Q&A: The Importance of Reliable Breeding Advice

Welcome to the highly anticipated Series Two of The Breeders Brew! 🎉 In this episode, Sara and Isobel reflect on the incredible feedback from Series One, highlighting the global interest in responsible breeding and the value of learning through podcasts.

Series Two takes a new interactive Q&A format, tackling common (and sometimes shocking) breeding questions posted in Facebook groups. The goal? To cut through misinformation and offer real, experience-backed advice that helps breeders make the best decisions for their dogs and litters.

Expect honest discussions, expert insights, and a deep dive into the dangers of taking free, unverified advice online. We also introduce our annual Breeders Survey, a groundbreaking initiative collecting real-world data from breeders to provide factual, evidence-based trends in dog breeding. Topics covered in this episode:

✅ The importance of trusted breeding advice vs. Facebook group chaos
✅ Why not all advice is created equal – “One Litter Lucys” and well-meaning but inexperienced breeders
✅ The critical role of scanning in pregnancy detection and litter planning
✅ A case study on whelping complications, common warning signs, and when to call the vet
✅ Introducing our Breeders Survey: helping to shape the future of responsible breeding with real-world data
✅ How to get involved and submit your questions for future episodes

 Action Points & Links Mentioned:
📩 Submit your breeding questions: podcast@breedersbrew.com
📌 Join the Breeders Brew Community: Search Breeders Brew Community on Facebook
📊 Take part in the Breeders Survey: www.breedersbrew.com/survey
📑 Show notes & resources: www.breedersbrew.com/notes/s2e9

If you’ve ever wondered why you’re getting 50 different answers to the same breeding question, this episode is for you! Tune in now, and let’s raise the standards of responsible breeding—together. 🎧🐾

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Transcript

Sara (00:23)
Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to The Breeders Brew, the long awaited series two.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (00:33)
Yay!

Sara (00:34)
firstly, I'd like to say thank you to everybody that's listened to series one. We've had some amazing feedback. The statistics we are really pleased and happy about, aren't we, Isobel From around the globe listeners, which is always...

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (00:48)
we are.

Sara (00:54)
a confidence booster, I think we can say that people are interested in dog breeding and breeding correctly and safely and responsibly. So it's nice to see that that interest is worldwide. And more locally, I suppose we've had some really good feedback even from clients that I see anyway, face to face that I've said, make sure you listen to the podcast. I know you can ask me anyway, but

The podcast is probably in a better formatted, more comprehensive format that you can listen to again, rather than asking me a question and then the moment's been and gone. And I know for a fact, Isobel, that people have listened to us in the bath before they go to bed at night, That sounds like a nightmare to me. But we've had some really good feedback.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (01:39)
Not quite a lullaby,

is it?

Sara (01:41)
Definitely not a lullaby. I definitely don't have a good voice for that kind of thing. But it's nice to know that people are appreciating the information and are keen to take up a new way of learning. Though podcasts have been around for a fair amount of time, this type of information on a podcast, even less so. So it's good that people and proper technophobes are getting involved. They don't even know that what are...

podcast streaming platform was and how they access it on their phone. So it's really amazing to get that level of feedback from people. Which is why we've said we need to pull our finger out and move on to series two, which we've decided is going to be a questions and answer format. we could do a live call in maybe at one point. That would be funny. I think we can do that functionality on this software, you know, like we can stream on YouTube or something, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (02:30)
be fun.

Sara (02:37)
So for series two, it's a Q &A session. Isobel and I talk on the daily about the concerning things that we see asked and answered on particularly Facebook welcoming groups. I've written a whole separate blog separately about the dangers of free advice, because what I've noticed is that

advice is chucked out there, people respond to somebody's cry for help almost. But we don't know, there's lots of factors involved. So to be able to give useful advice, you kind of need to know what breed of dog they've got, what the situation is, what that person's skill level is. There's a lot of questions to be asked. for somebody to sort of ask a

fairly vague question to get a thousand different replies from all people that you don't know who they are, how they're qualified. And we know for a fact, and we call them one litter Lucy. So actually Isobel did, and I've stolen that term off of her because I love it. I know we have seen people give advice and we know that they've only reared one litter themselves.

