Help... Basset Hound and a Yorkie?
 

Hey everyone... yet again I need some advice.
I know this sounds crazy, but my wife and I (to a lesser degree) are a bit concerned that our 10 month old female yorkie may have gotten pregnant by a basset hound. We have a 6 year old male basset hound, and I didnt think it was possible for him to mate with our yorkie because of the huge size difference. He never really showed much interest and we never saw them try to "connect" but after our yorkie's first heat we noticed that her nipples seemed to be getting quite big. She looks like she may have gained a little weight, but her belly really isnt bulging too much and she is still very active. But it still worries us that her nipples seem to be getting bigger and bigger.

Sorry if this sounds stupid, but this is our first female dog and I'm not sure what to look for. The basset hound is the only male dog shes been around. Maybe we are just being paranoid... what do you guys think?

If your basset is not nuetered and your yorkie is obviously not spayed~of course there is a great possibility that she is pregnant. Please for the sake of your little girl get her to the vet immediately for a spay. It can be done even if she is pregnant. There is no way that she will be able to survive a whelp of a mating between with a basset.

Take her to a vet tomorrow and spay her. She is too young to be a mom and as was said pups from a large dog could kill her

May I ask why neither of these animals has been "fixed"? I believe you should always have your pets s/n'd if you are not going to be 100% vigilant about preventing unwanted matings, between these animals, and any others that happen to be around.

Well in terms of mating now you know better. Bring your bitch into spay her. A basset hound head is huge compared to a Yorkies body. I'm not sure why you've waited to spay her, given you have a 6yr old un neutered male living in your home. The most fool proof way to insure no indiscriminate breeding doesn't happen is to spay your pets. Other than that, you have to be alert to female dog heats, and when this happens, all dogs are crated, fed separately, and exercised separately. Literally it only takes a few seconds for a mating to occur.

I hope that all goes well with the spay. And IMO there is no option here. Your Yorkie will NOT be able to successfully free whelp a Basset hound x Yorkie mix.

I'm still totally amazed how anybody could get a female yorkie and not have her spayed when they have a un neutered male. I can't imagine where people's brains are when they get dogs. I'm not a dog expert but even I know that would be a total impossiblity. I have 2 female bassets and a male yorkie and they have all been fixed the thought of my bassets and my yorkie blows my mind.

I agree with the other posters... Get your baby spayed tomorrow because she will not survive if you allow her to go through the pregnancy.

Please... get both of your dogs spayed and neutered, it is the responsible thing to do.

That poor little baby girl (literally), how horrible for her. Please listen to advice the experts have given you, which I am not. But even I know, this should never have occurred nor can it go on unless you are willing to lose her sweet little life. P-L-E-A-S-E take her for spay!

I feel like the worse parent in the world...
I am taking her in tomorrow. I am still skeptical of the pregnancy, but my wife is very worried. We love our dogs very much and treat them like children- it was ignorance on our part to even allow for the chance of this to take place, but ignorance is still no excuse.

Thank you for listening to this advice, and please keep us posted on your yorkie.

I would also suggest neutering the basset hound unless you are planning on breeding him. You don't want to find out he sired a bunch of puppies down the street.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

I'm glad you are taking her to the vet and taking responsibility for your mistake. Even if she is not pregnant you should have her spayed, if she is pregnant you MUST have her spayed (luckily they can do it as long as she isn't too far along).

Please consider having your male neutered as well. It is more than just having him accidentally breed with other dogs. It can improve his health! It helps prevent things like cancer, etc. Please ask your vet about the benefits when you take your girl in, and consider having your boy done too!

Glad you are taking her in. Even if you are skeptical, an emergency spay is the best course of action and may very well save her life.

question
 

would a bassett not do severe damage to the yorkie if he tried to mate with her, silly question i no, :rolleyes:

:thumbup: Thank you for not being defensive after come on here for advice, as many do.

Don't feel to bad, just take care of the issue as planned.

Alright, so I took Tanya to the vet for a pregnancy test/evaluation and she is not pregnant. The vet called it a pseudopregnancy and said that it happens from time to time after a heat. Tanya is fine and we are going to make sure that we never have to go through such a scare again. Thanks for the advice.

Thank you for the update and good news! :)

Again, please consider s/n-ing them both. There are a lot of benefits besides not having to worry about pregnancy.

The only way to make sure you never go through that again is to spay her ASAP. If you don't, I can practically guarantee you will be in the same situation again.

So you are getting her and your male fixed? I'm unclear on the solution here and out of curiosity...how are you preventing this from happening again?
I won't jump on you for not having had her fixed previous, I don't fix my females until they are a year old at least I believe they should experience heat a couple times-but I exercise caution-why isn't your male fixed already?

I'm guessing you are not a breeder so why do you have unaltered animals? If you are a breeder...you need to rethink it big time. You know most responsible breeders eventually have their retired breeding dogs fixed right? As being unaltered opens the door to many health issues...look it up please.

She just posted that the dog is not pregnant and they are going to make sure they never have this scare again.

Great News!

