One Pup Litter

I was the first one to request a puppy from the litter of the woman who was breeding her dogs. I was hoping for a female and that is what I got. After the mom gave birth, I got a call from the lady selling the puppies and she had said that there was only 1 in the litter. I was shocked. My question is: do you think that has something to do with her hyperness? Do you think she has some kind of chemical imbalance? I have seriously never seen a dog so hyperactive. It's like she needs ADHD meds or something

 

I'd say that anything is possible. Single litter pups can be more aggressive. It could have something to do with the lack of littermates. I don't think it would be a chemical imblance or something biological. If I had to take a guess, it would be more of a nuture thing rather than nature. But when I think about it again it could be the breed of the dog. When you mix certain breeds the results and temperment of the litter could be anything varying from pup to pup. Nature or nurture? I have no idea. It could be the simple fact that she's still a puppy.

 

She's just over 3 now. I was hoping by 3 she would be out of her puppy stage, but unfortunately it is not the case with her. However, I guess it could just be the breed as well. Since golden retrievers and poodles are quite energetic, it could be the case. Thanks for your opinion.

 

Dark Lady, my Dobermann, was also the only puppy in her litter. I didn't have any problems with her except that she was so used to eating without any competition from siblings that she could really eat a lot.

 

Wow I didn't realize big dogs were capable of having such small litter! I know little ones do, Kotton's mom had almost all one puppy litters (Kotton was the only set in 4 litters). Is this a common occurence with large dogs? My friend had a Bassett she bred and that pup had 3 litters of 13!!!

 

13 in each litter? That's a lot. The most I have heard of, from the actual owners of the dogs themselves, was 12. Once it happened to one of my students who had two Dalamatians that gave birth at the same time. Just 12 puppies each. That's what I would call a lot of dots.

 

They really, really need to be socialized at a young age or they can certainly have some behavior issues later on. Don't worry about something actually being wrong with the dog....the pup or the mom....because it's really not that uncommon to see single pup litters. It doesn't signal a huge problem or anything.