And in some instances, they had problems rearing their own litter. So it wasn't even a straightforward situation for themselves. They didn't prevent their own problems and now they're giving advice to somebody else. we want this podcast to combat and I guess balance the scales of what's out there. Because equally, Isobel and I are in the same...

school of thought here in regards to just because someone's a professional, that's why air quotes, is it a vet, it doesn't mean that they know the ins and outs of dog breeding either because they've just read a textbook or studied a certain number of units when they were at vet school and they've never actually bred a dog themselves. So it is really hard to work out where to get your information from and how trustworthy and reliable it is.

Isobel and I now have, Isobel more than me, because she's more organised, we have memberships that you can, we have memberships, or we will do by the end of this, memberships you can join where we are providing a safe environment. We've tried and trusted and tested in Isobel's respect as well, information, products, advice, knowledge, wisdom, all the things.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (04:40)
Uh-huh.

Sara (04:59)
rather than just relying on, yeah, somebody helping you in a Facebook group. So there is more coming and if you like us, then we can definitely take you into our world of how we do things. And I guess you kind of like us, that's why you're listening to the podcast. So we'll tell you more details of that as they come. But equally, just gonna go through some Facebook posts that we see and we're gonna give our opinion of what we would do or wouldn't do.

And equally, we're gonna look at some of the responses to see how correct we feel they are or not. And this also means that you can ask your own questions. So you can send us an email at podcast@breedersbrew.com or even better, ask in our Facebook group. So this is open to you guys too. And you can cut straight through the waffle. You don't even need to go to the...

random Facebook group and scroll through 50 different responses. You could just email us and we're going to cover it and then you can listen to the answer. I think I've done enough. Is there anything else I should add to this Isobel?

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (06:07)
frankly I'm just hoping that we can shine a bit of light on how diverse the answers will be to one single question it's quite shocking how you can end up with such a range of different answers so I think this will be quite an eye-opening experience for myself you and all our listeners as well so let's go

Sara (06:28)
Good, right, do you want to start with the first question?

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (06:31)
Let's go.

So first question I found on my quick scroll this evening is from a commenter who has not been in the group very long at all, no previous posts in the group either, saying, Hi guys, my pups are 10 days old today. Mum now refuses to stay in her welcome box with the pups and she's getting far too hot. She's feeding them less and less each day and I'm getting really worried now. Some may have started losing a little weight. What should I do? How can I help mum? Do I need to supplement them?

Thanks.

Sara (07:04)
when we don't know the breed.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (07:06)
Well, fortunately, the eagle-eyed among the comments will have seen that the OP had dropped a picture of her bitch and pups in there. So yes, we do know that she's a long-coated breed and white in colour. She has not included the breed name anywhere in her post nor comments. But I'd describe it as a medium-sized, white, double-coated, long-furred breed with at least six large puppies.

Sara (07:35)
Okay, and equally we don't know what heat source that she's got, whether there's a... Okay, so it's like being a detective. Like the dog breeder detective. So obviously I've already responded with some questions of trying to work out what the breed is, what the setup is. She could just have a heat lamp on way too hot or way too close.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (07:36)
alongside her.

We can't see anything from that picture.

Yes.

Sara (08:02)
And then that would explain why the pup, that would explain why pups are losing weight because they're probably a bit dehydrated.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (08:02)
That would be a simple.

Yep, that'd be great place to start. Obviously we don't know what the heat source is, not to mention the fact that if this is a more advanced breed of dog, she said they're already pushing 10 days old, so there are some key growth milestones that you would be looking at around that age. The size of the puppies in the picture look significant. To me, potentially a little older than 10 days, as suggested in that post. So...

There could be other things at play here as well. Obviously mum's getting warm but she's got a pile of puppies all over her.

Sara (08:46)
Yeah, pups eyes are open or starting to open. the, yeah, given that they're 10, 14 days, eyes are gonna be opening. So they could lose weight because they're more mobile in the bed as well. That could always be a factor. Yeah.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (08:49)
can't see but certainly looks like that would be the case bearing in mind their size.

Yeah, that would be exactly what I would be guessing. I reckon

key milestones have been hit. Eyes are starting to open depending on the breed and how quickly they develop. Could be starting to think about teething. Maybe mum's getting a little bit more comfortable. Having said that, could be a little early. But what we also don't know is has she ever trimmed those puppy's nails? Is mum just getting uncomfortable at the fact that...

There's 10, 14 day old pups that quite strong and very mobile. So when they're paddling, that's going to be a lot more uncomfortable to her now than it would have been two weeks ago. So it could be nails, could be teeth.

