While surfing the internet I found this excellent link to sites containing Breeding info, from C-section pictures to stud dogs click here to view |
mating bullies - coming soon.... Pregnancy A Bull Terrier bitch usually gives birth 63 days from the time of her first mating, however this does vary from bitch to bitch and pregnancy to pregnancy. We have had bitches give birth 3 days early without any problems to the mother or the puppies and have heard of bitches going 70 days from their first mating without any problem. However, we and many other breeders have found that if a Bull Terrier goes over her first due date by more than 2 days she generally needs a c-section. Veterinary advice should therefore be sought in this instance. C-sections are very common in this breed. If your bitch needs a C-section do not panic! This is a routine operation to most Vets and rarely there are complications. Do remember to take a hot water bottle, plenty of bedding and a plastic box to put the puppies in on the way home. Warmth is a vital necessity to all newborns. Do inform the Vet not to put the puppies in with the bitch after the operation. A bitch just coming round from anaesthetic may kill her litter in shock. coming soon- the birth process |
Welcome to our puppy page! mating Bull Terriers, whelping Bull Terriers, rearing a litter of Bull Terriers |
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Birth to one week. Our puppies sleep separately to their mother (under a heat lamp - ceramic bulb NOT red light emitter which can cause eye infections) as Bull Terriers are rather clumsy and are liable to accidently crush their puppies. This means 24 hour supervision for 7 days a week!. NEVER feed a chilled puppy as the digestive process shuts down and any food in the stomach starts to poison the system. A puppy that is chilled should be warmed up slowly and then fed. I have seen a full litter of puppies killed by inexperienced breeders simply because they allowed their litters to freeze. (The hot water bottle the pups were lying on was cold!) The pups visit their mother for feeding and cleaning every hour for the first 24-48 hours and then every 2 hours until they are 1 week old. We find that the extra intensive hourly feeds for the first 24 hours helps to strengthen the puppies and encourages the bitch's milk flow. Each feed we leave the puppies on the bitch for between 15-30 minutes or for her milk to drop 3 times. It is easy to tell when her milk drops as the puppies will stop padding at the nipple and lean back, go stiff and pull the nipple hard while gulping the milk down. They will then pad again to encourage the milk to drop and repeat the process until they are satisfied. Puppies that are getting enough milk from their mothers soon have well rounded (but not over-stretched) bellies, they sleep well and grow fast. Puppies who are not getting enough milk cry constantly and their stomachs are not rounded. These puppies need to have their feed supplemented using either a special puppy formula milk or we prefer to use goats milk as a top up. A word of warning, never overfeed a puppy with bottled milk, this can cause colic and could kill a puppy. Remember, no formulated milk is as good as a bitches milk. note:- I have recently heard of problems using the dry puppy formula milk, the dry particles often don't seem to dissolve and gastic problems seem to occur |
At one week old we reduce the feeds to every 3 hours, 8 feeds a day. At two weeks old feeds can again be reduced to every 4 hours, 6 feeds a day. If the puppies are hungry, however we do give them extra feeds. Between two and three weeks of age we do start to offer solid food, some puppies seem to take to it earlier than others. We use a little mashed up tinned puppy food warmed with hot water which we offer off our fingers, gradually the puppy learns to eat on its own. The puppies will continue to take their mothers milk until they are four weeks. By which time they are either completely weaned or on one feed a day. |
These puppies are now eating well on their own. |
Worming It is very important to worm puppies as worm infestations can kill puppies. We worm our puppies at the ages of three weeks, five weeks, then seven weeks. Our worming routine continues every two weeks until the puppies are approx. twelve weeks. Caution must be used over which wormer to use, we find either Sherleys Chocolate Syrup wormer or Drontal Puppy liquid is best. Some wormers can be too strong for young puppies and cause allergic reactions, upset stomachs and in some cases kill young pups. All our adult dogs are wormed every three to six months. |
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Puppies are wormed and weaned at this stage |
WEIGHTS OF PUPPIES 3 weeks 5 weeks 7 weeks 9 weeks 12 weeks DOG pups 1.5kg-2kg 3.5kg-4kg 6kg 8.5kg 12kg BITCH pups 1.5kg-1.75kg 2.5kg-3.5kg 4.5kg 7kg 10kg |
Below is a table with the usual weights of our puppies, we weigh the pups every time we worm them so that we can administer the correct dosage. |
Our Puppy diet @ 6 weeks 4 meals per day Breakfast :- Weetabix or similar in milk or rice pudding Lunch :- approx. half an ounce of meat per week of life plus a complete puppy mixer pre soaked. Or sardines mixed with wholemeal soaked bread. Sometimes we add egg either raw or cooked. The meat we feed raw, we prefer to feed beef or chicken at this age. Tea :- the same as Lunch. Supper :- the same as breakfast The above is an example of what we feed our puppies from about 5/6 weeks onwards. We prefer to give them as much variety as possible at this age. Prior to this age we usually wean them on a tinned puppy food combined with a complete puppy mixer. (soaked to soften). |
While surfing the internet I found this excellent link to sites containing Breeding info, from C-section pictures to stud dogs click here to view |
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Above, two different bitches (Bullywood Body Talk & Bullywod Wild Child) suckle their litters together . all our bitches behave well with their puppies and have never shown agression towards their puppies |
Below - whelping a litter, left the first two pups are born and placed on the teats & right a third puppy is born |
Below Left - the birth continues. a fourth puppy is born, so far three brindles and a black brindle Below Right - In this picture all the puppies have now arrived, the last puppy a brindle suckles while the rest of the litter sleep safely in the box |
Mother and puppies the following day, this litter contained 4 brindles, 1 red and 2 black brindles (one of which was a solid) |
- A beautiful white litter that arrived by C-Section |
This page was last
updated on: October
8, 2007
A short account of how we rear our litters When we bred our first litter we were lucky enough to have people in the breed experienced enough to help us. This page is created to answer a few questions which we had when we had our first litter. I hope it gives an insight into the amount of time and hard work involved. If you have ever reared a Bull Terrier litter and found it to be easy in my opinion you haven't put enough work in! Please note this page is a guide only and if your bitch gets into distress please consult a Vet Rearing a Bull Terrier litter is very hard work if done properly but we find it extremely rewarding to see one of your puppies grow up to do well in the showring. We always put 100% into rearing our litters, after all we arranged for them to be here! Please note.... All Bullywood puppies are raised inside our home |
