How many German Shepherd puppies will be born if this is the first litter?
I am just wondering about how many German Shepherd puppies will be born if this is the first litter? I know it will cost a lot of money to raise a litter. Her mother had 5 German Shepherd puppies. All Alive & Healthy. Anyways, some people are saying that the first litter will be small like about 3-6. I am not too sure about this. Any Help will be good. Thanks in advance.
Some.
None.
Many.
There is no certain relationship between age and fertility, other than a slight tendency to be highest between 3 and 7 years old.
Decades ago I was in charge of a data-table recording whatever GSD breeders wanted to tell us about their litters, and whatever owners later wanted to tell us about their dog. The Committee closed it after 644 litters were recorded.
From memory, the average litter size was 8 whelped, reduced to 6½ alive at 7-8 weeks old – most of the 1½ pups per litter that disappeared were due to pups being stillborn or "fading out", but the better breeders also cull their litters so that their brood isn’t strained trying to feed and supervise too many pups.
The most GSD pups recorded in one NZ litter was 15 born, of which 1 was stillborn, 1 squashed by the dam, and 1 was culled, leaving 12 – this was a very minor kennel that did nothing for the breed.
Next biggest was my own 13, of which 3 were stillborn, 1 faded, 3 were culled, to leave a manageable 6.
There were 16 litters that started with a dozen births each. The results were:
12 raised by using rotational fostering
11 (1 stillborn)
11 (1 sat on by dam)
11 (1 culled)
10 (1 stillborn, 1 faded)
‘ 9 (3 culled)
‘ 9 (3 culled)
‘ 9 (1 stillborn, 2 culled)
‘ 9 (1 faded, 2 culled)
‘ 9 (1 faded, 2 culled)
‘ 9 (1 stillborn, 2 sat on by their dam)
‘ 8 (4 culled)
‘ 8 (4 culled)
‘ 8 (1 faded, 3 culled)
‘ 7 (5 culled)
‘ 4 (7 stillborn, 1 faded)
{ The ‘ is there because otherwise Yahoo swallows the spaces in front of the digits. }
And then your question got me curious. So I dug out that table and selected just the litters that were the bit.ch’s first, of which there were 244. Those litters contained 85 stillborns, 92 fading pups, 85 culled, and 1541 survivors – which works out at a whisker more than 6.3 pups surviving to be tattooed at 7-8 weeks old. So, as I said, the age of the dam and which of her litters it is makes very little difference.
What counts are the number if ova the bit.ch releases, the motility of the dog’s sperm, the timing of the mating, how healthy the dam’s uterine horns are, what toxins are in her bloodstream, whether there are any semi-lethal genes or damaged chromosomes in the mix, what bacteria and viruses are active in her uterine horns.
A bit.ch’s first litter should be by a very much-used stud, so that you have had a chance to check on how fertile he is and how his pups develop.
Les P, owner of GSD’Friendly: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD‘Friendly
"In GSDs" as of 1967
3-6
They best way to know, is simply to go to the vet and have an x-ray. They’ll be able to count the fetal puppies in the belly and give you an accurate number.
a usual litter of puppies ranges from 3-6. a good way to find out if your not sure, isnt an x-ray, but an ultrasound. that will show you exactly how many puppies your dog will have.
My German Shepard had 12 on her first litter…2 died after a few days though ;_;
only an x-ray will tell.
They can have anywhere from 1-13.
Most German Shepherds have large litters usually from 6-10 puppies.
As most here already advised you to be absolute sure you could have the Vet do an ultrasound. The general rule of dumb is that a dog has normally a litter between 3-6 that are capable of surveiving. In rare instances it is possible that a dog has only one or even up to 10. But to take all the guesswork out let the Vet do an ultra sound and you be able to know exactly how many she is expecting. Good luck and all the best for you and your litter. (yea, it is expensive, but it is also a wonderful experience to see the little ones grow up. It is more than worth it to allow your dog to have a litter).
My two year old Sheperd just had 9 a month and a half ago. All survived great dogs/puppies.
It depends on the progency of the mother and other generations it can be between 3-10 puppies.