Sara (09:39)
Yeah, and equally, she doesn't need to be trapped in the bed. She doesn't have to be with them all the time now. So some, some bitches aren't with them all the time from the beginning, which is understandable. So I'm one of those, if you want to leave them, leave them as long as they're getting fed and they're gaining weight. They don't, it's not a prison. It's not like a puppy pen prison. So obviously the more independent they get, the more

she doesn't need to be with them. And as you say, if she's uncomfortable with being with them, then she's going to want to be with them even less. what are some of the responses? What have other people said?

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (10:11)
Absolutely.

there's some great responses.

Few that mirror your exact opinion there, Sara, saying if she doesn't want to be there, let her get out. Maybe that's why she's panting if she's stressed. Another comment was, maybe you're using too much of a large heating pad. You need a smaller one so just the puppies can go onto it and she can get off. Mum doesn't need to lay on a heat pad while she's nursing. It's no wonder she's too hot.

Somebody else commented, where in the world are you? What is the current temperature? Great question. Could be talking somewhere really quite tropical. Somebody else has commented, can I get one?

Sara (10:54)
Yeah.

Useful.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (11:03)
very useful.

Another comment. My Frenchie has been leaving her pups and sleeping and hanging out with me since they were just a week old. At two weeks it's no wonder. She's probably feeding them into a milk coma, cleaning, toileting and then wanting to leave them to come out and hang out with you. Also those pups are looking quite large. They're going to be drinking larger quantities and sleep much more at this age as well. So as long as the babies are doing well, it's all good. Why would you interfere with nature?

And obviously she's asked at the base of her question here, should she be supplement feeding as well at that age? So few people have jumped straight to that part of the question saying, why do some people feel the need to take away from the mother dog? Nature! Exclamation mark, exclamation mark, exclamation mark, exclamation mark. Let mum do her thing. She does not need to stay in that box. She only needs 24 hour access. That is all.

Sara (11:36)
What the?

Yeah, it's interesting that she wants to start supplement feeding where really, if anything, she could wait a couple of days and just start weaning them.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (12:09)
Absolutely.

Yeah, that would be my exact thought. As I said, they look quite large in the photo. If eyes are open and mum's already getting quite disinterested, it could just be the fact that maybe they're little older than stated in the post. And she could be looking at weaning because that is generally a sure sign that it's time to wean when mum starts showing a little bit less interest in my breed. Anyway, I'm always led by mum and pups when it comes to weaning. I think that's one of most common questions I personally get asked within my...

Sara (12:13)
Yeah.

Mm.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (12:39)
membership group is how to wean, when to start weaning, what age, how to know when and it's not a one size fits all answer. It's absolutely impossible for me to tell you that there's an exact day for every single breed of dog that would suit every single litter because even in the same breed you can have some litters that are far more advanced in their development milestones and some litters that are really really slow. We had a litter a while ago of two boys.

and they were the laziest, most chilled out little dudes you could ever imagine. They were in no rush to hit any single one the development milestones and they stayed to 12 weeks because of it. Because they just fancied just being little piglets really and not doing a lot else.

Sara (13:17)
No surprise.

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. Boys will be boys. Yeah, so the advice wasn't too crazy on that one, to be fair. Without them knowing, as with us, the full breakdown, heat source was identified. Yeah, let her be. Yeah, see how she goes, basically. So it'd be interesting. I always kind of wish they gave you an update on what happened next.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (13:26)
Hahaha

No.

I do.

What actions did you take away from those Facebook responses?

Sara (13:54)
Yeah, yeah, what one whelped.

Yeah, let's read this one. There's only one comment so far though.

So it says need urgent help. First puppy was still born CPR was attempted but failed. We are still waiting for the second puppy to be born after one hour and 30 minutes. The mother is is showing signs of shivering and nesting only so I'm guessing no contractions. Basically what she's saying there. So she's concerned one puppy born dead, they haven't revived it.

Still waiting for a second puppy to be born after hour and a half. No mention of breed. Let me see if I can look at her profile. Let's see if that gives anything away or another question she's asked about. No, she's never mentioned a breed in any of her posts, which is useful. mean, surely that would just be a bog standard. If you belong in a whelping group and you're posting and asking a question.

tell everybody what breed you got. Because at least those people with that breed are going to respond and be more useful than the people that are just making stuff up or giving it a go.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (15:02)
I'm out! out! out!

Sara (15:03)
Well done, Jillian. basically said allow up to three hours because there's no contraction. So obviously another question we don't know is how many pups is she expecting?

