Atypical estrous cycle of the Deutsch Kurzhaar bitches
More and more Deutsch Kurzhaar (German Shorthaired Pointer, GSPs) breeders and owners are having various problems regarding the bitches season.
From our own experience but also from our Deutsch Kurzhaar friends experiences we have learnt about the tendency of irregular seasons.
There are bitches that come into season very often, bitches that come into season normally, at the classical 6 months period of time, bitches that come into season after long regular periods of time and bitches that come into season completely irregularly.
We used to have a bitch whose first season lasted for 2 months.
Some don't even accept the male while others accept the male for a long period of time, up to 15 days. In some cases, matings that took place in the classical days using the "calendar method" failed, the bitches staying empty even if proven sires were used.
The reason cannot be precisely determined but we are sure that the close and repeated inbreeding, the industrial food and general pollution have a major impact.
One of our bitches is coming into season at a "regular" period of 11 months.
She was mated in the classical 11-12-13 days and she wasn't pregnant.
The next time she came into season we determined the progesterone level by blood analysys and also had a vaginal cytological examination done.
We did this in the 6th day of heat, and when the result came we got the following advice "You should breed her as soon as possible". We mated her in days 7 and 8 and in the 9th day the male was not interested anymore.
The female was pregnant and after a 70 days long gestation she delivered 3 healthy and strong puppies, 2 males and 1 female.
The hormonal monitoring of such a female is recommended to start from the 4th-5th day of heat. |
