For those of you who work full time, how to you juggle dogs/litters and work? Looks like I'll have to go back to work with the economy the way it is and hubby's job, and I haven't really been working since I've been showing and breeding. Any advice? Should I give up trying to do both?

I'm about where you are. Friends who do it plan their vacation time, they progesterone test their girls, and some use Whelpwise to get a heads up on due dates. My friend planned her vacation week off for her girl's last litter. Good thing, as the girl's labor didn't progress and she needed a section.

So, what are good jobs for folks with little recent experience besides being a mommy and a dog breeder/exhibitor? Driving a minivan?

It looks like some breeders just pay someone to raise their litter--see the "stiffed" post.

I have always worked full time when I've had litters (both when married and now being single). I've learned to be a "master" of time management to accommodate the puppies and adult dogs. When I have puppies I don't have very much of a social life, but that's what I'm willing to do to make this all work for me. I will also say I only have 1-2 litters a year.

I schedule my vet appts early in the morning for progesterone testing, etc, so that I can go to work afterwards. In the early days of breeding, I would take the first few days off to be home with litters. Now, I'm home the day of whelping only if my bitch is an experienced mother. If she's a 1st time mother, and not getting the hang of things, then I evaluate if I need to stay home an extra day after whelping. I monitor puppies very closely to ensure everyone is growing, healthy, etc. It's critical that I catch even the slightest issue very early.

The dogs should be perfectly capable of taking care of their babies. My girls have a 4x5 whelping box, food and water (bone and toys too) outside of their whelping box. The whelping box is contained within an xpen area that is quite large, so momma dog can get out of the box if needed. This ensures she has room to move around, but also can't take off with babies and hide them somewhere else. Usually, the girls are always in the whelping box tending to their pups.

I have never come home to a dead or injured puppy during my absence. I have had 2 pups die in all unrelated to my working away from home. Two pups died because mother stepped on them getting out of the whelping box when I was home. One bitch did step on a(side of the head) puppy, causing a puncture wound, shortly before I came home from work at 3wks of age. I consulted with my vet via phone, treated with antibiotic ointment, and kept the skin clean. Puppy healed nicely and is perfectly normal.

I won't lie - it's a TON of work to have pups while working, being single, and having older dogs. It's not great for a social life, but if you have good time management skills you can do it too.

When you are talking about working and having a litter do you mean you are gone for an 8 hour work day plus travel time? I cannot imagine leaving a litter of puppies and Mom alone. Not judging you--just saying it would not work for me. I have a litter of 2 day old pups now. Mom (first timer) is eating cottage cheese and kibble and water 4 times during the day. I don't think that would stay very freash being left out. I am making sure everyone is getting on a nipple for equal time. With all the rich food she has to go out often during the day. Yesterday I pulled a puppy out from under her. He was hollaring and wiggling--maybe he would have gotten out--maybe. When they are bigger I've had them get their bottom jaw stuck between the rails in the puppy x-pen and what about all that poop? Mine enjoy getting outside with me and another adult twice a day. It just wouldn't work here. I cannot imagine the conditions I would be coming home to..plus it just plain and simple a long day of no company for Mom and babies. If you were to get a puppy what sort of situation would you think would be best for him to have spent his first 8 weeks?

I use my vacation time and take off the first week. We joke its my maternity leave. I have the feeding schedules for older pups work around my work schedule. If you work close by, come home at lunch. I do not, so my longer work days I have a family member come check on the pups.

Many of us are not retired yet or need to work to keep our habit going. So you are not alone in your situation.

Yes, I work a full time job which means work 8hrs plus travel time. I can run home if needed at lunch, but that would be a 2hr lunch period or so.

My bitches are free fed kibble when I have puppies. I see no need to put a bowl of food down 4 times a day. I free feed during my hours of absence and supplement with cottage cheese and yogurt stuff when I am home. So, really this is no different than what you do.

As for potty for mom, I suppose my girls are different than yours. Some may potty in the outside area of the whelping box in the early days, but that's rare. Remember, that outside area is quite large. It's also prepped for ease of cleaning should an potty accident happen.