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (15:15)
And just to add in there, the commenter has assumed that there's no contractions at this point just because the original poster has negated to mention whether she is or isn't having contractions.

Sara (15:26)
Wow, she just said, yeah, just showing signs of shivering and nesting only. So I think that's her way of saying there's no contraction. So she's feeling like literally nothing's happening. She's not pushing, a puppy's not on her way. She's not pushing. And also, obviously this stillborn one, she hasn't said whether it was big, small. We've got, yeah.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (15:33)
It's

We don't know if it's actually due date as well, whether this

could be early or late, so that's quite important to know.

Sara (15:52)
Yep.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (15:53)
Litter size expected litter is a massive piece of this puzzle that is important.

Sara (15:54)
and.

And also we don't know how long it took for that puppy to be born.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (16:06)
Nope

Sara (16:08)
So if she could have just done 20 minutes of pushing and it's dead, it's different to an hour and 20 minutes of pushing and it's dead. Because if that one took that long.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (16:14)
Yep, or been contracting it

up all night for we know that bit she could have come down in the morning found the dead puppy. Again, lack of context because that's a really good point there Sara if that pup was stuck in the birth canal for hours and hours and hours.

Sara (16:21)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (16:29)
this could

be a lot bigger issue than what the original commenter has implied with her response.

Sara (16:37)
Yeah. Someone else just replied saying don't like the other comment. Don't wait longer than three hours. They suggested given a calcium between each puppy was the first puppy born in or out of sack.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (16:49)
Discharge color we've also don't know anything about whether she's still got discharge of any color at the moment as well. I think there's so much missing information here. I personally, professionally, personally, whatever, I would not comment on this post because I feel that any advice given with the lack of context could frankly be dangerous and incorrect.

And just because there isn't any repercussion to you if you give somebody the wrong advice, you do have to remember this is a real person with a real bitch and labour and real puppies on the way. So any advice that you give thinking, that's about right, without giving any due care and respect, it's it's frankly not fair. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't personally be chucking in my two pence here because I don't have enough information.

Sara (17:28)
Mm.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (17:36)
to comfortably give them the answers they're asked to.

Sara (17:37)
Right.

No. And I don't know why they've gone with the three hours between pups being born as a number. That's interesting.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (17:46)
I can only assume

this is some people suggesting that, funnily enough, I had this conversation about three hours with somebody the other day because I believe that is what people expect between a puppy's come out and mum's taking a rest and I've heard this three hour window is like the rest window. But that really perplexes me because we know welping pauses exist.

Sara (18:04)
Mmm.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (18:07)
I've not seen any evidence to suggest the average well-being pause is three hours, or up to three hours.

Sara (18:14)
Wow, I mean, now we've a can of worms because we do have, annual breeders survey where we've asked this exact question. And actually we are opening this up to anybody that breeds. So this is a shameless plug.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (18:18)
Perfectly just.

this annual breeder survey is a fantastic resource that Sara and I are putting together at the moment where we are asking anyone that's recently whelped a litter to fill out the survey and provide us with true realistic information on how their birth went so that we can compile this data, put together some real world studies, comparisons, tables, information, averages.

and present it back to you for your own benefit, for your own learning because unfortunately there are not a lot of large-scale studies that focus on the reproductive health of bitches. They're not hugely funded and albeit this is quite a low-level study we're doing what we can to try and give something back to the community and help everyone learn from other people's experiences really.

Sara (19:25)
Yeah, based on fact, not just woo woo, I think it's this number. Well, my bitch did this number. This is collective real life data that's going to get reviewed and looked at. And the whole point is that we want to be able to say every year, last year, we told you this and you know what? It's still this, that's fine.

or last year we told you this and we've seen a change to this and we think it might be because of this reason. Yeah, just not down to someone's opinion based on some low level experience that they have that isn't truly reflective of the whole picture of dog breeding. And equally we might start picking up patterns in different breeds, doing different things. Wouldn't that be amazing if we could say, yeah, most dogs do this. However, we've realised

French Bulldogs and Bulldogs do this. And it's more than just someone's gut feeling, it's actually based on fact. The webs, yes, and we've collected, we spent all last year collecting data. We're going to continue during 2025. It's one of those, no one else is doing this level of love care attention or trying to.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (20:23)
We're so excited about this.

Sara (20:40)
collectively gather data and present that back to the breeders to help you breed safer or to give you more knowledge and wisdom based on facts rather than like these mystical ideas that seem to go around. So the website at the moment, if you want to take part in this and we really, really would love you to, is

www.breedersbrew.com/survey Yay. And it would be amazing if every litter that you had, you just went in and updated us and told us and then.

