# Twin Bulldog Puppies



## KathyBell (Nov 7, 2009)

This is the freakiest of the freaky! I breed bulldogs, and last night we went in for a routine c-section (almost every litter is born that way, this litter had a deceased puppy complicating delivery). As the vet was doing the surgery, she exclaimed "We've got twins", which technically all puppies in a litter are fraternal twins but what she meant was two puppies shared both a placenta and amniotic sac. This is exceedingly rare in dogs, although since most dogs give birth naturally it might happen more often than we know.

Anyway, the pups went home with me, vigorous and full of energy. As I was feeding them, I realized that our twins were male and female. I called the vet this morning - not making mention of the sexes - and asked her if she was 100% certain they were in the same sac and sharing a placenta. She was. Half-twins, again an exceeding rare (unrecorded as far as I can find) occurrence but theoretically possible due to the fertilization of a polar body by one sperm and the ovum by another, could give rise to one male and one female puppy who obtained identical genetic information from their mother and randomized genetic information from their father, since the sperm determine sex.

So, my vet and I are extremely excited at the possibility we have a rare type of twin, but here is the really freaky part. In my novel, I wrote about what I dubbed as Polar Twins, where completely opposite twins shared a common amniotic sac. When doing my research for the story a few years ago, the concept was proposed but no occurrences were documented. I'm a little weirded out by the fact my own dog might provide some evidence for such an occurrence!

My camera is not cooperating, I've got it charging to try and pull pics off for you, will post them later, but was so excited I had to share! I'll keep you posted, we're talking with the Veterinary College about studying the puppies, including DNA analysis. If the vet didn't make a mistake, this could be worth an entry in a veterinary journal!


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## Carol Hanrahan (Mar 31, 2009)

That is cool, Kathy!  Although I'm not sure I follow the polar body thing.  Was there one egg and one sperm?  I'm Not a biology type. 
Can't wait for pictures though!
Names?  Do they have names?
Freaky about your book......... 
BTW, what kind of horses do you ride?


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## Bumper (Feb 20, 2010)

love bulldogs cant wait to see pictures. my lil guy is 21 months old already


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## KathyBell (Nov 7, 2009)

Hi Carol, I've got a couple reg'd Arabs, a 1/2 arab sabino, and a paint-welsh cross. Two were rescues, the oldest girl still gaining weight after years of neglect.

When I was bringing the puppies home, I was planning on naming them Romulus and Remus. Since we have the surprise female, I think I'll go with Romulus and Rema. I would have gone with Apollo and Artemis, but I have used Apollo as a name in the past.

When an egg prepares for fertilization, it normally divides twice, which creates one big egg, and three tiny remnants called polar bodies. Theoretically, one of those could get fertilized and grow, but because they don't normally have all the right stuff (the parts of the cell which do all the work), they shouldn't be viable. If the vet was not mistaken, and there truly were two puppies of opposite sexes in one amniotic sac, then the most feasible explanation would be that instead of an uneven division of one big and one little egg cell, the ovum divided (likely not all the way seperated, since there was only one sack)  into two medium cells and each got fertilized by seperate sperm. Normal identical twins come from one egg and one sperm, then get split apart after fertilization so share one amniotic sac and also all the same DNA. Normal fraternal twins arise when two eggs are fertilized by two different sperm, so do not share a sac, and only share the same amount of DNA as siblings. With testing, we can possibly determine if the puppies share more DNA than what siblings would. I am not sure how sensitive the tests are, but in bulldogs we have to do genetic testing for registration of AI litters anyway, many of the markers are already determined and we might be able to use those existing tests with enough accuracy. We live not too far from University of Guelph, my alma mater and one of the foremost vet schools in North America, so it won't be too inconvenient to study them.


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## pomlover2586 (Feb 14, 2009)

Oh wow Kathy! Congrats!! There is nothing more precious than a baby English Bulldog! DH and I are planning to own one in the future- a Brindle Male with a white stripe on his face  Hehe we already know he'll have a super masculine name like Winston LOL  Please post pics of the new additions!

Not counting the deceased pup, was it just the 2 twins? Or did mom have others? BTW Crusader is Adorable. Is this litter out of Karma?


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## KathyBell (Nov 7, 2009)

Finally got my camera working and some time on the internet! Pups are doing really well, as is their mother Calypso except her milk did not come in so I am on bottle duty. At least they are very vigorous nursers, taking to the bottle quite easily.

University says perhaps the pups might be the same sex genetically, but have different external parts...I hope this isn't the case!! We're going to do DNA profiling, which will tell us the sex type from a DNA standpoint compared to the phenotype.

I've never attached pictures before, hope this works!