You mis-read the xpen thing. My whelping box is where puppies are kept until they are weaned. This is why it is 4x5 in size. When they are weaned they are moved into a 7x9 pen. This pen has a potty area, play area and sleeping area. My whelping box design is safe for mom and pups. The temp in the box is always monitored to ensure mom doesn't ruffle bedding because of being too hot, and that babies are kept warm/cool.

I stream video via internet for my own purposes when I am away from home. I do not stream puppy video of future puppy owners. I see what goes on even though I may not be home to intervene.

My pups get outside plenty before they go to their new homes. In fact, they are outside each day unless the weather is inclement (too hot, cold, rainy).

Puppy poop you ask. That's why they have a potty box when in their puppy pen. Don't know about your momma dogs, but my girls clean-up after their babies unless I get to it first when I'm there near her and the pups.

I start weaning pups at 4wks and they are usually fully weaned at 5.5wks. The real poop volume occurs during/after weaning.

Why would the dogs need company? Do you mean to tell me that you would forego a job to provide day long company to your dog? That just isn't realistic. I guess if you have a spouse to support you and your hobby monetarily then I guess it's not an issue.

I have bought puppies from several breeders. Some who are home full-time, and are even on this list. I buy from someone that has their act together when it comes to breeding, does their clearances, and takes great care of their dogs. This is exactly what I do. There are plenty that are home full time, breed like mad, and yet the care of their dogs stink. So the key is research and doing your homework.

I'm glad you have the ability to stay home and play with dogs day in and day out. It's just not reality for lots of folks including myself.

BTW - you did judge. Read your last sentence.

I have been working full time and have been accomodating and been accomodated.

My work is fairly flexible, we do shift bids every few months. I have the option of days, afternoons or nights.
When a planned breeding is coming up- i book a week vacation in around that time. They allow me to change it as i see fit if the numbers and days are looking different.
I have in the past dropped down to part time, which included weekends in the past, and have a wonderful husband, and 2 children that are more than willing to help out with pups.
Recently, i was scheduled for vacation- rearranged the days (during Potomac we were due)- and i went on afternoon shift at work.
I leave late in the day, and my 14 year old son comes home 1/2 hour after i left. so mom and pups never home longer than 1/2 hour by themselves.
Now- i'm back on days with a later morning start time, and my one son is nearly out of school for summer holidays. I also have a neighbor that comes over to check on them if i'm not going to be home.

It's alot of work, on all of us, but the pleasures of it all are worthwhile

We have an elderly family member living with us who is capable of watching and counting puppies, feeding momma and letting her out for potty, and calling me if anything seems out of the ordinary.

I lost my real job about 2 years ago due to the Economy and am just temping now. I plan on taking advantage of the flexibility when my next litter is born and spend a little extra time in the AM with them. Just because I like checking them daily, weighing them, making notes on their progess.

"I cannot imagine the conditions I would be coming home to..plus it just plain and simple a long day of no company for Mom and babies."

Wow! Are you serious? What have we come to with these animals? My dogs are like family members for sure but come on... now it is unnatural to leave a mother and her babies alone with each other during the day??? Some may argue that our bitch's deserve the right to raise their puppies more themselves and we interfere too much. I think it is a sad situation when we take over control so much that we feel we do a mother and her offspring an injustice if we allow her the pleasure of raising her babies without our constant interference.

Thank you not impressed... I have thought for a long time that the less we do is best when it comes to our girls and the raising of their pups. I am present at whelpings, but only to assist if needed, other than that, I figure that dogs have been raising puppies for thousands of years successfully, so why should I intervene.

But on another note, I would rather get in the whelping box and help there than do all the tricks and dances some folks do to even get their bitches pregnant. Yes, dogs have been whelping successfully for thousands of years, but as a domesticated animal in my home, I am there to help. But it saddens me to see folks breeding dogs that should obviously not be having litters because they physically cannot have the puppies. Mom's a bad whelper, stop breeding her. Lines or not, pretty or not, that's a dog not meant to procreate.