We will automatically, by you doing that, we will automatically, when the webinar is ready and when the information is ready to be presented back to you, you'll automatically get an invite saying, hey, you're awesome. We want you to be even more awesome. Come on this webinar, find out what the lowdown is for this year, and off you go. Put it into action.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (21:40)
And it's worth adding here, I know there's so many conversations around data, data safety at the moment. When we're talking about data here, we're not talking about your personal data, we collect absolutely no personal information. We are purely asking you how did your bitch get on during labor? We don't know where you live, what province you live, what county, country, region you live in, what rules or regulations are in your area. That's to have no...

That's to have no interest to us. We're purely collecting data on how your bitch managed through labor so that We can help people avoid common issues or potential scary side effects that we're seeing that if you saw them, somebody else saw them, and you know what, another...

200 people saw the same thing pop up during labour and it meant that you needed emergency c-section, great we can all learn from that together.

Sara (22:30)
Yeah, then at the end we ask for your bank details and a copy of your passport. No, we don't, no we don't. Right, so we went on a tangent, but just to go back to this original post, because there's been an update, the breed is an American bully. Now, again, that still doesn't help us because they come in all the sizes. So are we talking pocket or are we talking XL? Are we talking classic? Are we talking exotic? Are we talking?

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (22:34)
JK!

Yes.

Sara (22:57)
There's all the things. And again, litter size is important to know with that because if it's an XL scanned with 10 compared to a pocket that's been scanned with four, it's going to be totally different because their size and build is totally different.

So yeah, that's an interesting one that could go on for a very long time. She's probably just best off speaking to her vet.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (23:19)
So.

I

was gonna say to you Sara, so what is your reaction to this post? Are you commenting? Are you not commenting? If not, why not?

Sara (23:31)
I'm not commenting because there's too many unknowns and I haven't got time to ask all the questions to find out because I need to get on with my own life and my own dogs. So I would just scroll straight past that apart from in this instance for this podcast. Sorry, not sorry.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (23:50)
Hey, hopefully she has a safe whelp anyway.

Sara (23:50)
Hush.

I'm sure she will because she's got all these people on hand. And to be fair, the lady that seems very up to speed, she did say, go with your gut and just go to the vets if you're not sure. She's almost just said, why are you asking on here? We haven't got all the information. So that person is right in my opinion.

do you want a little update? See, look, this is, there's a lot of conversation now. So, American bully, first litter. The first puppy had its head out of sack and body was in sack. if it goes past three hours, we should be taking her to the vet. All right. And she was at an hour and a half, wasn't she? So she's got another hour and a half to go.

But I don't know why they, why that, she still hasn't said, okay, it was half, so it was out of sack. doesn't matter, body was in sack, but head out of sack. That doesn't really matter anyway. It was out of sack.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (24:59)
Yeah, by the time it came out. And as we don't know, long was that puppy in the birth canal being strained out for?

Sara (25:00)
The was broken.

Yeah, yeah, now the responses aren't particularly.

Even her responses aren't useful.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (25:13)
I personally

can't see what benefit she's going to get out of this Facebook group at this point. It seems like a post from somebody in dire need calling out for help in the complete wrong place because she's not going to get an unbiased. I feel at this stage with the lack of context, she's only going to get biased responses from people that have had similar experiences or read about something that might just about fit and shoehorn some response in.

I agree with you that the first comment is probably going to be the most beneficial comment you'll get which is if you're worried call your vet at this point because you haven't given us enough information to help you.

Sara (25:45)
Yeah.

Well, the problem you've got is the bully breeds are prone to water pups. So that's a whole another concern. And also someone's talked about feathering to help stimulate her to start the contractions again. And it doesn't sound like she knows much about that. It always...

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (26:05)
absolutely

what concerns me the most is this poster doesn't necessarily look particularly experienced which is absolutely fine so would they actually know if she was contracting I appreciate she she's not mentioned it in the post but there is a chance that she has been contracting for another hour and a half at this point

and some people are potentially telling her to wait another hour and a half whilst contracting. So that's my big red flag for this conversation. She's not said she's not.

