Mating

[Abby]

We have a female Great Dane who is in heat & I would like to know what is the best time to mate her?

[Carol]

10 to 12 days after you see blood.

[LizK]

Abbey,
Since you are asking this question while your female is actually in season - and it should have
been something you already knew long before you ever decided to breed, I get the feeling that
there are other things you probably don't know - but should, before attempting to breed.
Why not take a look in THE ARCHIVES at the top of this page and then go to Whelping and breeding.
Read everything in the posts there and make sure that before you breed another litter to add
to the already thousands of litters too many in the breed right now, that every single thing suggested
there has already be done and/or learned.
If there is anything listed in what you read there that you have not attended to or already have in
place, then I strongly suggest you wait until you really know what you are doing before setting yourself
up as a breeder. Anyone who breeds has the responsibility to the breed and to those who buy
from them to be able to mentor the new owners and be able to answer any questions that should
arise in the life of that pup. Since you have asked this question, I get the feeling your puppy
buyers will not have the benefit of a mentor who is as experienced as she should be. And that
does the breed no good, and certainly not the buyer.
I hope you take this in the spirit in which it it meant. There is absolutely no room for breeders
who don't know what they are doing these days when our rescues are full to overflowing. A Dane was
this week put to sleep in a local shelter because every single rescue is full. Think very carefully about
that which you are planning. Better to wait until you are fully educated before maybe adding to an already
dreadful problem.
Liz

[KF]

Excellent post LizK. When to "mate" a beech is one of the most basic pieces of knowledge a breeder should have. I, too, hope that Abby sees your post in the light in which it was intended to shed. Breeding is certainly not an easy journey... for the pocketbook, nor for the heart.

Just a soapbox thingy, but this breed needs more breeders that are willing to discriminate as to what they breed - objectively and sometimes harshly scrutinizing their breeding dogs according to the breed standard, health, temperament, etc., and never compromise no matter how glamorous or appealing breeding appears. My guess we'd have very few litters per year if more breeders would j

[LizK]

Thank you KF.
It's messages like this that want to make me scream, since the answer to that particular question would have
been in every single book anyone would have read regarding breeding and whelping. Can you imagine
what someone so uninformed will do when she is faced with a litter of breech puppies or several which
appear dead at birth, or a beech who decides to eat her own puppies? Or if her beech should die?
I suppose in a way I get annoyed because I remember how terribly difficult it was to learn all the
necessary things about dogs and breeding when I was young. How we sent away for books which
took forever to arrive. How we wrote thousands of letters asking for info and advice. How we kept
files and files of pedigrees. And don't even ask how we went to dog shows, BY TRAIN with all our
stuff and all the dogs! Learning what we needed to know was terribly difficult and took much time and
effort. And these days everyone has such a huge amount of info available to them if they want
to learn, that there really is no excuse not to be well armed with knowledge going into such a
venture as breeding.
Some have said to me that they don't need to learn all that because they are only going to have
one litter and they are not going to be "breeders". Well if you have one litter you are indeed a breeder
like it or not. And with that goes ALL the responsibility that any breeder has - well known or not.
Those who jump in unprepared, do the breed and their dog a great disservice.
If everyone who intends to breed were required to do a year in rescue first - there would be no need
for rescue at the end of the year. I guarantee it.