Can a dog safely give birth to large puppies?

Well, long story short my vet told me to let my dog go into heat once before having her neutered. So, of course with my luck she got pregnant during that first heat cycle. Now she is well along the way, I've heard fetal heart beats with a stethoscope. My dog is medium size, probably no more than 20-25 pounds. There were several males that got to her... one in particular who was much larger than she is, at probably 40-50 pounds. So, if he managed to impregnate her, would her puppies be too large for her to safely birth? I plan on seeing a vet in a few days, but I wanted to get a general idea before hand. I don't want to risk my dog's life. She is still barely older than a puppy herself at just over a year old.Well, I didn't originally want to do an abortion because they are still living things. They have heartbeats. They won't be going to a shelter... I already have homes lined up for at least 4 puppies. Can the vet do an ultrasound or x-ray and determine whether or not she can birth them? If it comes to a choice of losing her or getting them aborted, of course they will be aborted, but if I can avoid killing puppies, I will.Also, the only dog that I actually witnessed "locked" with her was a smaller dog. Not that this matters, but the reason the males got to her is that I have children. Young ones who don't listen when you say "Don't let the dog out unless she is on a leash." So my kid lets the dog out several times, and the dog in heat won't come... because she wants to get pregnant... instinct. Anyway, I don't see why I needed to explain that, but I don't like being judged either.OK, Erica, the obvious PETA whack job. You need to take a chill pill and stop using capital letters ever other word. This is not "My irresponsibility," this is me, being an adult, having children that are too young to understand. No, I did not do "background checks" on my family members who offered to take puppies. I'm pretty certain my mother, father, uncle, brother, and sister, who are all college educated and clean, with clean criminal records, can handle a dog. But, I guess that is up to you to decide right? Sorry, but not everyone has 24 hours a day to supervise every crap a dog takes. I went to a vet, who told me not to get my dog spayed until her first heat. I took his advice, and if that is wrong in your book, take it up with the vet. If you can't answer a question without being a bitch, then don't answer, OK?

Talk to your vet, a spay can still be done while pregnant, and it will save the pups from dying in a shelter later on.Chances are very high that she'll need a c-section if the male was that much bigger..

Too bad you didn't get to the vet much sooner. Your dog could have been spayed shortly after she was bred. Now you need your vet's opinion on whether the dog will need an emergency C-section so she won't die while giving birth.

Please get her spayed, on her first heat AND having bred with a larger dog, she is in grave danger. Larger the male=larger the puppies, which is why a good rule of thumb is to only breed with smaller males. Which took me forever to find, considering I have a 4 pound yorkie, and even then she only had one preemie. I was scared to death, when she only had one, fearing it was too big. Luckily, my yorkie survivbed but her pup didn't.... That is extremely stupid of your vet to day that, that is just an old wive's tale, as is "let them have puppies before spaying them" is. Find a new vet soon and get her spayed ASAP. B*tches are only pregnant for 9 weeks, not 9 months. For one thing, not to be mean or anything, why did you let males get to her? Did you bring her to the dog park and was not looking, or did one jump over the fence or what? B*tches shoud be spayed at 6 months, and if not, they should have their puppies on their 3rd heat, after they are 2 years old and both the b*tch and the dog are health checked and genetically checked. If you follow through with this, both your beloved puppy and her own litter are at very high risk of passing away.

If the puppies heads are too big to pass through the hip opening, you'll need a cesearian on her to gte them out without them killing her. Cesearians can cost up to $1,300. Compare that to having her spayed. She can safely be spayed up to the last 3 or 4 weeks of carrying them. Every vet has training in how to do it.

watch for signs of distress (straining with no puppy being produced, green discharge, puppy hanging out of birth canal) if anything like that happens u might have to take her in for a c-section (of course these almost always happen in the middle of the night when your vet is not available.. but no waiting!) sometimes they can pass larger pups, but if the head is too big for the birth canal they will get stuck and will probably die and subsequently kill her too. make sure u get an x-ray done too so you know how many puppies to expect. next time spay before her first heat! they dont need one!

You don't want to put her at risk, and yet you don't want to do the RESPONSIBLE thing and have an emergency spay to abort done?? Makes a WHOLE lot of sense. And why didn't you better supervise her while she was in heat?? It's not "just your luck" it was "just your irresponsibility". How could you allow MULTIPLE males to get to her?? You're aware that there could be MULTIPLE fathers now, yeah? You're also aware that some of the pups could be underdeveloped now yeah? She NEEDS to be spayed. Even if the vet CAN do a c-section, there's a chance you'll lose her. Get her to a vet, and talk about the options. Whether or not they're living things, there IS a chance they'll end up at a shelter, or that they'll produce pups that will eventually end up in the shelter. Lemme ask you a few things?-Are you ready to hand raise these puppies in case she dies, or in case she rejects them? Don't say she wont, because she's at a MUCH higher risk since she's still so young.-Are you prepared to take back any and all of the pups if their new homes don't work out?-Are you prepared to cull (or put them down, aka KILL) any of the pups if they have a birth defect that will lower their quality of life, if this is necessary?-Are you going to do early spay and neuter of ALL of the puppies, to make sure they don't in turn make more puppies, that will likely end up in a shelter?-Are you prepared to do THOROUGH home checks on the new homes, to make sure that your pups will be safe and healthy there? Do home visits at random, re-home the pups on contracts, ask for references including personal references and vet references?-Do you plan to have your vet on call for the labor, in case something goes wrong? Something such as the labor taking too long, a puppy getting stuck, etc...?Those are only a FEW of the things you need to think about right now. Yes, your vet can do an ultrasound to determine whether or not she can safely birth these puppies, BUT, that's not a guarantee. She could still very well DIE during the birthing process. What if she has a negative reaction to the anesthetic? What if you don't get her there in time for the c-section? There's a number of things that could go wrong, and you need to think about that.An ultrasound also isn't a guarantee that some of the pups aren't underdeveloped, since you mentioned that MULTIPLE males got to her. What happens if some of them are? I think you really need to re-evaluate the situation, and think about what would be best for HER, since labor can KILL her, and there's a good chance something could go wrong with her OR the puppies, OR both.ETA: So now I'm a PETA whack job because I told you the REAL risks of her having puppies?? And what do your kids have to do with this?? If they're "too young to understand" then have fun explaining to them that your dog died while giving birth. Because it CAN and DOES happen every single day. And sorry, Y!A wont let me do italics, hence the caps. Guess what, I have 3 kids, and I still supervise my dogs, because that's what a responsible owner does that doesn't want to bring unwanted puppies into the world. Sorry, but I'm over the "I have kids, so I can't supervise my dogs all the time, and now she's pregnant" excuse.You also didn't mention who the homes were, therefore you left it up for assumption by the answerers, so I'll retract that statement. The rest are 110% true. Also, you clearly don't know much about PETA, given that they'd rather you euth the puppies AND the mom, then see her "enslaved" as your dog. Not my words, that would be THEIR words. PETA's against all animal ownership entirely, so maybe you should do a little research on them, too, before you go throwing their name around. My answer is about as anti-PETA as it gets.