Sara (26:36)
No, and an even red flag for me is now that someone knows it's a bully, they're saying that the puppies have got large heads, which isn't true because they pretty much have the same size head as most of it. It's a different shape. Yeah, I'll give you that. But newborn puppies' heads tend to all be roughly the same size because even from my point is...

of you as a scanner, there's certain numbers that I'm looking for that tell me that that gestational numbers produced by clever people, whoever put those together, the measures that will tell you whether a puppy can be born or not because it, and that size isn't different for different breeds. It's the size.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (27:18)
Yeah, that's a really

good point you've raised there, Sara. literally skull measures tell you the gestational age of a foetus. So if you can use that same measure on a Labrador to bring a Springer Spaniel to an American bully, how can anyone turn around and say an American bully newborn pup skull is any larger than other breed? They can't factually because it's not based on fact.

Sara (27:25)
Yeah.

Exactly. But someone did fairly raise about though, it depends on the type of American bullies, about the pelvic. So they've basically the large heads can be difficult to pass through the pelvis. Now, the large head is neither here nor there, but the pelvis bit is true, because some breeds such as the Bulldog they are a pear shaped body. So they have a

a wide shoulder set, but a narrow pelvis where most breeds so they're a pear shape, they're wide at the front and narrow at the bottom, where other breeze, they tend to be the same width of the shoulders as they are on the back thighs. So they don't have a narrow pelvis, but they're, so if that is a American bully, I imagine pocket is going to be a bit more narrow on the pelvis. So that part of that statement could possibly be true, even though the reason is not necessarily true.

I'm picking it all as we go. Right, if you...

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (28:41)
Absolutely,

so another inconclusive post that maybe was better aimed elsewhere.

Sara (28:46)
Yeah, what are you doing with it? Scrolling past it or liking it or cross fingers?

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (28:49)
I'm...

If I was

sat down with my cup of coffee and nothing better to do, I'm sure I'd comment saying, I think it's time you called your vet because we don't have enough information and I would leave it at that.

Sara (29:03)
Whoever looks at Facebook like that, I'm always like doing something and on Facebook. That's a truer reflection. What would you do then?

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (29:11)
I don't have time for something that isn't giving me enough information to answer in the first place. Unfortunately, the world is a busy place and if you require, isn't there an age old saying that the quality of an answer is driven by the quality of a question? I'm sure someone will email us afterwards and quote me properly, but it's so true in this instance. If you're not giving enough background, then the quality of answer is gonna be dire and there's no context.

Sara (29:12)
Yeah.

Yes. Yeah.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (29:39)
I can't give a valid answer so there's no point me wasting my time.

Sara (29:43)
I agree. Right, got another question?

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (29:46)
Here you go. Hello. My English Bulldog is 52 days from her second A.I She has clear discharge and her tits are a little bigger, but not full of milk, of course. She isn't actually big at all. I'm wondering if anyone has had a Bulldog first time being bred that was only pregnant with one or two pups and didn't show. I'm going to have to take her to the vet soon.

I just wanted to know if anyone else has been in this situation.

Sara (30:13)
Can you just through your investigative work, can you tell whether they're in the UK or not or any other posts?

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (30:21)
I cannot tell

anything. Absolutely no context. No previous posts. Nothing.

Sara (30:26)
No picture.

dear, maybe they should have scanned their dog.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (30:34)
Maybe they

should. I am concerned at the fact that that's a Bulldog that hasn't been scanned. So how on earth do they know what to expect at whelp? When we always like to hear the age-old myth and opinion. As we all know, there's a very divided group and lots of opinion when it comes around to Bulldogs whelping anyway.

It gives me the shivers to know that this unfortunate bitch is on day 52 and still hasn't been scanned.

Sara (31:05)
I mean, it could just be a phantom. You can get boobs with phantom saying she's not looking very pregnant. So to me, that sounds like, oh, warning lights. This, she might not be prego and it could just be a phantom. Oh yeah, they did have clear discharge, but yeah.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (31:10)
Absolutely you can.

clear discharge they have mentioned. So especially at that

window, week before due date potentially, so that could be the mucus plug coming away. My response would just be straight, I don't think I'd be able to help myself because I find this quite an emotive question that I would reply saying you need to get her ultrasound scanned ASAP by a trained professional, by someone who does this for a living that can give you through and through answers

Sara (31:27)
Yeah, that's true. Yeah.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (31:46)
So I would be giving my feedback here for the bitch's best interest because that bitch needs a scan so that she can be looked after proactively, hopefully by her owner. I wouldn't be able to scroll past this.

Sara (31:59)
Well, what's the plan?

It makes me want like, what's the plan? I just be a bit worried. they don't know, they don't really know she's pregnant. If she is, they don't know how many. What's the plan?

