Dog Breeding: Multi-Sired Litters

While cleaning my office the other day, I came across evidence of a good memory. A picture I took in 2003 with a throw away film camera. A 4”x 6” photograph, grainy, with the colors starting to fade. There were eight pups born in my parents’ sunroom, all nursing in a homemade whelping box. Five black, two yellow, and a lone chocolate, that was our first litter of Labs.

I had what I thought was a real nice female and bred her to what I was told was a real good male. His name was Sackett, a handsome yellow Lab that belonged to a well-known outdoor photographer. I’d seen the dog on the covers of books and in the pages of magazines, but outside of stunning good looks, I knew very little about him. Everything about it then seems so simple by comparison to now, right down to my photography.

Fast forward a couple decades, and I’m filling out multiple registration forms for one litter of Labradors. This one’s more complex. A love triangle you might say. The culprit behind the complexity, and reasons for needing more than one registration form for one litter of pups, is because a question has to be asked of them: Who’s your daddy?

What are Multi-Sired Litters?

Over a million dogs will be registered by the American Kennel Club (AKC) this year. Of those, less than 1 percent will come from what’s called a multi-sired litter. The name explains it quite accurately: one dam bred to two or more sires. Why would anyone breed more than one male to their female? Rather quickly, I recognized how anthropomorphism can skew our understanding of animalia reality. That aside, I definitely don’t recall learning in either science or sex education classes about anything related to the action of conception like this. In reality, it can and does happen, and my question remained, why would anyone do it intentionally?

So, I Googled it and quickly realized; it really is a thing. Effective Sept 1, 1998, the AKC began allowing the registration of these types of litters, so long as the parentage was determined and confirmed using AKC DNA profiling program. Initially, my thoughts were that an acceptable reason for a multi-sired litter could be in the case of an accidental breeding. How narrow-minded and short-sighted I can be. With more thought, I realized, when bred to more than one male, mom could have pups belonging to more than one dad. This made things more interesting. Even more intriguing, the idea that using multiple sires could increase the odds of simply getting pregnant.

Learning About Dog Breeding

That first litter of ours was from American field lines, bred the “old fashioned” way. Since then, for the last 20 plus years we’ve owned and bred Labs that would be considered British field lines. I’ve found their genetics to equal the type of dog that best suits me. Truth is, a Labrador is a Labrador.

There are plenty of differences between them, many of which are predicated by genetics, but the most obvious difference between British and American labs is their geographical origin. It’s also the part that makes things challenging for me today when it comes to breeding—from my home in Wisconsin to the UK is 3,904 miles.

British labs aren’t new here in the states. They’ve gotten a lot of attention in recent years, even though they’ve been imported, bred, and marketed on American soil for a long time. I think we tend to “Americanize” most things here in the states, dogs are no exception. That’s not a bad thing, but the truth is we train, compete, and hunt differently than those living elsewhere. It’s also important to remember that field trial systems, by design, influence the direction of field bred dogs. To succeed here today, in an extremely competitive game, you’ve got to have the right tool for the job. Genetically, some dogs are just better suited for the type of training it takes to play. Simply put, and somewhat internationally universal, dogs that have what it takes to win trials seem to be the ones that get bred the most.

My goal has always been to find the dogs that best suit me. There came a point where I realized the best way for me to accomplish my goal was not to buy it, but instead to try producing it myself. I don’t compete or trial with retrievers the way many here do, nor do I train them for hunting the way most Americans would. Likewise, I don’t field trial or hunt in the UK, but I’ve found their dogs best match with my family’s life, hunting, and training styles, due to traits heavily influenced by genetics.

Before I get too far, I want to be clear on my reason for writing this. It’s not an instructional, or recommendation of any kind. It’s not to make judgment for or against any ideas or actions regarding breeding decisions or strategies, and it’s not to discredit anything anyone has done or is doing. It’s simply to share my limited but slowly growing experiences.

One way that I’ve gained over the years is by simply reading, watching, and listening to what has or hasn’t worked for others. The amount of thought and effort that goes into the art and science of breeding dogs has interested me for a long time. The more scientists and artists I study doing it, the more interesting it seems to get. One way I’ve learned to succeed is by holding onto favorite females from our breeding and pairing them to sires still in the UK. The only way I’ve found to do that is with liquid nitrogen and a reliable carrier service.

Breeding Dogs with Frozen Semen

I read an article written by Dr. Seth Bynum in the Summer issue of Gun Dog on the myths and misconceptions of breeding with frozen semen. Besides the biological explanation of the freeze and store process, a big takeaway for me was bringing to light how many things have to go right in order for it to work. Assume the collection came from a potent sire and that the freezing, storing, thawing, and placement of the resurrected sample was done proper, and now factor on top potential human error—just pulling that off is no small feat of accomplishment, and literally only half the equation. Arguably, the most important part of this whole thing has nothing to do with a sire’s contributions. What about mom’s role and the variables that come into play with her? Fertility, progesterone levels, timing of procedures, etc. What good do the healthiest, most potent swimmers do for you without the egg?

Low success rates are one issue. There were also good points of concern questioning whether breeders that continue using frozen to go back to “old lines” meant they’re not achieving breeding goals. Frozen semen isn’t always the answer. But in situations like I find myself, it’s allowed for an option that otherwise would be logistically impossible. To call that a “successful” way of doing things depends on how you define success. We’ve had breeding’s that never took, and we’ve also had some very small litters. The positive is that the pups we’ve had have all been strong, healthy, and very much the type I’m after.

Increasing the Probabily of Pregnancy with Multi-Sired Litters

By breeding to a second sire, mathematically, the chances of it taking naturally increase along with the potential size of the litter. In addition, it may give you the chance to see pups from two sires at the same time with the same amount of effort and cost. The opportunity to look into the future when it comes to making future breeding decisions is hard to put a value on.

That alone was enough upside for me to try. We bred Cali, a beautiful yellow lab who I wrote a training column about a few years back. First, to a dog from England named Cash using frozen semen by transcervical insemination (TCI) at her peak level of fertility. Then, the next day we bred her to a dog of ours named Chief, using TCI from a fresh collection. Both sires made a lot of sense on paper, and to get puppies from either would be great. Pups from both, even better.

Multi-Sired Litter Success

That lands us here, with another whelping box set up in our sunroom. This time, five healthy yellow pups and a pile of paperwork to register with the AKC. Two artificial insemination litter forms, two multi-sired litter registration applications accompanied by eight AKC DNA Profiles. It’s a lot of documentation hoops to jump through and understandable why few want to do it. But against all the odds, we now have three males and a female who belong to Cash and one female who belongs to Chief. They are good reminders to try and stack the deck; every pup truly is a little miracle. Each time we have a litter, I’m reminded of that. Pup for pup, they might be the most expensive I’ve produced, but thankfully, the “bottom-line” isn’t on the list of priorities for making breeding decisions. So far, they’re worth every penny. 

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