My parents have a great Pyreneese. She has gotten pregnant severial times now and she usually ends up eating her puppies. Only once did she raise them to almost weaning age, but then she took them out into the field and the puppies never returned. Does anyone have any idea why she would be eating her young? She is a great dog other than that. I have no idea why she would be doing this....

we thought she would do better this time since she practically raised the last batch. I'll have them try that next time and see what happens. Thanks!

My German Shepard has a week old litter. Whoops!!!! Though this was an accidental pregnancy I did not have time to sit around and just see how things would pan out. We visited the vets office on three different occastions and even had an x-ray done to see how many pups there would be. Anyway, I did alot of research and spoke with a vet about dogs who eat there babys. The vet said and I quote "A dog who eats her litter is mentaly screwed up and should be put down." Now I'm sure your sweet little dog does not need to be put down. I'm not sure however how you as a responsible, loving pet owner could state that you would "try next time" the advise you received from someone else. Sounds to me like the owner holds just as much responsibility here in those pups getting eatin as the mother dog seeing how you know exactly what she is going to do to them. Maybe you should just "try" a different hobbie or "try" a different bitch.

I never thought of this as a trait that would be passed on to the offspring. I have a dobermanXgerman shepherd bitch and a white shepherdXyellow lab sire. My bitch welped 10 pups a couple of weeks ago and within that time she has eaten them all. The male tried to save two of them by hiding them in the woods near the house, but she found them as well. I think that she was pregnant late last year, but we never saw any pups, so I don't know if it was false or she ate them. I have heard of this occuring with the first litter due to immaturity and inexperience, but not with subsequent litters. She will be spayed within the next two weeks, so I won't have to go through this again. Obviously I am not a professional breeder, I was just breeding her for family pets. She is a great dog; very obedient, and loving with people. I don't understand how such a sweet dog could do this. Do you have any insight on the cause of such behavior?

Well I don't know about all that (mental dogs)stuff. I think your vet was merly given his opinion. I can tell you I came accross this because of my most recent experience. My lab is now on her 6th litter. She should have been spayed after her 5th due to her age, however, we obviously did not make it priority. We were going through a move the same time she went into heat again. We tried to keep her away from our male lab by keeping her in a kennel but they found a way. Anyway..She has never eaten her pups until now. She has raised all of them to be large, healthy, happy playful pups. We don't consider us to be breeders. Some we give a way and some we sale. She has only lost two in her time. 1 from her first litter (believed to be age-perhaps too young). And the 2nd during her 3rd litter. Both pups were born dead/not breathing. They were quickly dispossed of. We have always been by her side when giving birth (just incase complications arrise). However, this last litter the first one born was very tiny (most likely the runt).Not very active but was alive (barely). This was her smallest litter since her first (5). We kept a close eye on the first born because it was obviouse there was some problems. Very little movement,tiny, not eating, you could tell it was probably going to die. We figured we would wait and see if the pup pulled through. Well got home today to find only 4 to be found. I am left to believe she ate the pup! Who's to say she would not have eaten the other from the 1st and 3rd litter. I disposed of them quickly so she did not have the chance. My point is dogs, especially, female moms can sense when there is something wrong with there pups. Even if it is not visible to us they know something is wrong.Some females will wait to see if they make it before they eat them, some will not take a chance. The pups may have something that could be dangerous to the rest of the litter so the female will do this quickly to save the rest. Yes, I feel the pups give nutriants to the mom. She knows this because it is part of nature and she has others to care for or needs it to help herself back to strong health. To her its normal to eat her pup. Dogs are very smart animals and I don't believe your dog is "mental" or streesed out because they feel they are being neglicted. Its very simple. They know something we don't. For the one who takes her pup to the woods. This is clearly a sign she knew something was wrong with them. An example is on my females 4th litter we lived in the country. The pups where 5 weeks/winged and she kept one of the pups away. She was very aggressive with this male pup. She wold not let him near the others and they seemed to know to stay away from him. He looked very healthy so we didn't think too much of it.He was actually one of the fatter pups so we thought he was being a hog. A few days later we noticed he looked thiner and sickly. We took him to the vet to find out he had parvo. We were told by the vet it was detected very early and he should make it. This was on a Friday. We thought we could pick him up Mon. He died Friday night. Not even the vet understoond why and was very confused on why he passed. Hints mothers knows best! You should want to have your femal spayed if they are eating most or all of the pups.They obviously are not having healthy pups for one reason or another. LIke women not all dog can have pups. Otherwise if it is just one due to illness let her do her job and let mother nature take its course. OR be pro-active and keep an eye when she is delivering. You can tell who is sick and pull aside until you can tell if they will make it. This will give you the option to dispose of the pup when dead instead of her eating it.