How I Tackled Multiple Litters

If You’re a Breeder with Multiple Females…

it’s bound to happen to you. Your females’ heat cycles all sync up and suddenly you’re expecting 3, 4, maybe even 5 litters.

It happened to me! I had been casually breeding 1 litter at a time for the last 2 years and the simple thought of 4 litters was daunting, maybe even terrifying. I lost more sleep planning for 4 litters than I did raising 4 litters, but planning was the key to my success!

Before moving forward, ask yourself if you’re financially prepared for multiple litters. On top of the supplies I already owned, I spent thousands (as in over $3000!) setting up additional whelping areas. Multiply the vet bills, plus the possibility of multiple C-sections, and you can quickly get in over your head financially. Don’t forget to account for a huge increase in utilities, food, cleaning supplies and more!

Here is how I tackled multiple litters:

An Old Fashioned Calendar

An old fashioned calendar I printed off of the internet. No matter how good of a memory you think you have, the dates will all begin to blur together. My calendar was always within arms reach and went to every vet appointment with me.

I started with documenting each successful tie. Then I determined possible due dates and highlighted those dates, each dog in a different color.

This helped me visually see how much overlap I truly had between litters and when to look for signs of labor. My calendar didn’t stop when the puppies arrived.

I continued by documenting birthdates, bi-weekly wormings, vet appointments and go-home dates.

Take a peek at the calendar, I had nearly 2 weeks of virtually no sleep from back-to-back whelping due dates.

The Community Center

What I deemed “The Community Center”. I live in the suburbs, we don’t have land. My puppies have always been raised in the center of my home. It was important that I found a way to continue this practice while keeping the peace between 4 mommas.

I started by setting up an individual space for each mom, which included using every available bedroom and garage space. My usual set up in my family/dining room was left empty and called “The Community Center.” I was able to let all the moms out together for breaks in this community center, they were happy because they could do their usual dog stuff (lay on the couch, beg under the kitchen table etc.). No one felt threatened because their puppies were secured behind closed doors.

Note - MANY mamas will injure or kill other puppies/mamas in fights that break out due to hormones and instinctive protectiveness. Even the most submissive girls can easily turn on another mama in seconds, so keeping them separate is the only way that works for some. This also means alternating potty and break times (more time!).

Once the puppies were mobile, and mommas became less protective, I began rotating the litters into the community center area. This gave each litter the time in the center of my home, something I find critical to my program.

With so many puppies, socialization was still a challenge. Even when I was exhausted as heck and didn’t want anyone seeing (or smelling) my house, I had to invite trusted people over to handle and play with the puppies on a weekly basis.

Litter Box Training

People, puppy pads are a thing of the past! I also had success with real sod with previous litters, but with multiple litters it wasn’t cost effective - along with the fact that I don’t have room in my garbage to throw away 4+ pieces of sod a week.

I don’t want to go into all the details on how to litter box train in this article but trust me, it’s a life saver.

Regardless, plan to pick-up a lot of poop. Nursing moms eat more meals, which means MORE poop. I’d clean up the yard twice a day, which often didn’t even seem like enough. While the litter box helps manage the puppy poop, unfortunately I don’t have a good solution for momma’s poop.

Puppies that have been litter boxed trained will likely be easier to potty train once they reach their new homes too! This leads to happy families. Happy families are more likely to recommend your breeding program to family and friends, or purchase from you again!

All-in-One Communication

I created a private Facebook group for all of my puppy owners. I could have easily spent hours answering the same question over and over again. Instead, when I would get a question over text, email, messenger, etc... I would respond with, “Great question, I’m going to answer this in the group for everyone”. This saved me so much time, time that I needed to clean up poop and take photos! I also posted links to products I recommend and any helpful graphics or articles I came across.

Contracts

I had my contracts ready to go. I hate the paperwork part of this business but it’s so important. I knew sitting down to do 17 contracts all at once was not an option.

I took the opportunity to perfect my contract before the puppies even arrived. I did contracts immediately after someone chose a puppy instead of procrastinating and letting the workload pile up. I tied DocuSign to GoogleDocs and wondered why I didn’t do this a long time ago. Not only could I send out a contract in less than 5 minutes, the presentation was far more professional too!

Raising multiple litters is a huge commitment, I gave up my management position at my other job to make it work. I didn’t sleep in my own bed next to my husband for weeks, only getting 2 hours of sleep before dragging myself out of bed to go to my other job. I often went days without leaving the house. The noise levels and poo smells are impossible to describe adequately! You will be exhausted, and at times frustrated, but with the proper planning and using my tips above, it can be not only successful, but hopefully enjoyable! ~Rachel