The male is most to the left, then his twin sister beside him, and the other female on the right.








They stay in an incubator between feedings.

They lost a bit of weight while waiting for the milk to come in, but are catching back up now.


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## Anne (Oct 29, 2008)

I love the pictures the puppies are so cute.


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## Cindergayle (Mar 15, 2009)

The puppies are so cute! A good friend just got an English Bulldog. She named him Zeus. He is really a great looking dog. Good Luck with Mom and the Pups!


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## pomlover2586 (Feb 14, 2009)

WOW! They are sooo darling!  Congrats!


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## MAGreen (Jan 5, 2009)

Awww! How darling! I love puppies!


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## LCEvans (Mar 29, 2009)

Beautiful puppies. I really hope the genetic tests can tell you something. It's bizarre that you wrote about polar twins and then you may have a pair.


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## austenfiend (Nov 17, 2009)

The puppies are SO CUTE!


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## ak rain (Nov 15, 2008)

kathybell
curious, how long well you have to bottle feed? how often?

wish I could help at least a couple times 
sylvia


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## KathyBell (Nov 7, 2009)

Sylvia, these guys are so strong I can go 5-6 hours between feedings (they're one week old now). I've often had to bottle feed during our 15 years of breeding, usually to support a weaker puppy. These guys are vigorous! I'll put them onto a gruel when they start to get up on their legs, around 3 weeks, then they'll be entirely onto solid dry food around 6 weeks and ready to head to their homes at 9 weeks. 

We're going to keep the twins close, in Ontario, so we can watch their development but the other puppy has a home down in the US with a family who recently lost their bully. Their first girl was from our second litter.

I've contacted the AKC about using their DNA profiling for a preliminary test, should be interesting! 

To make things more bizarre, I was speaking with my educational assistant (I'm a high school teacher, I often get the challenged classes), and she has a pair of twin boys. When they were eight, she asked her doctor to double check the records to ensure they shared a placenta and amniotic sac because they looked so different from one another she thought they couldn't be identical! Now, she's wondering at the possibility they might have arisen from the half-twin/polar-twin process!


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## Carol Hanrahan (Mar 31, 2009)

What cute pictures!  the mystery deepens.  Kathy - you have fodder for the next novel!


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## hsuthard (Jan 6, 2010)

What adorable puppies! And what an interesting story, I have never heard of this possibility, and am very curious to know more. It sounds like you have lots of options open for studying them further, that's so cool!


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

so cute!


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## pomlover2586 (Feb 14, 2009)

WOW! 5-6 hours between feedings? Thats AWESOME!! I've bottle fed all 3 of my cats [2 days, 10 days, and 13 days old respectively when I got them] My 2 day old and 10 day old were fed every 2 or 3 hours around the clock and man was that work! Oh so worth it though.......  Keep us updated on their progress- we LOVE pictures


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## sjc (Oct 29, 2008)

OMG!!! Adorable!!!  I'm a twin...if only my other half was that cute...lol.


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## KathyBell (Nov 7, 2009)

sjc said:


> OMG!!! Adorable!!! I'm a twin...if only my other half was that cute...lol.


Hee, hee, I'm assuming you are not identical, then!



pomlover2586 said:


> were fed every 2 or 3 hours around the clock and man was that work! Oh so worth it though.......  Keep us updated on their progress- we LOVE pictures


I've certainly had litters like that, normally when I have to bottle feed we're looking at short rotations, this is lovely because I can get some real sleep. The husband and oldest three kids are heading out tomorrow morning for an overnight stay at a water park, to give me two days to work on the sequel to Regression, which is much easier to do when well rested, even though the first book was written while on maternity leave, two a.m. with a fussy baby in hand

Maybe I'll have some new pictures tomorrow, too...I may have to pry one puppy's eye open, she's got an infection under the lid which I'm giving a few more hours and antibiotics to before I force the issue. I hate doing that!!


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## carlobee (Jul 21, 2009)

awwwwww... absolutely adorable!!!


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## CegAbq (Mar 17, 2009)

Really cute! I've 'bottle'-fed a baby cockatiel in past years, and of course my own 3 kids, including a set of twins.
Good luck & keep the pictures & results of research coming.


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## Guest (Mar 17, 2010)

oh thats  awesome...i love that


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## loca (Jan 3, 2010)

Beatiful pups, and a great story.

YOu should be aware of the crazy occurences like this happening on a daily basis now.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

They are beautiful little things alright.  I have twins (human ones although we have a few dogs too) and am always fascinated with stories like this.  And I could swear that puppies are harder to take care of than babies


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## ak rain (Nov 15, 2008)

thank you for the info. I love a good story 
sylvia


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