Flip side- I too agree with you- but as with any sport involving animals, human egos will supercede animal welfare.

I work full time and have 8 dogs at home. I am lucky that I have a partner that helps me out with the dogs who also works full time. My line of work provides me with a little bit of flexibility where I am able to manipulate my work hours from time to time. Someone mentioned good time management and yes that is a key factor to getting things done. The problem with working and maintaining multiple dogs is it is NON STOP. My day begins very early in the morning before the sun rises and ends very late at night. It is not only managing time it is constant rushing around and having very little time for other things. I am able to go home for lunch to let the dogs out and let them get some stretch time. Then I usually eat my lunch in my car on my way back to work. I have a litter due next month and that will add another dimension to my already tight schedule. I have already planned to take some time off of work to be with my girl and her babies. I also have a partner to help me out which I am very lucky to have and they will also volunteer some of their days to stay home with the mom and babies. There is a lot of sacrifice involved, but I am not saying it is not worth it.
I don't know about all of you but I am beat.

Flip side--I agree....1000s of years of having pups w/o us has nothing to do with a breeding where we have paid $1000 for a stud fee and more $$ for repro vet, progesterone testing, possible c-sections, x-rays, ultrasounds...hardly the same as those dogs or wolves who whelp alone or the 1940s farm dog having pups under the porch. What are we thinking here? One thread about letting a bitch whelp alone while a breeder is on vacation and this about going to work for 9 or more hours all day. What is the point?

I do not think that everyone has a right to everything they "want." You want to breed so you do regardless of the time you have to take care of the Mom and pups...this is an attitude that has other countries looking with disdain at Americans...I want therefore I deserve, therefore I will--regardless. I want that expensive new car so I just buy (charge) it. Just my opinion but I do not think we all can have/do everything we want.

Got to have $$$$ to support dogs or what else do you do, become a puppy mill? Play the lotto and maybe you will win and have all the money you need? No you can't have everything you want, but you can work hard and be successful at it.

You might be beat, but I bet that you would not trade it for anything else.

I have always worked full time throughout breeding. As someone said, I need the $$$, to supplement this wild and crazy hobby of ours, and I don't sit home and live off the avails of breeding my females. Having said that, some Breeders are home full time with their dogs (and I truly envy them) and it does NOT mean they just exploit their dogs, but we all know, sadly, some do.

I have a dear friend who is retired who will sit at my house all day with a female in stage 1, can and has whelped a pup or two until I can get home, and who will come all day for the first few days after they're born while I'm at work. Sounds easy as pie but in reality, when a litter is due, it's a very stressful time for me, taking temps, watching VERY closely, making arrangements, being up sometimes two or three nights in a row and save for the odd sick day during a daytime whelping, or a sick morning until my friend can get to my house, I miss VERY little work over the dogs. Once the litter is here, I am at work all day, but my friend comes to my house EVERY day at noon, litters or not, and she lets the housedogs out to potty, fills water pails in the kennel, gives kennel dogs a run in the fenced field, and calls me at my office every day at 1:10, to let me know how things are. Hubby has recently become the victim of a plant closure, (after 34 years working there) and so is temporarily home, but we will resume this routine of 10+ years with my friend, as soon as he is working again or taking a training program. Without my friend all these years, we'd have been euchered. She stays at our place whenever we get away too. She's a wonderful friend and I'm very lucky to have her. My dogs all know her and love her too.

Of course, all my holidays are used for dog related working "vacations".

OK--You win, of course you can go on vacation and leave your bitch who is due to whelp alone. You can work full time and leave the new Mom with her litter in the house. You've made me realize I have been doing this wrong. With my one or two litters a year. I'm happy to learn something from this forum.

The point of this whole thread wasn't to start an argument about which is best - "stay at home dog moms" or "working dog moms". It was to find out how people cope with being gone a good portion of the day.

In a perfect world, we would all be able to spend every necessary minute with everything we needed/wanted to do, and then to let others take care of things we didn't want to do (like housework, cooking, working, etc...). But unfortunately, most people need to bring in some sort of an income and I was simply trying to find out how people deal with the issue.

