptions until I read Marj's reply here, that's very interesting! But what I have seen is that larger breed dogs just have more puppies -- my a family I know breeds golden retrievers and between 2 females who gave birth around the same time, there were over 25 puppies in their home!!!







Hopefully one of our experts will shed some light on this.


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## HappyB

Last month, there was a pretty involved discussion among a numbr of breeders (many involved with show) about doing multiple sire breedings. This can be done through AKC with the use of DNA being done on all adults and puppies involved. AKC then charges a pretty hefty fee for the registration of the litter from two sires. Some of the points in the discussion was that breeders might have an extremely young or old dog that they did not feel confident of in sperm production, so try with more than one; and the idea that they did not want to breed their female but once, so use two studs to get two different combinations. 
The only experience I've had with anything like this is with my Janey, who came to me from a shelter, pregnant. She was to be put to sleep at the shelter because she was pregnant when turned in to them. I agreed to foster her for the pregnancy and keep the pups until they were eight weeks. Janey is an Irish Setter/Golden Retriever mix. She had seven pups. Some looked like her, some like bulldogs, and some like labs. Let me tell you, that was one funny group of puppies playing around here. I think Janey was quite promiscious. The pups went back to the shelter for adoption at eight weeks, and Janey went to the vet for a spay, as I adopted her.
I know of one Maltese litter where there was a very short breeding--a minute or so, only once--which produced four pups, so it doesn't take a lot to get the numbers.
When the progesterone level in the female reaches a certain point, that is the time of ultimate conception. You also have to take the life span of the eggs and the sperm into consideration.


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## theboyz

HappyB, I just read this post ( as we are new ) and have to say what a wonderful person you are to take Janey in and see her thru her litter. NOT easy! Birthing and taking care of the pups, then adopting Mom. I'm sure you were busy with your own "family" at the time. We need more caring people like you.


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## ladypup

the way i understand it, the number of pups depends on the number of eggs the female produces in the cycle.
it is true that some eggs mature in different times in the same cycle, but the sperm survives at least 3 days in the female's body.
so, you have a greater chance to furtilize all the eggs with two ties, but i doubt more that that will have any effect on the number of puppies.


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## gottagettamaltee

> From what I understand, there can be multiple breedings/conceptions during one heat cycle. That's why it's possible for puppies within the same litter to have different fathers. I guess that could mean more puppies, but I've never heard that before.
> 
> Hopefully some of our breeders know![/B]


i saw a special on multiple births in humans and this is true for them. weird stuff


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## carrie

in larger breeds, it's not unheard of to have 16.









i personally know of one dog that accidentally mated _once_ and had 13 puppies!


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## 2maltese4me

When I was looking into breeding Gracie (opted not to) I found that, this is in fact the case. If they only mate one time, that can lower the number of pups conceived. I've found that 3 days is a standard mating time frame in order to concieve as many as possible. So yes that lady was right.


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## puppymom

I am on an Old English Sheepdog forum that has alot of breeder discussions. There has been discussion about multiple breeding throughout the course of the heat resulting in larger litters. It is also the reason some pups are much smaller as dogs tend to stay pretty close to the 61 day gestation period. A pup that is conceived the first day will most likely be larger than a pup conceived the 3rd.


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## Lily

Wow, that's amazing. I've never heard or even thought of that!


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## Kara

> From what I understand, there can be multiple breedings/conceptions during one heat cycle. That's why it's possible for puppies within the same litter to have different fathers. I guess that could mean more puppies, but I've never heard that before.
> 
> Hopefully some of our breeders know![/B]


It sounds like it could be possible my other dog, a cairne terrier x staffy (i think) had 2 sisters and a brother, Buster and one sister were Staffy cross and the others were just little, and had way different hair. So if they can breed from multiple father in the one pregnancy you would think it could work that way too.


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