I have a 3 yr. old chocolate lab that is in heat. We borrowed our friends chocolate lab last night to keep for a week and breed our dog, hopefully. Anyway at 3AM the male lab got out of the yard. I let him inside the house and at 7AM I awoke to find out that he had chewed up everything in sight (including my new leg brace that costs over $1000.00 to replace). Grrrr. So this morning, I put him back in the fenced yard and put my female out there with him. She keeps growling at him and then she jumps the fence. No love there. Has anyone bred dogs and have any helpful suggestions. She did have one litter of 14 puppies before and they were adorable and all went very quickly. I have plans to have her fixed after this litter (if there is one).

How far is she into her heat? Sounds like she is not ready yet.

She only came in heat about 3 days ago. Is that too soon. Last time she was raised with the male Yellow Lab that she bred with. We didn't even know she was pregnant until about 10 days before the puppies were born. It was busy here with the Christmas holidays and we just suddenly noticed she was getting very BIG. Right now the male dog is in the fence and she is cowering under my computer desk.

She will not take the male until 10-14 days into her heat. She will begin to stand with her back end toward the male and flag. This means she will stand with her tail cocked off to one side. She should let the male mount and tie-up with her. If you can breed her 2 or 3 times over a three day span, that should insure a successful breeding.

Cheryl, thank you so much for your help. I appreciate it.

You are most welcome, my charge for breeding advice is one puppy.

I would gladly give you one, if she has any. My DH called my BIL last night who is a Vet. and he said pretty much the same thing. That she isn't ready and to give her a week or so. Plus, told him to let them outside together so they get used to each other and most likely it will happen and not to try to force them at all. I do know that when 2 pure bred labs are mated that the puppies can be yellow, chocolate or brown. Her only litter thus far was with the yellow lab and she had 12 black lab puppies and 2 chocolates. She came from a litter of 6 yellows and 4 chocolates. I had a lady that wanted me to breed her with her lg. poodle for Labradoodles, apparently they are very popular these days and quite expensive.

When we move, I really want a chocolate lab! My hubby had a chocolate labradoodle a long time ago, so we are debating on that........they are suppose to shed less if they have the curls like a poodle. But they require more brushing because of the hair or it gets matted. Either way, dander is a problem. I've been having problems with my ferrets getting their winter fur now, dander everywhere and driving my allergies crazy But I love them and wouldn't have it any other way
Good luck, you'll have to take pics of the babies if she does breed! I love puppies!!!!

We are making progress now. She is staying in the fence with the male now and they are playing together. I have several orders for pups. She is from a long line of seeing eye dogs. I hope the breeding takes place. Her puppies were so cute last time. I'll post pic's if she has any this time.

AS you can see, I have two labs, too. We don't know any of the history of our yellow lab as he was a rescue dog, but our black lab came from a LONG line of yellows and chocolates--and he turned out black. I think that's why he ended up in the pet store (and stayed there for almost a year--poor guy). But he sure is loving. Color has nothing to do with temperment when it comes to labs! Good luck with your breeding!

allinell, the only experience I have had with labs is that male chocolate lab I had and the male yellow lab were both extremely hyper. My female is the laziest dog you ever saw, but one he@@ of a houdini at getting out of the fenced yard. She finds a way out, then walks to the door, comes in and takes a nap. She doesn't try to ever run off, that would be too much effort. LOL.

Hi there,

I'm a little new, but I'm jumping in--can't not jump in on a lab thread!

I've never bred a dog, but I know enough from my dog world friends to feel like I should add something: Be careful of allowing them to be unsupervised together before she's ready--femals that aren't ready usually just snap and growl, but they CAN get downright nasty really fast, even if they're as sweet as can be usually; they just can't help it. A female that's been bred before usually knows when she's ready and won't put up with any hanky-panky until she is. Keep an eye on him, too--a friend who is a breeder has an expensive stud dog that really did a number on his beautiful face trying to get out of a crate while a female was visiting to be bred. (He's fine, btw, but they get really determined!)

I have a lab--he's a more or less competitive retriever test and obedience trial dog, so I'm pretty into the dog thing these days.

I hope your puppies are beautiful and healthy and that you find great homes for them all. Good luck!

PS--How funny--I previewed my post and found that the correct word for female dog showed up as ***** !!!! That cracked me up--technology amazes me every day. I went back and typed f-e-m-a-l-e, and that's cracking me up, too.

luvmypup, thanks for the input. She is being very sweet with him now. They are cuddling together to sleep and playing together a lot. At first, she'd just growl at him. I do have to feed them separately because she doesn't want to share her food. I'm not sure if they have bred, but they are becoming friends. We're going to keep him for another week in hopes they will breed. I do have plenty of orders for pups that will go to good homes. I'd like to keep one female puppy for us. The owner of the stud dog gets the pick of the litter. Her first litter, within 4 weeks of them being born, she tried to wean them. We had to supplement them with mashed puppy food.

From what I understand, that's pretty normal. Momma gets tired! Most of the breeders I know start supplementing with wet food at about 4 weeks, and the pups are weaned by 7 weeks but still pestering Mom a bit.

Glad you've got homes lined up! With labs being so popular (and overpopulated), it's a bit of a worry for a lot of breeders. I'm sure you're doing a great job. I'd be curious how things go--would love pics and updates.

Ok, I am very disstressed about this thread. It makes me sad. Labs are the best dogs but breeding hould be for the betterment of the breed not just becasue the pups are cute.

The male is destroying your house because he is frustrated. keep them apart. He can hurt her and she can hurt him with a huge dog fight which you will be hard pressed to break up. once they are done with their 3 days send him home, she will not want him near her.

Labs are very prone to genetic problems. Bad hips, eyes and elbows for starters.

Both your dog and the male should have been xrayed for hips and elbows and recived good or better on both and should have a clear eye check BEFORE you breed. it is not a guarentee but a better chance of healthy pups not carring on bad genetics.

Color is determined by the gene color the dog carries.For example my pup is black because the mother is a dominant black, but her father was a yellow which is recessive like Chocolate. Double yellow and doubble chocolate gene carriers should never be breed together. Too many recessive genes.

Pups ween around 3 weeks. The pups should not go home until at least 7, 8-12 weeks is better. Although they may be done with mom at 5-6 weeks. They have a lot to learn from their litter mates, mostly social skills butting playing and nipping. DO NOT let them miss this valuble lesson. Be carefull selling christmas pups. They are the ones who end up in rescue because back to school and work, people find far less time to deal with the desructive pups and abandon them to shelters.

Laberdoodles are MUTS. cute as they are the ploy is that since poodles have hair and are hypoalergeninc the pups will be too. It is a crock. there is not guarentee that the pups will have hair instead of fur. They can not be pappered and there is no standard. they are not a recognized breed by any kennel clubs.

my hope is that in the next few weeks you will get some knowllage about breeding and whelping the litter. Check all the buyers that they are willing to make a lifetime of the pup committment. there is a lot of information out there on whelping boxes and such. The box should be in a quiet place, warm for the pups, clanable bedding that can be changes as the pups are messy.

You need to have a contigency plan for if labor is not going well and your dog needs a c section and how you will keep track of each pups growth(marking them as them come out is the best plan with a notebook to keep weight charts and presonality traits to match them to the right home)

and last but not least if your pups are pappered, sell them with a limited registration. This will make it so the new owners will have to spay or neuter their pups but if the choose not to, the pups they have will not be able to be registered.

I really don't want to be mean but the number of unwanted dogs is on the rise. Many dogs from Katrina were not spayed or newtered, the shelters are overflowing with pups that are not wanted and thousands of dogs are being put down everyday.