How many puppies did your dog have for the first time?

Question

I have a 2 year old Labrador Retriever. It's pregnant now and I think it might be time that it's going to give birth.

Anyone here who has a Lab which gave birth before? How many pups did you get for the first time it gave birth? Was it difficult for it? How did you handle it?

Please let me know your experience... Thanks!!

Hey... Thanks so much for giving me all those advice... And here's the good news!! My Lab (Princess), just gave birth to 9 healthy pups!! Well, 2 died. So it was actually 11... But I'm so glad she got through it just fine and I didn't have to do much but watch over her. Seems like I was worrying over nothing...

Thank you very much for the stuff you all told me!

Answer 1

My dog has ten pups every time she delivers, so I've been through it, but she's not a Lab.

When she begins to go into labor, you can usually tell on her face and often by the contractions you'll see in her abdomen. Keep her as near you as possible the closer she gets to delivery. My dogs always want me right there with them the whole time, and that can be quite time consuming, as there can be hours between each pup.

I'm sure everyone has their own procedure during the birthing process, but I let her chew the cord off herself, and I'm told that it's important that the mother eats the afterbirth. After she has chewed through the cord, and often licked the pup a bit, I take it from her in a warm cloth, wipe it's little face and nose to remove all remnants of the sack, and use a babie's nose syringe to clear it's throat. I do this from years of experience and occasional problems with pups getting their breathing started.

If a pup IS having trouble getting its breath, try massaging its chest area and even blowing lightly in it's face to make it gasp for air. This has never failed me, and I have never lost a pup.

My grandmother used to dose all new puppies with an eyedropper full of Cod Liver Oil, but I've never done this and don't know what the benefit might be.

When I'm done with this, which only takes a moment or two, usually, I put the pup right to it's mother's nipples and they begin to suck right away.

Good luck with your babies, they can be a lot of fun and a lot of headaches, but I think it's worth it. Enjoy them.

Answer 2

She could have as little as 2 and as many as 12+. First off I would like to say that it is a wonderful thing and that your female will do a lot of the work on her own. For the most part you will not have to intervene unless a problem arises. The Internet is a great place for info on this and you can even find a dog pregnancy calender for her. www.schaferhund.com/gsd_pregnancy.asp which is a great calender to go by and it tells you what is going on within your dog. Also when I use it for my litters it has been very close on the date of birth. The last one was within a few days. Also, as great as birth is, sometimes there is problems that cannot be helped. Every birth is different. Most of the time every puppy comes out great, but there is a chance for dead birth. I don't want to scare you, but it does happen, and you should be prepared with a shoebox or something to put them in just in case. Those you have to take away from the mother right away. There have been documented cases according to my vet where the mother will ignore the rest of the litter because of a lost puppy. You have to carefully take the pup away from her and put it where she cannot see it, so she will concentrate on the living. I would recommend getting a book on your breed of dog, that helps a lot.

Answer 3

It all depends on the mother. Every dog is different. However the average litter for a Lab is 7. This may not occur with your dog if it is her first litter. She could be carrying as little as 2. As for how you handle it, if she starts to have trouble during labor, take her to your vet immediately. They may need to do a C-Section. Most likely there will be no problems, just watch her carefully.