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (32:02)
What? Where was I?

I don't know but it was obviously fully intentional mentioned that the bitch was AI'd at least twice. So it's a fully intentional breeding so there must be some plan.

Sara (32:23)
Is there any responses?

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (32:23)
So, yep,

two responses. Someone's saying, do you have any pics of her? As if we're gonna be able to tell him how many to expect by a photo, weren't him, they. So that's a bizarre comment to me because the post has already suggested that they can't tell that the bitch is in pup, so I'm not sure how a complete stranger who doesn't even know the dog should be able to tell whether the dog isn't in pup or is in pup and with how many to expect.

Sara (32:29)
useful.

okay. All right. Okay. Yeah. Interesting.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (32:50)
And somebody else has commented saying have you had a scan?

Sara (32:54)
Well,

that sounds like a sensible person.

And that's all that's there. And yeah, mean, what can you, you're just making stuff up and he just needs to get her scanned and then he knows what he's dealing with or they know what they're dealing with, he, she, whoever. And then they can build a plan because they're going to need to plan either way because they're just going to wing it with a Bulldog.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (33:12)
Absolutely. obviously,

exactly and obviously we're discussing here, obviously being English from the UK, we're mentioning ultrasound scanning here and it's worth Sara you just chucking in a bit of information at this point because who better to be discussing scanning than yourself?

Sara (33:28)
Well, I mean, he could have known how many days, 52 minus 28, however many days, two weeks. To me, is no, if you breed a female, you must scan her. It's that black and white with me because, and you can scan days from last breeding.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (33:35)
some.

Sara (33:50)
up to, I mean, the ideal window is up to 35, or depends whether you've ovulation tested or not. But that's an optimal time to give you the pups look viable, but also to be accurate on numbers. So you can then plan how you're going to manage her pregnancy, because you know what's coming down the line. And whether that may be complications, because it's a small litter, or complications, because it's a crazy big litter. It works both ways. So

Yeah, there really is no excuse for the affordability that it is. I don't like other methods that people try and do, which is looking at the gums and seeing if the color changes. You've got these pregnancy tests, I think now, which you cannot use human pregnancy tests to just forget that idea, but there are dog pregnancy tests now, but I see people still not sure whether it's one line, two lines, and any lines and all that rubbish.

but also even if it was to be accurate and there is a vet version based on a more substantial amount of blood, because it's not urine test, it does require blood, even that can still give false results up to 35 days. So you might as well actually just scan at 28 days and know exactly what you're dealing with. And as long as you're using a qualified, certified, top-notch, know what they're doing scanner,

You'll leave your appointment fully what's about to happen next. All these people, and I'm sure we'll probably come onto one of these on a Q &A where they go, how many puppies can you see here? If you're doubting your scanners, you should have never gone to them in the first place or go and get a second opinion, find someone better and get a second opinion. And then either eat your words because they were right, they just didn't tell you what you wanted to hear. That happens a lot.

or you've like your lesson that they weren't great and you now found someone better. It's just, it's just one of those situations, but it can just rule out so many other problems. you know, picking up absorption, which could be a bigger problem of you having a bitch that doesn't have great fertility. And now you can be proactive against that. It can pick up things such as pyometra.

which is detrimental, which is life threatening for a female and how you can get her to the vet. So can pick up and we don't diagnose, but we can say, that's not normal. You need to go to the vet. can pick up pelvic kidneys. It can pick up bladder infections. It can pick up, you know, a whole host of things where you can go, do you know what? Even though she's acting like she's pregnant, it's another problem and you need to go to the vet and get a fixed 

ASAP not leave her another five weeks thinking that she's in pup and she's not. And then you have a whole bigger problem manifesting instead. So yeah, I'm all for scanning. If a female has been bred, she, in my opinion, must be scanned.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (36:40)
Absolutely and it's worth chucking in here. Not all scans are created equal. That's what you were sort of alluding to there, Sara. Not only in price but in quality. I had a conversation with somebody the other day that I was supporting and they had been quoted by their vet £250 for a pregnancy ultrasound. They wanted the bitch dropped off for the open of surgery that day and they were able to collect her at 5pm in the evening. That is no environment for a pregnant bitch to be in.

pets go to the vets because they're poorly generally so it's not a great environment it's a poorly pet hospital generally that you would be going to not to mention the fact it's a digit too many on the price front and it's a stressful and very long day for a bitch at potentially a very very vulnerable point in her pregnancy so the way in which your bitch can be scanned and when we're saying scans here we are referring to ultrasound scans in the UK

is hugely different. You know, if you went to someone like Sara, it's a 20 minute appointment, potentially in the comfort of your own home, you have to go absolutely nowhere and it just makes no sense to me that people don't necessarily realise or aren't aware that other options like Sara services are available.

