Health tests & Breeding

High standard gundogs

What we are trying to achieve is Healthy, well built, handsome, athletic, bidable, trainable, enthusiastic hard hunting dogs with health tests and pedigree second to none.

Pedigree

Labradors

When breeding our dogs we look to keep the co-efficiency scores below 10 this can be carried out by entering a stud dog and bitches names on the Kennel Club website co-efficiency page Here – Inbreeding coefficient calculator | The Kennel Club

Health checked

All Sussexsharp gun dogs go though vigorous health tests including hips & elbows scoring, DNA testing and yearly eye tests.

Look at our quality dogs to see there results.

Breeding

When breeding your bitch you should have her hips and elbows scored by the British Veterinary Association. This can be done though your vet or ideally a specialist X-ray centre such as Southern Canine Imaging who's details we have listed below.

https://southerncanineimaging.com/

01329 230052

Hip Dysplasia

Hips are scored from Zero upwards, Zero being the best score achievable. Each hip is scored individually 0/0 being the best.

Elbow Dysplasia

Again these are scored individually only 0/0 bitches should be used for breeding as any other score shows an injury or genetic fault.

Eye testing

DNA testing and yearly eye examinations with a qualified veterinary eye specialist such as Optivet referrals

website - www.optivet.com

telephone - 01243 888091.

Eye tests are invaluable preventing the breeding of dogs that go blind and have hereditary cataracts.

DNA genetic testing

All dogs should be tested for DNA genetic faults This will ensure the progeny you breed will be clear of all genetic faults such as EIC (exercise induced collapse),PRA progressive retinal atrophy ,CNM centronuclear myopathy, Dwarfism, and OSD oculo-skeletal dysplasia. You can get your bitch tested by Laboklin, who will send you a swab test kit.

Ideally you want all these results to be clear, however so that we do not reduce the gene pool too drastically. You can breed from a dog that has tested as a carrier. But if you do this you should only breed with a clear tested dog, All Sussexsharp dogs are tested on all seven health tests.

Laboklin Website-

https://www.laboklin.co.uk/laboklin/showGeneticTest.jsp?testID=8710

Kennel club co-efficiency -

https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/search/inbreeding-co-efficient/

All testing should be carried out to ensure the best outlook for your puppies. Eradicating health issues, costly veterinary procedures, unnecessary suffering and heart ache for both the dog and owner.

All Sussexsharp dogs are tested on all seven health tests.

Progesterone testing

We recommend that all bitches are progesterone tested prior to mating.

If you have your bitch progesterone tested prior to mating but she doesn't become pregnant, we will offer a free second mating.

Ovulation can take place any time between 9 and 28 days of her season, so progesterone testing should ideally be carried out around day 9 to give an indication of where she is in her ovulation cycle.

Maiden bitches can be nervous and may show signs of aggression, especially if they are not at the correct stage in their cycle.

Progesterone testing benefits

- Higher success rate of pregnancy

- Larger litter size

- Frightened bitches sometimes don't take

- saving time and money on wasted visits

- less stress for your bitch making them more receptive

You will need to contact your vet prior to your bitch coming into season. They will arrange to take blood to be sent to a progesterone testing laboratory or use an inhouse machine.

progesterone test results

Test results are given in two different scales NMOL/L and NG/ML.

Trusted vets for progesterone testing in Sussex -

https://www.hawthornvets.co.uk/services/progesterone-blood-testing-for-dogs

Progesterone levels

< 3 nmol/L < 1 ng/mL

3–6 nmol/L 1–2 ng/mL

6–16 nmol/L 2–5 ng/mL

16–25 nmol/L 5–8 ng/mL

25–48 nmol/L 8–15 ng/mL

48–64+ nmol/L 15–20+ ng/mL

What It Usually Indicates

Early Proestrus — too early

Rising levels — still early

Approaching ovulation

Ovulation typically occurs

Post-ovulation — fertile window starting

Full fertile period — peak fertility

What to Do

Wait and retest in 2–3 days

Retest in 1–2 days

Retest within 24 hours

Plan mating in 2–3 days

Ideal time to mate

Mate now if not already done

Caring for your

Pregnant bitch & Puppies

Scanning

On day 30 from the first mating, it is recommended that you have your bitch scanned, to ascertain how many puppies she is carrying. If you are local to the Worthing area, I can recommend an experienced specialist.

