Have you ever encountered a litter of young puppies with such dissimilar appearances that it was difficult to believe they were even related? Perhaps some of the puppies may have resembled Rottweilers while the others may have resembled Golden Retrievers. In fact, some puppies in a litter may have had different fathers, making them half siblings as opposed to full siblings. This phenomenon is called superfecundation.
Research shows under which conditions a litter can have mixed parentage.
While a litter’s puppies typically all have very similar appearances, on occasion you may come across some that stand out and look out of place. It appears that there is a fascinating explanation for this.
I was surprised to find myself entering the driveway of a farm owned by a spouse-friend. My wife wanted to make blueberry pies and freeze them so we could have them over the winter, so I was there to pick up a few boxes of blueberries. A woman with a long ponytail was standing next to Marion, the farm’s owner, in the yard. “This is Jess, and she’s our veterinarian,” she said, waving me over to her companion. She came to see one of my cows, but Jess thought it would be convenient to give the puppies their first set of shots while she was here since Kate [Marions dog] just had a litter a few weeks ago. “.
Marion had set up a wire pen in the mudroom next to the kitchen for Kate and her puppies when we entered. Kate had medium-sized V-shaped ears and blonde curly hair. She was some kind of poodle cross, also known as a “doodle.” It therefore came as no surprise when four of her six puppies also had light-colored curly coats and comparable ears. Two of the pups, however, stood out from the others due to their short hair, somewhat Beagle-like coat, and ears that appeared to eventually form the pendant-shaped ear flaps typical of hounds.
“It looks like Kate is a bit of a party girl,” Jess said with a smile. I’d wager that this litter is the result of matings with more than one sire, so she must have been having fun with the neighborhood dogs. “.
You don’t mean to say that the puppies in this litter have more than one father, do you? Is that really possible? Marion asked with a surprised expression.
Of course, there is only one mother and one father for each puppy. However, female dogs typically give birth to litters rather than single puppies because they produce multiple eggs at once. Bitches also continue to be in heat (i.e., have eggs that are ready for fertilization in the uterus) for about 10 days.
“You have to realize that dogs are not the best example of fidelity.” They generally are devoted to their human family and are loyal to them, but when it comes to mating, they act much more like feisty swingers. Due to the fact that many eggs are released at once, if a bitch has multiple partners, different eggs may be fertilized by various sires.
But promiscuity with multiple partners doesn’t always produce a litter of children with mixed parents, Less than 1% of puppies in the resulting litter will be born to different fathers if a female dog is inseminated by more than one sire, especially if the semen from both sires is deposited at almost the same time. That is so that a sperm competition can occur when the sperm of two different male dogs is combined. Typically, only one sire’s sperm succeeds in fertilizing all of the available eggs. Therefore, each insemination must be spaced apart by 24 or 48 hours for a litter to have more than one sire, and even then, the outcomes are not always predictable. “.
I brought up that I had recently read an article by a research team led by Fiona Hollinshead from the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, at that point. They investigated the issue of multiple sires using both natural and artificial insemination because they were curious about it. When there were two sires, they spaced out the inseminations and discovered that 90% of the bucks actually gave birth to one or more puppies. (In actuality, this is significantly more than the 76% whelping rate when there is only one sire. Only 31% of the litters from the successful breedings following the insemination by two sires revealed signs of mixed parentage, which means that in the remaining 69% of the litters, the sperm competition resulted in just one successful father. The sire who inseminates the female second, as opposed to the first sire, is more likely to father a higher proportion of puppies (73% versus 27%) in the mixed parentage litters, which is an odd finding in this study. The study’s final intriguing finding was that when there were two sires, the litter sizes were actually noticeably larger.
You know some breeders actually purposefully breed a female dog to two different studs, Jess said as she nodded. They contend that it’s advantageous because more genetic diversity will be produced in a single litter, and I would anticipate that the larger litter size is another advantage (especially if there is a worry that one of the sires has low sperm count or poor quality semen). The majority of kennel clubs historically prohibited the registration of puppies from multi-sired litters. But in 1998, the American Kennel Club decided that Multiple Sired Litters (MSL) could be registered with the AKC if the mother and both sires were purebred dogs, and other kennel clubs quickly agreed. However, compared to puppies born into the more typical single-fathered litters, the MSL pups’ registration process is significantly more difficult. For the specific sire and dam to be noted on the pedigree form for each puppy, it is necessary to have the DNA profiles of all the parents and all of the puppies. “.
