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Litters

Video walkthrough: Watch on Loom (link coming soon)

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Litters is where you manage every breeding from start to finish — from the date you bred your pair through neonatal check-ins after whelping, all the way to each puppy going home. Every litter has its own full profile with photos, puppy records, finances, and a linked waitlist.

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What You Can Do Here

• Create and track litters from planned through born and completed
• Record sire and dam — your own dogs or external dogs you don’t own
• Add individual puppies and track each one’s status
• Run daily neonatal check-ins (weight, ENS, ESI) on every puppy
• Link a waitlist so you can see exactly who’s in line for this litter’s puppies
• Log expenses and income tied to a specific litter
• Apply a care schedule to auto-create tasks for the litter
• Add photos, documents, and events
• Track the buyer journey for each puppy through the Journey tab
• Share a private link to the litter with photos, parents, and each puppy

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How It Works

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Creating a Litter

1. Go to Litters in the left menu (under Breeding Program).
2. Click Add Litter in the top right. The Add A New Litter window opens.
3. Enter a Name and pick a Status (usually Planned before puppies arrive).
4. Enter the Date Bred. BreederBuddy shows the estimated due date right under it, based on your gestation length (61 days unless you change it with the Change button).
5. Under Parentage, pick the Sire and Dam from your dogs.
6. If the sire or dam isn’t one of your dogs, click Select a Sire (or Select a Dam) and search the name. Outside dogs you’ve used before are listed under Outside sires already in your pedigrees; click Use. Not there? Click Add a new outside sire (or dam), type the Name (plus any details you know), and click Add sire. To add them as a full dog in your program instead, click Create New Dog in the same window.
7. Click Save. Your litter now appears in your Litters list.

If puppies are already born, also fill in the Date of Birth. Leave Status empty and BreederBuddy asks you to choose one so your records stay lined up.

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Adding Puppies to a Litter

1. Open the litter and go to the Puppies tab.
2. Click Add New Puppy at the top right of the puppy list.
3. Enter the puppy’s Name and Sex (both required), plus a Collar Color if you use them. You can also enter a Quick-add first weight.
4. Click Create Puppy. The puppy appears in the litter’s puppy list and in your Dogs list, already linked to the litter’s sire, dam, and date of birth.

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The Puppies Tab Toolbox

The Toolbox box at the top of a litter’s Puppies tab handles the whole litter at once:

• Bulk Add Puppies — enter how many Males and Females, a Name prefix, Generation, Size, and Description, then click Add Puppies. Puppies are named like “Male Puppy 1” and “Female Puppy 2” with the prefix in front, and get the litter’s date of birth. The Name prefix box starts with a random fun theme (like “Moonbeam”); use the arrows or shuffle button to try others, type your own, or clear it for no prefix. Rename each puppy later with Quick-edit details.
• Link Existing Puppy — attaches a dog you already added (for example, from a spreadsheet import, or one sitting in the wrong litter) to this litter. Pick the dog and click Link Dog. Linking replaces the dog’s sire, dam, and date of birth with the litter’s.
• Weigh All — log a weight for every puppy in one window. Set the Weigh-in date (today unless you change it) and pick the Unit before you start typing, since changing the unit clears what you’ve entered. Press Enter to jump to the next puppy, and leave a row blank to skip it. An arrow beside each puppy shows the change since their last weight, with a down arrow when they weigh less.
• Add Bulk Health Records — adds the same vaccination, deworming, vet visit, or other record to many puppies at once (see below).
• Export Health PDFs — pick puppies, then pick sections, and click Export PDFs to get one health PDF per puppy.
• Copy Buyer Emails — copies the email of every puppy owner so you can paste them into one message.

Each puppy’s card also has View/Add Weight, Print for owner (a go-home packet), Quick-edit details, and the open profile arrow. Below the puppies, Weight tracking charts the whole litter, and Export Weight Report downloads it as a PDF.

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Putting Puppies in Birth Order

Drag a puppy’s card by its handle, or use the up and down arrows beside it, to set the order: birth order, collar color, or whatever suits you. BreederBuddy saves it, and the same order is used in the Neonatal Check-In puppy picker and for the puppy rows on the AKC Litter Record and your own uploaded forms in Document Manager. To compare sizes, click Sort by Weight in the Toolbox: puppies line up heaviest first with their latest weights. It’s a view only and doesn’t change your saved order. Click Return to Manual Order to drag again.

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Vaccinating or Deworming the Whole Litter

1. Open the litter and go to the Puppies tab.
2. Click Add Bulk Health Records in the Toolbox.
3. Under Select Puppies, tick Select All (or just the puppies you want).
4. Under Health Record Details, pick the Record Type (for example Vaccination), enter the name, Date, and who gave it, then click Create Records.
5. BreederBuddy asks whether to create follow-up reminders for all of them. Set the Follow-up date once and click Yes, Create, or click Skip.