A step in the right direction would be to immediately neuter your male puppy. Neutering a relatively cheap, quick recovery and will help to eliminate many of the issues with marking inside your home. Then in a few weeks when your female is able to have a spay she can then be spayed. Good luck and please don't wait to neuter your male. :thumbup:

Concretegurl - just curious why you prefer to wait until your girls have a couple of heat cycles... I'm having a debate about the wisdom of waiting until the dog is a little bigger vs the increased risk of mammary tumors if the dog has any heats. Also been told that once a dog goes into heat she begins marking and spaying after that doesn't solve the marking problem. Having lost a wonderful dog during the last of several annual surgeries to remove tumors, I don't want to go through that again.

You should start a separate thread on this topic...for me it is a personal preference, since you asked, behavioral, & temperamental.

I don't recommend it or debunk it either or, because there are so many serious issues well understood and debated among vets on both sides...let alone most people are not responsible enough to follow this and risk unplanned or wanted pups, or they fail to ever alter their female-which is sad. I based my decision on personal observations, and specific issues that pertain to my situation and my dogs.

I believe in fixing them, even retired breeding females/males should be fixed...I've never heard of "any" heats increasing mammary cancer though...I know that bacterial build up in the uterus leads to it over years, hormones etc...had a friend loose her female for the same reason she was about 12 years old though(I urged her to have her fixed but unfortunately she didn't).

Anyways I was just saying that if that was why they (the OP) didn't fix their female I could relate, but when one makes such a decision-you had better cross all your t's and dot all your i's and fix all your males...or practice due diligence...you really may want to post a thread about this topic though, I'd rather not suggest anything to it, because doing what I'm doing takes a lot of personal responsibility...

Marking and spraying? Princess has never...ever, my unaltered female and she's had 2 heats.
I wasn't aware of any female to ever spray...mark well actually my boyfriend's bitch (she earned the derogatory usage of the term too) marked my everything-no literally she would dig my shoes out the bottom the shoe basket and mark them-she was a very spiteful bitch...she was altered at around 12 weeks I believe-the earliest point in which they can be-I may be wrong he said that and I thought WOW so young! My Scoobers was altered (male) at 5 months old-he's the worst marker ever! He pretends to mark-he lifts his leg stands there and "pretends" because he's out of urine at that point...I believe it is true altering aids in stopping marking but with two markers we've had in recent altered at a very young age and an older young age...neither were hindered-we use behavioral modification. Well and Scoobers still wears belly bands at some places.

Also my Elvis isn't fixed yet for good reason, still waiting for the okay from the new vet based on his new med regiment and his the stability of his epilepsy is established to have him altered-Elvis goes crazy when Princess is in heat-it is hard they have to be kept completely separate, so does Scoobers, Elvis lifts his leg to potty and marks the tree in the front yard...but despite not being altered he doesn't mark...but again I can't say enough how hard it is and how much effort I have had to put out during Princess' two heats to keep Elvis separate and really watch her-would be so much easier if both my males were fixed and believe me I will be posted a thread of joy and relief (probably pics too;)) as soon as I do get Elvis altered, it really will alleviate so much work and stress!

Yes that is one reason why we didnt have our female fixed yet- I had heard that is was better to let her have her first heat before you spay. This probably would be a good new topic to start...

Actually, it is well documented that early spaying significantly decreases the risk of mammary cancer.

When an ovariohysterectomy (OHE) is performed prior to the first heat period in a female dog, the risk of mammary cancer later in life is less than 1%. When OHE is performed between the first and second heat periods the risk is about 8% of mammary cancer later in life. Anytime after the second heat period the risk of mammary cancer in female dogs is about 25%, whether an OHE is performed later, or not.

Canine Spay

Mammary (breast) cancer Females spayed prior to their first estrus cycle have a significantly reduced risk of developing mammary cancer, a common cancer in unspayed females. The chances of developing this cancer increase if a female isn’t spayed until after her second heat cycle, but they still remain lower than the risk for unspayed females. So if your dog has already gone through her first heat cycle, it’s not too late. Spaying her will still reduce her risk of developing cancerous mammary tumors.

ASPCA - Virtual Pet Behaviorist - How Will Spaying Change My Dog?

A female dog spayed before her first heat will have a near zero chance of developing mammary cancer. After the first heat, this incidence climbs to 7% and after the second heat the risk is 25% (one in four!). It is easy to see that an early spay can completely prevent what is frequently a very difficult and potentially fatal form of cancer.

The Canine Spay

I know of a Silky terrier who had puppies with a Labrador male.

Basset hound is a BIG dog, only with short legs, i would reccomand that the vet would take care of the puppies so she would not have to go into labor, its such a risk for a little yorkie!

Thanks. I will take it to a new thread when I have read up a little more. It's on my mind a lot right now since Tallulah is approaching that age and I want to make the most responsible decision I can for her.

I look forward to hearing more from you about the behavioral implications you alluded to in a new thread.

It's definitely not my business but since you are not a breeder, you've had a close call, and she's of an appropriate age, please really consider getting her altered.
I look forward to seeing your thread on the topic if allowing females to experience heat prior to alteration...what a debate that is going to be though...:rolleyes:

Hope all came out well
 

Hopefully you did not spay your yorkie until after she she gave birth, and i know this response is very late but it is possible for a yorkie to give birth to yorkie basset hound mixed puppies, i know because i have one his name is Jet and he is living proof that yorkies and basset hounds can breed. hope this helped eventhough it is a verrrry late response.:)