Expert: Jannie Balliett - 9/24/2009

Question
i recently tried to breed my 8 year old male boxer with our 2 year old female boxer.they didn't tie and it took him forever to figure out what he was doing considering this was his first time, we waited patiently to see if she was pregnant but she wasn't.should we be concerned that something is wrong with our male fertility wise or is this something that may take a few cycles to occur?

Answer
Just because it appeared so clumsy and as though he didn't know what to do doesn't necessarily mean it didn't happen when you weren't around...

But, if the number of days have passed and you are sure there isn't a pregnancy- 58-63 day gestation perid (to whelping) then try again next heat cycle.

He will succeed.

Usually, the very first time is challenging. Sometimes the female gets scooted while he tries to mount, and they never connect because of the problem.

The first time my male and female mated, he kept scooting her and after a few says, he outsmarted her. He scooted her up against a kitchen island counter where she couldn't move (scoot) and they had 5 puppies 59 days later.

Be patient- nature takes its course- and they are learning as we all did the first time :)