Worming

On day 40, it is recommended that you worm your bitch using Panacur puppy 10% 1mil per 5kg of dog weight. This should be carried out as per the data sheet supplied with the product - this will give your puppies the best start. I would recommend increasing the amount of food by 30%, you will notice your bitch drinking a lot more water which is a good indication that she is pregnant if you have not had her scanned.

Preparation for whelping

Two days prior to her whelping date (64 days after mating), I would recommend giving your bitch a thorough shampoo with a washing up liquid followed by Hibiscrub, which is an antimicrobial preparation.

I would recommend you have the following items set up and in your possession;

Whelping box (minimum size 900mm x 900mm with pig rails)
Vet bed (sized for the whelping box) x 3
Baby/puppy cam
Heat lamp
Puppy Stim (you may need to administer this to puppies who are initially struggling to suckle)
Clean, round ended scissors (to cut the cord)
Set of scales (to weigh the puppies)
Pen and paper (to record colour/sex/weight/time)
Clock
Warm clean towels
Hot water bottle
Surgical gloves
Helper
Veterinary number

When your bitch shows signs of restlessness, digging and panting, move her to the whelping box. Boil a kettle, fill your hot water bottle and put on a cover that is comfortable and fluffy. Be prepared for when she delivers her puppies. In some cases, you may need to pull the puppy from the umbilical sack - use your fingers to do this ideally wearing surgical gloves and cut the cord if necessary. If a puppy is not breathing you must rub the puppy vigorously with a hot towel. This can take as long as twenty minutes to get the puppy going, persistence is key. When the puppy starts breathing, latch it on to one of the bitch’s nipples so that it can suckle and get that all important colostrum. And then get ready for the next puppy.

Sometimes, especially if she is a maiden bitch, she may be quite alarmed at the whole process. Keep her calm in a quiet, warm and familiar environment. The room needs to be heated to at least 21 degrees.

When your bitch is about to deliver another puppy, she may jump up and start spinning around. If this is the case, try to keep her calm making sure that the puppies that have been born are in a safe warm area, ideally with your hot water bottle underneath a blanket/towel to keep them warm. When she has delivered the next puppy, latch them all back on and repeat the process.

If your bitch, whilst in the middle of whelping takes a break of up to two hours, I would suggest you make sure that the puppies are warm and safe and take your bitch outside for a short walk around the garden so that she can relieve herself and hopefully this will get things going again. If this doesn’t work and you are expecting more puppies according to the scan and your bitch is panting and contracting at three hours since the last puppy was delivered, you need to get her to a vets, who will more than likely administer oxytocin which will get her going again or in the worst case scenario, she may need a caesarean.

Puppy care

Make sure your puppies are kept warm and your bitch well fed with up to twice the amount she would normally have of a good, high quality, high protein working dog food and a lot of fresh water.

Keep your bitch in quite familiar surroundings and only allow people who she would see on a daily basis access for up to three weeks. If people want to see them they can view them on the baby/puppy cam.

Your bitch will clean up after the puppies for the first three weeks; however her bedding should be changed on a daily basis. And your bitch will need to use the garden four times a day.

Four weeks old

I would recommend weaning the puppies firstly with some warm milk added to the puppy kibble that you are intending to feed them, as this makes it soft, warm and palatable. If this progresses well, continue weaning them like this for two days. After this you can start to introduce puppy kibble without milk, and you should find that within a few days they will be happy to consume puppy kibble followed by a suckle from the bitch. At this stage they will still feed from the bitch three to four times a day. At this point you can start to reduce the bitch’s consumption of food and gradually restrict the number of times she feeds them. By doing this, you will reduce the chance of her getting Mastitis.

Sussexsharp gundogs

Reuben Corbett -

I have been training gundogs for the shooting field for over 25 years. My passion is competing with my dogs in retriever gundog field trails where I have had a reasonable amount of success with over 20 wins to my name, and having the good fortune of making two of the dogs up to field trail champions.

I pride myself on educating dogs without the need for any heavy handed techniques but with mutual understanding and education. In my kennels I have three dogs available for stud all with 0/0 hips and elbows and clear on all hereditary tests, one of which is a field trails champion.

It is imperative If we are to improve the health of our gundogs that we breed from healthy, tested, enthusiastic, trainable, biddable, hard hunting dogs. So please take a look at what we have to offer, I look forward to hearing from you soon.