Thanks for all the good food for thought. I might have to sacrifice my dog hobby to be able to support my family, from the sounds of it. But my family takes precedence over the dogs and I'm not willing to go bankrupt just because I'd rather be home playing with puppies.

You must be very lucky to stay home to have your one or two litters a year. Maybe you are financially secure and can afford to stay at home. We all wish we could do that and personally I would like to look at working part time as an option to balance out the scales in the near future. Although, the reality is this can be an expensive hobby. There are a lot of good responsible breeders working full time. To say that the puppies are of any less quality or any less socialized is just plain silly. If you have an emergency with your dog or your girl having puppies, it is much easier to take some time off of work to handle what needs to be done then to have something come up and not have the money to afford to take care of the problem. IMO if you don't have the money to take proper care of your dogs and puppies you are subtracting good care from the dog and puppies in the long run. As was mentioned, there are plenty of breeders who are home with their litters and dogs day in and day out and that does not mean the dogs and puppies are getting the best care.

One of the most helpful things to do when having to work full time and keep in raising and breeding is to have someone to help you. Have a friend that you trust who can go to your house and help you with your dogs or your spouse or older children maybe a one of your neighbors.

I don't just work full time; I often work 80 hour weeks during the school year. Fortunately, much of my work (preparing lectures and assignments, grading papers) can be done at home with a large puddle of Labradors around me, who are happy to sleep if they have had a nice romp and walk in the field. Also my time during the summer is flexible, so I can have summer litters easily. The girls don't always cooperate by coming into season in April, however. Since many of my puppies go to hunting homes, the puppies need to be well socialized. This does not require your being with them 24/7, but rather allowing them to interact with many situations. I find that a fairly short amount of quality time on a regular basis works well in readying my pups for new homes.

Whelping is always an adventure. I can think of two times when I just could not be there at the time of whelping. One time I had to leave the girl at the vet's to have the litter. (All my friends work, too.) She did fine, but that was certainly a last resort. The other time I had scheduled a pre-exam evening review session for my Genetics students right when my girl decided to whelp. You do not stand up 30 desperate Genetics students just before an exam! Fortunately I had already offered the students in my other class, Vertebrate Zoology, the possibility of witnessing the whelping. I was able to reach 3 women, one of whom had helped to whelp a litter before, who were willing to come over while I had to be gone. Several pups had already been born. I spent some time with them introducing Mother, explaining everything, before I left, was gone about an hour, and when I came back, three or four more puppies had been born, and the girls were justifiably proud of saving one little guy who was not breathing and had to be "jump-started". One of those students is now in vet school. When she wrote to me to ask for a letter of recommendation, she mentioned that experience as one of the highlights of her college career.

My dogs have been earning field, agility, and obedience titles regularly, for myself and for others. They usually adjust readily to their new homes and take everything in their stride. If they don't, I seriously consider eliminating them and litter mates from my breeding program. Lab puppies with good temperaments do not need to be hovered over in order to turn out well. They do need contact with people, and the more people the better, and they need lots of experiences.

Well I work almost 5 hrs pr day, witch is not much but I have 3 kids, 4 and half years, almost 9 years and 12 years. At the moment I have 3 adult Labs and 2 puppies.
But I don´t work weekends and every summer I have about 5 week's summer vacation so if I plan a litter I try to have a summer litter's.But it has happen that I have had litters with out being in any vacation but like I said I work until 2 after launch so I am home early during the day. Also my hubby is part in this with me and he helps out if I need him to... could never do this with out him. But again sometimes I wish that I didn't work at all and could stay home and take care of kids and dogs but that would be too much to ask for huh...

I've done it both ways because I have raised dogs working many hours a week. Now both my hubby and I now work part time and arrange our work schedules so that puppies have someone home all the time. This way is better. I can tell the difference in the puppies. And I can tell the difference in my own attitude. This is more fun and more rewarding.

Honestly, I wish I just hadn't put myself, my family, and my dogs through the earlier times in my life when I thought I could do what shouldn't be done. Stress is not good for any of us. And why do it? For a hobby? Does that really make sense?