I have an acquaintance who breeds labs and Brittanys mostly for hunting but also a lot are family dogs. Everything I know about him is that he’s a great dog guy who “produces” great dogs, I know several folks who have his dog so and they are very happy with them. My daughter wants a puppy and has a deposit in for first choice of his recent litter from chocolate dad and Mom. His dogs produce chocolates and yellows, my daughter wanted a yellow girl. The litter started as one yellow boy, one yellow girl and 5 chocolates, a mix of boys and girls. My daughter was so happy until the 2 yellows died within a week or so. Daughter was crushed and is now trying to decide if she will take choice of the chocolate girls, wait, or get her deposit back (which guy has offered cause he knows me and feels bad). My question is; is it normal to lose 2 pups from a litter? After a few days to a week? And is anything strange about it being the yellows? Thanks!
You’ve come to the right place for advice, I know nothing about this but there are some very knowledgeable people on here.... I do know that from buddy’s litter they lost one and almost lost another (who is now a super healthy 16 week pup) so this is entirely possibly ‘normal’ but I think this was all during birth. I did read on here that one particular lady had a 6mnth pup put down due to joint problems I think, and this was throughout the litter, so obviously you have to be careful. I think the safest bet is patience, patience to perhaps find another breeder/litter if anything else comes to light or you get advice from here? Or it may be that at 8 weeks the rest are perfectly healthy, after vets checks etc. Raise your obvious concerns with the breeder and they should understand. I realise it is difficult when a child is involved and bless them they’ve no idea how important this decision is, it’s life changing and the duty of care for everyone involved is huge, but it has to be the right decision. Good luck with everything!
Hi @iconic1 to allay your understandable fears one would need to know why they passed away. Complications from birth? Genetic defects? Mother rolled on top of them? Mother not producing sufficient milk?
Hi @iconic1 the following paper might be of some interest. https://actavetscand.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1751-0147-49-S1-S2
Hi @Browneyedhandsomebuddy I was surprised at the incidence of death. We must have been reasonable midwives--we lost only one puppy out of twenty one. Fanciful? Yes. I really think the Lab, who is my avatar, was an exceptional mother. The first night she stayed awake all night long making sure all her children were warm and near her. The one we lost was stillborn.
You still need to know why puppies died. If it is genetic, you can loose a pup you bought in days of bringing her home. A friend of mine got a GD about 12 years ago, and I wanted a puppy from the same litter. As my situation changed overnight, I didn't have the time and support to get a puppy that season, so I decided to wait until spring. Her puppy died in the first week after being brought home (from Italy) and the breeder informed her that every single puppy died within a week. It was discovered later they all had a defect in their hearts.
Thanks again. There are several factors leading my daughter to maybe look elsewhere and obviously this is an important one. Not sure if it’s even worth me asking about the circumstances around the deaths, we’ll see.
It is very normal for pups to die, statistically, a great number do for one reason or another. Often pups dying soon after birth, have some birth defect which makes life in the outside world impossible. It's very tough, but that's part of breeding litters. It is unlikely to be anything genetic as far as inherited diseases go, since the diseases we test for - hip dysplacia, elbow dysplasica, eyes, EIC, CNM, SD2 etc - are not going to cause neonatal puppies to die. Instead, it could be a virus - like canine herpes virus - but if the rest of the litter is unaffected, this too is unlikely. Instead, it's probable that something was wrong with these pups which died. It is not going to be related to their colour - that will be coincidental. That doesn't mean anything is wrong with the rest of the litter at all, or that he is a bad breeder. But you do need to trust a breeder and have a solid relationship with them, with no doubts. If you feel that has been jeopardised somehow and the trust lost, then it may be no bad thing to look elsewhere.