Each puppy now has the record on their own Health tab.

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Printing a Go-Home Packet

1. On the litter’s Puppies tab, click Print for owner on the puppy’s card.
2. In the Print Go-Home Packet window, tick the sections to include: Vaccinations, Deworming, Veterinarian Appointments, Health Tests, Breedings, Other Records, and Weight History. Untick Include parents if you don’t want the sire and dam on it.
3. Include upcoming to-dos is on by default and adds a checklist of the vaccines, deworming, and care tasks still due, so the new family knows what’s next. Tick Compact version for smaller text and plain tables that print on fewer pages.
4. Click Generate PDF. The packet downloads, ready to print or email to the new family.

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Litter Summary PDF

For one PDF with the litter, both parents, and every puppy’s records, click the three-dot menu at the top of the litter page and choose Litter summary PDF. Tick the health record sections you want, leave Include upcoming to-dos and Include photos on or untick them, and click Generate PDF. (Download PDF in the same menu gives the litter overview PDF instead.)

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Managing a Litter

Each litter has its own detail page with tabs grouped along the side:

• Litter — Details (sire, dam, dates, status, birth method, description), Puppies (the individual puppies in this litter), and Waitlist (waitlists linked to this litter)
• Tracking & Workflow — Aptitude (side-by-side aptitude scores), Journey (each puppy’s progress from born to gone home), Events, and Whelping Watch (the dam’s temperature log, when the litter has a dam from your program)
• Media & Files — Gallery and Attachments
• Financials — Finances (invoices for this litter’s puppies, plus expenses linked to the litter; Other Income doesn’t show here)

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Litter Statuses

• Planned — breeding has been done or is planned; puppies not yet born
• Born — puppies have arrived; litter is active
• Completed — all puppies have gone home; litter is wrapped up
• Canceled — the breeding didn’t take or the litter isn’t happening

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Updating Litter Status (Planned → Born → Completed)

1. Open the litter and go to the Details tab.
2. Click Edit Details.
3. Change Status — and when puppies arrive, fill in the Date of Birth too.
4. Hit Save.

BreederBuddy helps keep things in sync along the way:

• If you enter a Date of Birth but the status is still Planned, it asks if you’d like to set the status to Born.
• Adding the first puppy to a litter that isn’t marked Born yet also prompts you to mark it Born.
• Changing the litter’s Date of Birth updates each puppy’s date of birth to match.
• When you mark a litter Completed with Edit Details, BreederBuddy offers to archive it so it drops out of your active view.

There’s also a one-click finish on the Journey tab: the Mark Sold & Complete step has a Mark All Puppies Went Home & Complete Litter button that marks every puppy Went home (Sold) and sets the litter to Completed in one go. This button doesn’t offer to archive the litter, so archive it afterwards from the three-dot menu (Archive litter) if you want it out of your active view. Completing never happens automatically. It’s always your click, on this button or the Status dropdown.

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The Go-Home Date

Every litter has one go-home date, and the rest of BreederBuddy reads it: the litter page, each puppy’s page, the buyer’s contact card, the calendar, your website, documents and invoices, and any Go-home email series.

• Until you set it, it’s an estimate: the Date of Birth plus your go-home age (8 weeks unless you change it). The litter page shows it as “goes home ~Dec 1”, and the calendar marks it Go-home (est.).
• To set the exact day, open the litter’s Edit Details and fill in Go-home date under Date of Birth. The ~ disappears everywhere, and if buyers are on a Go-home email series for this litter, BreederBuddy asks whether to move their emails to the new date.
• One puppy going home on a different day? Set Go-home date on that puppy’s Edit Details (or Quick-edit details on their card). Leave it blank to follow the litter.
• Your go-home age lives under Settings → Preferences; the small Change button under the litter’s Date of Birth opens the same setting.

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Scheduling Pickups and Marking Puppies Went Home

• Each puppy’s actual pickup or delivery appointment is a calendar event. On the litter’s Journey tab, the Schedule Pickup step has a Schedule Pickup button for every puppy — pick the date and time, and it lands on your calendar. You can reschedule from the same spot.

Once a pickup is scheduled, a Mark Went Home button appears for that puppy — click it on pickup day and their status flips to Went home (Sold). You can also set it anytime via the puppy’s Market Status (Available, Reserved, Retained, Went home (Sold)) using Quick-edit details on their row or Edit Details on their profile.

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Removing a Puppy from a Litter

• Puppy in the wrong litter? Open the correct litter’s Puppies tab and use Link Existing Puppy to move them there. There’s no “unlink” that leaves a puppy with no litter.
• Puppy passed away? Don’t delete the record. Open the puppy’s profile, click Edit Details, set Type to Deceased, and hit Save. They move to the Archived, Retired & Deceased section of your Dogs list and keep their records.
• Added by mistake? Delete the record: open the puppy’s profile with the open profile arrow, click the three-dot menu at the top, and choose Delete. Deleting is permanent and immediate, so double-check you’re on the right puppy first.

