Managing reproduction of the female bird dog

By Martin Coffman, D.V.M.

Some of the most common requests veterinarians receive involve management of the heat cycle and pregnancy in the female dog.

These situations fall into three large buckets: the bitch that has not been in heat for over a year, the bitch that has gotten bred accidentally, i.e. a "mismating,? and the bitch that comes in heat during the heart of hunting season or trial season.

Bitches that Don't Come in Heat

The reproductive history of these females is very important. There is a huge difference between a bitch that has not been in heat in two years and one that has never been in heat. The most common case is the bitch that you would like to breed but she has, apparently, not cycled in over a year and maybe it has been several years.

In my experience, bitches that come in heat once per year are so common that I do not like to manipulate their heat cycle. With these females, I recommend just waiting for her normal once-per-year estrus to breed her.

For the bitch that truly has not been in heat in over 12 months, there are several possibilities and therapies available from your veterinarian. First, the bitch may have been having normal but silent heat periods.

I have known old-time, experienced dog men and women who have not been able to tell when certain bitches were in heat. They only discovered it because they saw a mating in the kennel. Silent heats are fairly common.

While most of these bitches do not spot blood during the proestral period, almost all of them do have some swelling of the vulva. I have had poor luck just looking for blood spotting in the kennel. You have to take a look at the bitch almost every day for subtle swelling.

Assuming she really has not been in heat for many, many months, your veterinarian will want to do some blood work to check thyroid function and some hormone levels. Sometimes these values are abnormal, but many times, they are within normal limits. An ultrasound of the dog's ovaries might be a next step to ensure there are no ovarian cysts.

Assuming all is normal after a thorough examination, there are drugs that can safely induce a fertile heat in the female dog. Currently, there are a variety of medical protocols being used by veterinarians to induce heat in the dog.

The success rates for the various methods vary from a reported eight percent to a reported 100 percent. In my hands, these new protocols have resulted in about 70 percent successful pregnancies. The rate of success for bitches that come in heat on their own is not much higher, in my experience. This particular medical tool has improved over the years. Two decades ago, we were trying to utilize cattle hormones and pregnant mare serum. Now, we have some drugs that really work. There may be some side effects from the use of these drugs, e.g. a temporary coat color change. Your veterinarian will advise you on that too.

The Mismated Bitch

It happens to everyone in the dog business at some time. You come home and they are tied in the backyard. Who knows where he came from, but she is blue-blooded.

Pregnancy termination is a common request in veterinary clinics across the country. Some of the older drugs we used a few years ago are off limits now because of side-effects, but newer drugs are good.

These drugs are essentially safe but do make the female quite sick for a day or two. As a result, I required hospitalization for this therapy. The entire process may take several days, so be patient.

Suppression of Heat

This used to be pretty easy. We had Cheque drops and, while expensive, they worked well. Even before that, we had an infamous drug, Promone, which, while very effective at suppressing heat, just caused too many problems.

Now, veterinarians have to be creative to keep bitches out of heat until after hunting season. Compounding pharmacists (they really still make drugs) can work with the veterinarian to produce medications that will work. These drugs should not be used on young bitches, should not be used in dogs with kidney or liver disease, and should not be used long-term, 24 months maximum.

Managing reproduction in dogs has gotten very sophisticated. As a young veterinarian and dog breeder, I used very crude methods of determining breeding times, suppressing heat cycles and usually futile attempts at bringing dogs into a fertile heat.

All this has changed over the last ten years. Currently, the veterinary profession and dog breeders have excellent tools for managing reproduction in the female and, from what I hear, there is much more coming right around the corner.