But of course our Katie is not going to tell us who she had her extramarital affairs with, Jess laughed and ruffled Kate’s hair. But if we could track down the culprits and use DNA testing to determine which of her pups belongs to which father, we could then reveal that information on a racy episode of our very own canine Jerry Springer Show!
Copyright SC Psychological Enterprises Ltd. May not be reprinted or reposted without permission.
Hollinshead FK, Ontiveros M, Burns JG, Magee C, Hanlon DW (2020). Factors influencing parentage ratio in canine dual-sired litters, Theriogenology, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.theriogenology.2020.08.030.
Get the support you require from a local therapist using Psychology Today’s FREE service. City or Zip.
Important: Thoughts expressed on WebMD blogs may or may not be those of users with medical or scientific training. These opinions do not represent the opinions of WebMD. A WebMD doctor or any member of the WebMD editorial staff will not evaluate a blog for accuracy, balance, objectivity, or any other factor besides compliance with our Terms and Conditions. Some of these opinions could include details on medical procedures or uses for medications that have not received U S. Food and Drug Administration. WebMD does not endorse any specific product, service or treatment.
Do not consider WebMD Blogs as medical advice. Never disregard or delay seeking medical advice from a qualified professional because of something you have read on WebMD. Before beginning, stopping, or making changes to any prescribed aspect of your care plan or treatment, you should always consult your doctor. WebMD is aware that reading about individual, real-world experiences can be a useful tool, but it should never be used as a replacement for expert medical guidance, a qualified healthcare provider’s diagnosis, or treatment. Call your physician or dial 911 right away if you believe you may be experiencing a medical emergency.
Member ChristmasAngelsMom planned to breed her dog to a purebred male in order to produce a litter of purebred Yorkies. Just two weeks later, she discovers her female Yorkie with an unidentified male who had slipped into her fenced-in yard. She is now concerned that her little Yorkie might be carrying twins. Is this a possibility?
Then there’s the issue with member Gooseberrypatch’s dog, Bella, who has adopted all of her toys and believes they are her “pups” despite never having been bred. ”.
The expert response from veterinarian Bonnie Beaver may surprise you. She explains that a female dog may give birth to puppies that were sex to more than one male dog. But, it’s a complex issue. “Only time will tell you if your Yorkie is actually pregnant and if there is more than one puppy, or whether the two puppies may actually be from different fathers,” Beaver advises. ”.
Looks Don’t Make The Father
Everyone has seen a litter of yellow Lab puppies and questioned how the breeder distinguishes them other than by gender. There is no doubt that they are all from the same father because of the way they all look.
This is because dogs of the same breed have similar genes (homozygosity) and are going to produce similar looking dogs. (www.psychologytoday.com)
Then you notice litters where every puppy is unique in terms of color, coat type, and even size, and you realize what a traveler this girl must have been.
That is not necessarily true either, as everything changes if you cross-breed that same purebred Lab with a Poodle. This results from “heterozygosity,” which refers to a combination of genetic material. The genes in this case won’t “mix” uniformly in each puppy. You could therefore choose a puppy that resembles a purebred lab, a pure Poodle, a curly Lab, or a Poodle with a larger build.
Some may have the Lab coat and some the Poodle. And colors could be a wide range. But, there was only one father of the bunch.
FAQ
Can dogs get pregnant by more than one father?
Dogs are polygamous, so when they are in heat, females will mate with any available male dog. Puppies from the same litter may therefore have various fathers. As you might expect, puppies with different fathers have more genetic variation than puppies with the same father.
How do you stop a sibling dog from mating?
This can be accomplished by segregating them into rooms where they cannot see one another, tying them apart, keeping the female dog in an enclosure, or putting the female dog in a cool, secure, and outdoor enclosure.