Sara (37:58)
Yeah, I totally understand. We have been conditioned that the vets are best and they know everything and we need to learn that they are good and they're vital. We need them. They're super important. And when we get some really good proactive breeding ones, winner winner chicken dinner. But the majority of the time when someone signs up to be a vet, they want to help sick and injured animals and

helping you breed your dog doesn't necessarily fall into that category unless they're that way inclined. So they aren't really the best people to be scanning because it's just not within generally their interest about it. I get vets recommend me because they know it's not their bag and they're like, you know what, you know,

me a scalpel and I can do this, that, whatever. And that's amazing. Like we need those people, but it's good when you get vets that recognise that's not their expertise and there are other people out there offering a better service that they can say it's not right for a bitch to be booked in when she's pregnant in a stressful environment with whatever illnesses in the same environment. And then also for the owner not to actually be present for the scan. it's not top secret.

why would you not want the owner there to reassure the female? They get to experience the excitement of it all, seeing puppies if there are, counting how many. They can ask questions, because naturally that's going to start firing off some questions of what they're seeing, how that's going to impact the delivery. You know, I go over and above, I will do gestational measures, I'll give you a due date, I will give numbers because I want to test myself basically, so I like to live life on the edge.

But I say to people, know, it's a snapshot at that time. So females can reabsorb, anything can happen. I could double count. I put my hands up, you know. I always say to people, if I was that good with my numbers all the time, I'd do the lottery and I'd be a very rich lady and I wouldn't be scanning anymore. No, wouldn't. But yeah, to me, there's so many benefits to scanning.

I could probably go on all day and all night and all day again. So for the cost that it is, if you find somebody that's good and there are some good websites out there, probably have to stick it in the show notes where you can literally, if you're in the UK at least, you can plug in your postcode and it will bring up a list of like trained know, pregnancy scanners basically that have been through some basic training.

I mean, I literally talk people through it. In fact, on YouTube, my most watched video is my scan video where I literally just did a live stream of scanning one, maybe two bitches. I mean, this is years ago now. It's probably about eight years ago. So I should redo it because now I've got a better camera and I've got a better mic and I haven't got a better dog. They're all still good. But to be fair, the equipment is better as well now. But it's interesting because it just goes to show. I even go through

you know, the position of the bitch, what you should see, what shouldn't happen and all that kind of stuff. What could happen, what extra stuff you could have in your scan. It's not just a case of putting the probe on and going, yep, she's in pup and off you go. I literally talk people through what I can see, why I can see it, why I think that might be a problem or not and all that kind of thing. maybe I'll put that link, even though it is very old. Maybe I should put that in there.

in the show notes as well, just so people can have at least a benchmark of what to expect. Because if you don't know, you don't know.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (41:27)
No, I think that's a really beneficial little rabbit hole we went down there.

Sara (41:32)
Yeah, I think it was. Right, I'm conscious of the time. I don't think we've got time for any more questions. Oh no. Who would have thought it? We could talk about dog breeding for so long. So, let's round this session up. Again, we welcome your questions, your own personal questions. So don't forget, you can email podcast@breedersbrew.com.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (41:41)
Who would have thought?

shock.

Sara (42:01)
or post in the Facebook group and we will endeavour to pick them up and have a little cheeky conversation about them.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (42:10)
Absolutely, you'll be able to find both of those in the show notes as always. notes can be found on breedersbrew.com under the specific tab on the website. So if there's ever anything we mentioned mid podcast, you think, I must remember that. Don't worry, those show notes are always there for your viewing, printing, do with what you want.

Sara (42:29)
Right. It's a goodbye for me. Until next time.

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (42:33)
Until next time, I look forward to our next chat.

Sara (42:37)
See ya!

Isobel Canine Nutrition Coach (42:38)
Bye!

Sara Lamont (42:40)
We hope you enjoyed this episode as much as we did recording it. I'm sure you've probably worked out by now that not all Facebook whelping groups are made equal. We strongly recommend you come and join us by simply searching Breeders Brew Community on Facebook and requesting to join the group filled with proactive and passionate puppy practitioners.