Breeding dogs is a serious and expensive business if done right. A breeding program should have established goals to achieve regardless of the number of breeding animals involved. One of the biggest mistakes beginning breeders make is breeding a pair of dogs just to get puppies, with no regard for whether the pair complement each other or are of breeding quality.
If you have chosen to breed your dogs you should be able to cite the characteristics of your breeding animals and your expectation about their offspring's characteristics. There are plenty of pets in the world and breeding to produce pet quality puppies is unethical when more than 20 million unwanted pets are euthanized every year. There are a few valid reasons for wanting to raise a litter of pups. There is the enjoyment of the puppies themselves, which should be combined with the satisfaction of producing only top quality puppies. There is the desire to bring in some extra income to make your dog hobby self-supporting, but beware of this one. It's a rare and top quality show dog who actually makes any money for their owner. Even then, the money spent campaigning the dog to top-of-the-breed status will likely not be matched by breeding income. Another valid reason for breeding is to produce top quality puppies for yourself with a particular set of traits you desire.
Several medical tests should be done on your breeding stock well before the bitch comes in season. At a minimum, Orthopedic Foundation for Animals hip X-rays, or the Penn Hip test, should be completed and the certificates in hand. Vision screening by a veterinary opthamologist for Canine Eye Research Foundation certification, previously the best method for diagnosing the blinding disease of Collie Eye Anomolly, has been superceeded by the genetic screening tests which definitively identify and can rule out the potential to inherit or develop the disease without question. But DNA tests are expensive and many breeders who intend to only breed a single litter prefer to take their chances with the inexact science of a physical exam. A blood test screen for the brucella virus should also be completed. Skipping any of these steps possibly risks the health of the stud or brood bitch through breeding, and makes it impossible to guarantee to health of the whelps, in good conscience.
Other tests needed prior to breeding may include tests as simple as cytological smears or more expensive progesterone level blood tests to determine the best time to breed.
Once the bitch is pregnant, utltrasounds and X-rays may be required to determine the development stage of the pups or to diagnose particularly complex breech presentations that might complicate natural birth and result in emergency cesarean sections.
Some bitches will require cesarean sections to produce the pups. Breeders may go for 20 or more years without ever needing to C-section a dog, but that is no guarantee the next whelping won't require emergency medical intervention at an average surgical cost of $1,000.
Puppies are helpless when first born and not all bitches are natural mothers (there is, after all, a reason why Americans use the word bitch the way we do). The pups will need 24 hour attention for the first several days of their lives and close attention on a multiple-times per day basis for the next two to three weeks. The whelping box temperature needs to be maintained well above 90 degrees since the pups are not capable of thermo-regulation for the first ten days or so. Typical means for maintaining the temperature are hot pads, heat lamps, and space heaters all of which represent fire hazards when left unattended. Additionally, new mothers, and even some very experienced mothers, have been known to lay on their pups, smothering them; trample their pups, crippling them, and most horrifically, eat their pups.
The whelping box will need to be cleaned two to three times a day, depending on how fastidious the dam is in cleaning up after the pups. That's two to three times a day for three weeks or so, until the pups are ready to start spending some of the day outdoors.
If you don't have the time, the money, the knowledge, and some really good reasons for your actions, don't breed your dog.
PS: "Good reasons" excludes the "miracle of birth" since not all puppies are born alive or can be resuscitated. Dead and gasping puppies are pretty traumatic sights.
