SGoracke Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 For those of you that have working females that you have bred: At what point in pregnancy do you stop working them, or do you continue up til they are due? I usually try to back off around 4 weeks along, but am wondering if I really need to? She is fit and used to being worked 5-6 days a week, and she is not happy about the forced layoff! I continue to exercise her daily and she is not hard on herself so I thinking of reconsidering... Thoughts? Thanks, Stephanie Goracke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lana Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 It might be like people and depend on the female. I know women who ran 10 miles up the last month of pregnancy....ooooooooooo not for me I would say know the bitch and if she is showing discomfort then stop. I worked Mint up to a few weeks before she whelped. I was loading a trailer and she got trampled so that made me re think using her the last few weeks. I took her for some basic chores but no real work the last 2 weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 The one bitch I bred I worked while pregnant. I figured it was important for her mental health as well as for physical fitness. Late in pregnancy, I did stop using her, except for one nighttime emergency when the neighbor's cattle got out. I agree with Lana that a lot depends on knowing the dog well enough to know when it's time to stop. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
workindogs Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 In also have worked pregnant bitches until a couple of weeks before whelping. I am careful not to get them hot or overtired or do any dangerous jobs. Like Lana, my Mist later in preg went out to do what seemed a simple job that ended up giving her a tumble. It gave me a fright and I decided it was time to stop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaBluez Tess Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 It depends on the dog. When Tess was PG, she would work but you could tell she was a little more thoughtful. When Peg was pg, she had no regard for her body, so needless to say, she was not worked during her pg. She would just slam into sheep etc.....so she went on only playtime, swimming etc to keep her fit. I try to stop them working about two weeks prior, aside from a few exceptions (such as an emergency) When Tess was pg and very big, I used her to move ewes and lambs....she would just waddle along and just was super low key and the ewes never fussed....normally she would get one ewe that would eye up and stomp, but during that time, her demeanor changed just enough so the ewes were very willing to do what she wanted......Nan would work at her fast pace so she got limited sheep time. I found wach of my dogs were different. At the last two weeks, I would pull them off as I didn't want to take any chances Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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