Last week..... :-)

[Crimson Ghost]

OK, its Monday and we are in a 5 day or so count down. My pup doesn’t go near the whelping box – but she tries to dig a spot in my back yard almost every trip out side.



I started to take her temp this weekend (as you all suggested to me). She was 100.1 Saturday and yesterday she was 99.1 – I was a little worried that she was popping early so I took it again later in the day and she was 99.5. She ate her dinner – so I guess we have more time yet.



I am concerned that she will go into labor when I am at work – I am going to move her whelping box to my master bathroom and lock her in there with it. If she has free roam of the house she will end up behind the couch or under my bed. Do you think it too mean to lock her in a room like that? I don’t want to stress her out – she is normally a very calm pup, I would be shocked if she even let out a bark over it.



My wife asked if I should put her in the whelping box and lock her in…..that’s only a 4x4 footprint and seems like it would be really mean. My wife thinks since people put dogs in cages for training that its no different and it might be for her own good. (after all, if she decides to give birth on a 200 year old antique Persian Rug life might end…..she has a point since I think its my life she references)



Can wee go over the “tell tale” signs that birth is coming? Temp drop, restlessness, lack of appetite --- all means within 24 hours ? is this right?

[Crimson Ghost]

I read in one of the books I picked up that her water will break a handfull of hours prior to delivery. Is this a very obvious thing?

[Crimson Ghost]

Oh yeah...one more question. If I am sleeping and she goes into labor will I hear her ? I am a light sleeper so she can make small noises and I would wake up.

[sheplovr]

If she is anything like my females she will dig furiously almost like going to dig the whelp box of wood into a hole, that is what they are trying to do instinctively anyhow. Wild days they put the litter in a hole they carefully prepared and eat pee and fecal matter to keep preditors away from killing her and the litter.

U should hear her panting heavy, digging, whinning some, water does not break as each pup is in its own sak. When the first pup comes it is in a heavy rubber type of sac with the fluids of life and cord all together, I break each sac and let the mom help clean it and then I rub the baby hard to yelp the more it does the stronger the lungs get for breathing easier in our world. Keep the puppies very warm, it is hard on mommy but more pups are lost to hyperthermia than anything else. Keep rubbing while mommy helps lick. They bond this way and your helping make it easier also.
I log the time of birth, weight by food scale, sex of pup and ribbon the neck and mark down the color that follows that pup till it leaves. I keep a special book for whelping puppies. I write down everything and rate that birth of that pup from 1 to 5, so I know if it was back legs first, written down, and some harder for the female to push into our world. Just my way. U can do what you want, these are just suggestions to be sure of things, and not rely on my mind to remember. Good luck it should be soon, it can start any minute without alot of warning since she has displayed alot of signs early.
Get a bunch of towels, sizzors, iodine, rubber gloves, scale, wet towel to wipe around the mess of being made. I keep a bucket of warm water with Dawn in it to clean the linoleum around the female and pups. Have a shringe, I use an ear one to suck out the fluids from its mouth, lots of rick rack colors, or what your going to use, u can get bands over the net like 500 for $50.00 S&H also.
I keep a bottle of pop or make a pot of coffee also. I keep my things in a Rubbermaid box with lid on it. I have two large shelves up high loaded with things for the pups, lots of bands of colors as they grow keep checking to change, they grow so fast, I check every few days how tight it is on the necks. My female is showing all the signs, pups are down in stomach from the rib cage, lining up in the birth canal, she will not be long as she is filled with milk before hand this time, vulva swollen, licking and restless, drinking alot of water. Another good thing during labor is whip and egg put tbsp sugar in for quick pick up for her. No Food!!

[Crimson Ghost]

Great information – thank you. I have all my supplies on hand and ready to go – my sister is coming up this Friday night from NC to assist me. So far she has no interest in the Whelping box I made her – so my biggest fear is that she will wander off in my house and go into labor elsewhere. I am going to start closing my bedroom door at night – that way she is in the room with me and the whelping box.

What would you think about putting her in the whelping box during the day when I am at work? Is this an incredibly cruel thing to even contemplate? I am just worried about her delivering during the day when I am at work. If she shows me that labor is coming I will stay home from work…..but in my life things just don’t ever seem to work out as planned – so I tend to plan on the worst and hope for the best.