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Setting Puppy Sale Prices

Each puppy’s sale price lives on the puppy’s own profile, not on the litter page:

1. From the litter’s puppy list, click the open profile arrow on the puppy’s card (or find the puppy in Dogs).
2. Click Edit Details.
3. Enter the Sale Price (shown in your preferred currency). This sits right next to Market Status (Available, Reserved, Retained, Went home (Sold)).
4. Hit Save.

The Quick-edit details button on a litter’s puppy card covers name, call name, market status, buyer, go-home date, microchip, registration numbers, color, coat, size, and generation. For the sale price, sex, or photos, open the puppy’s full profile.

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Reserving a Puppy for a Buyer

A puppy is reserved the moment a contact becomes its owner. On the puppy’s card, click Reserve for a buyer, pick the contact, and say yes when BreederBuddy asks Mark as Reserved? The card then reads “Reserved for Sarah Miller · goes home Dec 1”, your website shows the puppy as reserved, the buyer’s contact card says the same, and a Go-home email series can offer to start. This window only lists contacts you already have. For a brand-new buyer, add them under Contacts first, or open the puppy’s profile and use Reserve for a buyer on its Relationships tab, which has Create New Contact. The full story, including guardian homes and partner breeders, is under Dogs.

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Sharing a Litter

You can send buyers a private page for a litter without putting it on your website. It shows the litter’s photos, the sire and dam, and a card for each puppy with their photos and details.

1. Open the litter and click the Share icon next to the litter’s name.
2. Click Create share link. The link is copied for you, ready to paste into a text, email, or message.
3. Everything is on by default. Untick a section to leave it off, or click Customize next to it to pick specific puppies, photos, or files. Changes save on their own, and the link stays the same.

Anyone with the link can view the page without logging in. Every photo in the litter’s gallery is included unless you untick it, and each puppy’s own gallery photos are included too, so buyers can tap a puppy to flip through their pictures. Links expire after 90 days. To change that, click Change at the bottom of the share window. To stop sharing right away, click Turn off link.

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Archiving or Deleting a Litter

To archive a finished litter, open it and click the three-dot menu at the top of the page, then choose Archive litter. Archived litters keep all their records and appear in the Archived Litters section at the bottom of your Litters page. To bring one back, open it and choose Unarchive litter from the same menu. To permanently delete a litter, choose Delete from that same three-dot menu. Deleting is permanent — archive whenever you want to keep the history. Made a duplicate litter? Deleting a litter doesn’t delete its puppies, but they lose their link to it. So first open the litter you’re keeping, go to its Puppies tab, and use Link Existing Puppy to move each puppy over. Then delete the duplicate. To sort your archived litters, switch the Litters page to List view (detailed) with the toggle on the right, then click a column header (Name, Date of Birth (Age), Sire, Dam, or Puppy count) in the Archived Litters table.

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Showing a Litter on Your Website

1. Open the litter’s Details tab and click Edit Details.
2. Under Display Settings, tick Public?. The Description below it is what shows under the litter’s name and photo on your site.
3. Hit Save.

Whether the litter reads as available comes from its puppies: any puppy marked Available makes the litter available. Archiving a litter takes it off your website. To publish or hide several dogs and litters at once, use Content Manager in the left menu.

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Neonatal Check-Ins

Once a litter is marked Born, BreederBuddy gives you a daily Neonatal Check-In for each puppy: log weight any day, and ENS (Early Neurological Stimulation) and ESI (Early Scent Introduction) on days 3 through 16. To start one, go to your Dashboard and click Check In next to the litter on the Neonatal Check-In card. (New dashboards don’t show that card until you turn it on with the sliders icon near the top of the Dashboard.) See the Neonatal Check-In doc for the full walkthrough.

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Linking a Waitlist

Open the Waitlist tab on a litter and click Link Waitlist to connect one of your Waitlists. Buyers on a linked waitlist show up here, so you always know who’s waiting on puppies from this specific litter. You can do this before any puppies are born: create the litter with Status set to Planned, then link the waitlist. Haven’t picked the sire yet? A litter needs a sire, so add an external sire named something like “TBD” (Select a Sire → Add a new outside sire), then pick the real sire later with Edit Details.

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Applying a Care Schedule

You can attach a pre-built care schedule to a litter so that tasks (vet visits, deworming, etc.) auto-populate as events.

1. Open the litter and go to the Events tab.
2. Click Apply Schedule to this Litter below the events list.
3. Pick a schedule from your Care Schedules and confirm.
4. The schedule’s tasks now show up as events on the litter and on your calendar.

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Key Terms

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Tips & Common Questions

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Still Have Questions?

We’re here to help. If something isn’t working the way you expect, or you’d like to have a discussion around a certain topic, please reach out to us anytime through the chat in the bottom right corner of your screen. Thank you.