How many puppies will there be in a litter?

Question

I would like to know how you can determine how many puppies will be born in a litter. I know it all depends on the dogs breed, But do you look at the breed of the female dog carrying the pups or the male dog which impregnated her.

Answer 1

Neither. You take her to the vet and let them  do an x-ray to see how many there are. Size is not always a factor in the size of the litter.

Answer 2

The Vet will be able to give you a good guess. But it not always on the spot. It can be from 1 to 12! Just depending on the dog. If you go to a vet a month before it supposed to get into labor, then the vet can tell for you.

Answer 3

smaller dog usually have less pups..they do have more than the mom can supply milk and some will die if not feed by owner

Answer 4

wow. lol. neither is an accurate way to determine the # of pups. radiographs can be taken as early as 45 days into the pregnancy. the veterinarian them counts the number of calcified skulls and spines in the womb. ultrasounds can be taken as early as 30 days, but are not accurate in predicting the number of puppies in a litter, just better at discovering fetal heartbeats.

*Mary~

Answer 5

I don't know, my friends dog had different size litters, sometimes 3, sometimes 4, and once 5.  She got around, so sometimes the father was the same, and sometimes they were different.  You could do an ultrasound.

Answer 6

It is impossible to tell how many they will have, even if you know the breed of both the mother and father dogs. I have a neighbor that breeds and shows Burmese Mountain Dogs and they recently had a litter of puppies and only had 3 in the litter. They normally had between 5-8 puppies in a litter. The only way to know how many puppies are going to be in a litter are to wait until they are born.