Breeding 
Golden Retrievers

By Gita Surendran

Wow! That’s a tough one. “Breeding Golden Retrievers”!

Well, I’ve been doing just that for over twenty years now, but every time I expect a litter, I am on pins and needles. Each time is like a first time! Honestly!!

I remember the very first time I bred my Golden. This was in the eighties. She was our first Golden and had been winning prizes at Shows because I had entered her when someone, during our morning walk, remarked that she was a good specimen. That was it. I had to see for myself. So off to the Show we went, and came home lugging a lot of cups and salvers! I was hooked! But before long, our Golden was ill. The vet diagnosed it as a ‘pseudo-pregnancy’ that infects the uterus, so he suggested that we let her have pups and maybe the problem would get resolved. The only hitch was our Golden was over four years old. Wasn’t she too old for that, we wondered? After reading up on breeding, suitable ages, etc., we decided to go ahead and try it. The male we found through a friend was a nice looking dog and the owner was keen on a puppy as ‘stud fee’ so all was well and we went ahead. She had nine pups!! They were as cute as cute can be, though bringing up a litter was not easy. The children and all their friends LOVED it. I had to buy several feeding bottles because everyone wanted to feed the pups! Fortunately, we found good homes for all.

The next time we bred the same dog, it was to an import from the US. He was Big and Beautiful and we couldn’t wait to see the results. Well, there was a pup. One pup! And he just walked right into our hearts. With the permission of the owner of the male, we decided to keep him. He turned out to be gorgeous to look at and noble in nature too. But that’s another story…

When we got our first pair of Golden Retrievers from abroad, everybody was excited. The dogs won at every Show they were entered into, and I was flooded with requests for pups. Breeding the two was not a problem. When the litter of six were born, there was joy all around, when, suddenly, without warning, one healthy female just cried and collapsed, limp. She was dead. We were flabbergasted. The vet came and the dead pup was taken for a post-mortem. Soon, one by one, all the pups suffered the same fate. The diagnosis: milk poisoning. Apparently, sometimes, just sometimes, the mother’s milk turns killer. And this is just what happened.

Breeding dogs, any breed, to me, is a gamble. Many times, it works perfectly; many times, thing go wrong drastically. There is no foretelling. You just have to accept it as Mother Nature’s way of doing things.

I have bred many, many litters since that first time. We have had German Shepherds, Labradors, Irish Setters, though of course now it’s only Golden Retrievers. Every litter is a cherished one and the same looking after goes into each.

The main thing all breeders MUST do is to ensure the mother is in good health. By that I mean, she is not too fat or too thin, and she must be vaccinated and de-wormed before she is mated. Don’t mate your bitch to any dog of the same breed, merely because you know the owners of the male or it’s convenient financially. Look out for a dog that suits her physically (they call that “type”,) and temperamentally. Temperaments are inherited too and it makes no sense to mate your bitch to a dog that looks nice but is bad-tempered. Also, read up on the breed. There are so many hereditary diseases that affect our dogs. Some breeds have certain problems. Keeping that in mind, make sure your bitch is OK. It may seem like a lot to do, but, believe me; it’s worth it in the long run.

Make sure there is a quiet, safe place where the mother can deliver her babies. Whelping can happen anytime after the 60th day, though 55 to 68 days are not uncommon. The mother will pant, whine nervously, look anxiously at her hind quarters and go off her food. I find the most definite way of knowing when she is due is when her temperature falls. Ideally, a ‘whelping box’, made of wood and lined with a thick layer of newspapers would do.

The room (if it is indoors) should be warm, never draughty. Some people let their bitch whelp in the garage or outhouse. Wherever it is, make sure it is warm. This means really warm as the pups cannot shiver in the first week or so, so if there is any fall in temperature, they will just get colder and colder and die. Shut any windows and make sure the door is not opened too frequently. Talk gently to the bitch and make sure she is comfortable. Change the newspapers as and when they get dirty. To ensure the mother has plenty of milk, feed her well. She will require 3-4 times her normal feed.Plus multivitamins and calcium. Her food should include plenty of milk, proteins and carbohydrates. Get a vet to check her after delivery. Preferably get the vet home to prevent infections. We leave footwear outside the room and spread a cloth dampened in antiseptic at the door!

All pups are born deaf and blind. By two weeks, they will open their eyes. They feed from mom and grow quite fast. Please, please don’t feed the pups anything else at this stage. Outside feeds are not as nutritious or as hygienic as the bitch’s milk. After about 18 days, introduce the pups to outside food. We use Cerelac in a little bowl. Once the pups learn to lap you can begin feeding them 2 -3 times each day. Make sure they get calcium and multivitamin drops. Introduce new foods one at a time.

We de-worm our pups at 21 days and every third week thereafter. This is done according to the weight of the pup, and is best left to the vet. Do not de-worm and vaccinate at the same time. At 7 weeks, we vaccinate the pups with the first dose of the vaccine against parvo-virus, distemper, hepatitis, etc. We keep them for another 10 days, and they are ready to go to their new homes.