What happens when 2 dogs of considerably different sizes mate?

Question

Take one Chihuahua. Take a St. Bernard. Both are members of same genus, therefore, genetically speaking, may mate with each other resulting with offsprings.

Through articificial insemination we can overcome the size barrier. Male Chihuahua meets female St. Bernard seems to be easy.

However, what happens when you impregnate the Chihuahua with St. Bernard? Is there any record of such (not the specific example) mating?

If so, what happened? Would that harm Chihuahua or would nature "find a way" to host the offsprings? Also in the St. Bernard as the mother scenario, what would happen during nursing if and when the offsprings tend to be too small?

Yes, I am curious of such things, no, I do not apologize.

Answer 1

i dont know!!! dont try

Answer 2

My friend, Michelle, had a female chihuahua that was impregnated by a male Rottweiler. It was an interesting mix, wouldn't you say? The vet told her not too worry (she was afraid her dog would explode carrying such a large breed of puppies), but the vet said that the dog would be fine. I think the vet told her that the puppies wouldn't get any bigger than the chihuahuas belly could expand until after their birth. (How that is possible, I do not know.) In the end, I don't remember how many puppies were born, but they were an odd family. By the time the puppies were a few months old, there were a couple the size of the mommy chihuahua and then there were some of her offspring that were several times her size, and yet they were all from the same litter. I think the Chihuahua didn't have any difficulty giving birth, but I'm sure that if the Father dog had been a St. Bernard, then she probably would have had some problems.

Answer 3

If the male is the St. Bernard and the female is the Chihuahua, then the result could seriously endanger the female dog. First off, the female's uterus isn't capable of hosting the puppies since they would most likely be too large. This could kill the mother AND the pups. The other way around though, there shouldn't be that many problems. I doubt that the puppies would "be too small" to nurse on the mother St. Bernard since they would be a combination of genes from the mother and father. They might look a little weird but it would all just really depend on what genes turned out to be dominant and which weren't. If you are still in school, consider taking a Zoology class if there are any offered. They cover alot of that in the animal kingdom. If not, you could ask a local vet to see if there have been any cases of this and what the outcomes were.

Answer 4

I have seen a Chihuahua/ Rottwieler mix - the Chihuahua being the father - interesting to say the least - I wouldn't worry about the pups being too small to nurse - there is no way they will come out Chihuahua size if they are half St. Bernard.

Answer 5

yes they can inpragnate eachother but if the size difference is that big the small dog (if it is the mom) may have problems giving birth, yes they do dog csections, some times if a vet thinks it is likely that the mother will die sheorhe can choose to offer abortion. this is unusal but does happen.
most of the time nature will end up killing how ever many it needs to inorder to let the mother give birth. for example instead of haveing 6 or 7 pups it may have 1 or 2.
if the st. bernard was the mom i think everything would turn out ok.

Answer 6

Well it would be dangerous because St. Bernard puppies are larger than the Chihuahua can give birth to, so unless there was a c-section it would be impossible without killing the mother, If the mother was St. Bernard maybe yes.

Answer 7

I used to live next door to a woman who had a male Chihuahua and a female German Shepherd. Despite the obvious height differential. the two cooperated and mating occurred. (She stooped, he reached.) The babies were bigger than the father, more like the size of regular German Shepherd pups, but had characteristics of both parents. Dad didn't seem intimidated by the size of his offspring either. He was a feisty little guy. I'm not sure whether it would work out had the sexes been reversed. Mating female chihuahuas is tricky to begin with, given their tiny size. The kind of mating you propose would be too dangerous if the female were a miniature dog like a Chihuahua.

Answer 8

The problem isn't in the breed of dog...the problem is in the sex of the mother. If a male St. Bernard impregnates a female Chihuahua, she'll have to have a Cesarean to prevent the large puppies from killing her.

Answer 9

""my friends 2lb yorkie just had yorkie/pointer pups and we took it to the vet this is what she said""

I am sorry but I do not believe this story even a little bit. there is NO way a 2 pound yorkie cannot give birth to pups that size.. !!!!

A yorkie has a hard time with whelping as it is and normally have only 2-4 pups and that is a yorkie of about 5 pounds. A 2 pounds yorkie MIGHT be able to carry 1 that size. I have a 3 pounds yorkie and she is way to small to breed with even another yorkie.. That dog would die trying to have though puppies!

The stories some people tell

Answer 10

All I know is that sex between a female Chihuahua and a male St Bernard would be very strange if you know what I mean. I really don't know. Perhaps you should ask your vet.

Answer 11

actually something like this happened not too long ago, i read about it in dog fancy. it was a chihuahua and something else, not a st bernard, but the chihuahua would have to have a c section done cause the puppies would be too big for her to handle if she didnt die from it, i cant remember the issue it was from but it was from this year