Echuca Vet Clinic delivers on breeding advice

“There’s not a lot of information out there for new breeders, and experienced breeders often won’t give out the information, and so they turn to their vet,” Ms Berghofer said.

“It is daunting, and if you don’t do things correctly, there might be complications.

“We’re offering as much information and support as we can to our clients who are getting into it for the first time, or even experienced clients who need help.”

Ms Berghofer and Dr Mark Wheatley stress that regular health checks are important, both before and after a canine pregnancy has begun.

“People may need help from the very first part of the process, which is the joining or mating,” Dr Wheatley said.

“Testing for progesterone levels and whether a female is ready to breed is something we can help with here.

“The test takes about 20 minutes, and you’ll know where a female is at in her cycle, and whether she’s ready.

“We can use that test for both natural mating, and then also artificial insemination.”

With Ms Berghofer ’s experience, the clinic is able to offer guidance and advice to those who are pursuing either alternative for their dog’s pregnancy, and can also help for the entirety of the pregnancy through to the birth.

“We can advise on how to set up a whelping area for the female, what to feed the female from the time they mate to the time the puppies are born, exercise and keeping her fit and not overweight during the pregnancy — it’s not just mate your dogs here and have puppies here, there’s a lot in between that people have to consider,” she said.

“It’s not an easy task, and it can be scary and daunting for people, especially first-time breeders.

“A female dog’s water will break, just like a female human would, and she will have contractions, and different stages of contractions.

“If they’re contracting quite heavily, you should have a puppy within half an hour; if not, seek some vet advice.

“If they’ve had a puppy, and another puppy hasn’t presented within two hours, call a vet.

“Just explaining these things can make delivering puppies at home less stressful.”

After the COVID-19 period, the value for puppies has skyrocketed, with some puppies going for thousands of dollars.

“$2000 is cheap for puppies now,” Ms Berghofer said.

“I saw a puppy go for $10,000 the other day.

“This is what COVID has done: a lot of people see that and think ‘this is easy, I’ll make a lot of money here’ and not thinking of the consequences that go with it.”

The current high value of puppies has encouraged people to try breeding their dogs, not knowing how difficult it can be.

“We see it all the time,” Ms Berghofer said.

“I’ve seen people have the belief that ‘I’ll put these two dogs together, and we’ll have puppies, and it’ll be no trouble — I don’t have to do anything, mum does all the work’, but it’s not straightforward.

“Puppies don’t maintain a body temperature until they’re three to four weeks of age; it’s very important that their environment should be a set temperature. From birth to one week old they need to be in about 32ºC, and then it tapers down as they get older.

“Because they just can’t maintain a body temperature, they can get cold very, very quickly, and that’s when puppies start to die; a lot of people don’t realise that.

"To get into breeding, you have to do it for love: you’ve got to have time, you’ve got to have passion, and you’ve got to be prepared to take the good with the bad.’’