I'm over the moon to bring news that Yarna is pregnant, a baseline of six puppies, but Jane says they are usually pretty accurate. With Yarna mated a day after a test of 33 it will be interesting to see if there are a lot of males in the litter, breed early for bitches is what they say. The dam determines the size of the litter, it depends on how many eggs are there to fertilise. It was said that the sire determine the sex of the puppies, but of course it is a little more complex than that. The pH level in the bitch’s vagina makes the optimal environment for survival of the sperm, in an acidic environment the sperm who produce bitches succeed, while in an alkaline environment the sperm who produce males are more successful. If a bitch is mated "bang on" there is usually a similar amount of males and females, bitches mated early produce more female offspring, whilst bitches mated late produce more male offspring. Jill Hubbard explained it to me years ago, basically, during the early part of when the bitches are fertile the vaginal environment is more acidic and gradually changes over the days when the eggs ripen further. Research now makes interesting reading, I just wish she'd told me before Krizzie had 15 males and 2 females in 2 litters from two different stud dogs though!
