My dog is about to have puppies?

Question

I would like to hear of other people's stories who have gone through this experience. Days leading up to and after. Did you get a full litter? Did you have to hand rear any? Any thoughts and ideas that would benefit. I have read various articles on this subject but would also like to hear it first hand from you.

Answer 1

is it the dog in your profile pic? She's a good looking lady! I've had lots of experience of pregnant girls and helped my friends dog birth her three babies about 5 weeks ago so i'll tell you what to expect. Just before your dog goes into labour, she will go off her food and will want to lay about, just getting up to check her birthing place. You will know when she's in labour when she starts getting a bit jumpy, not laying still for too long and, as she's close to you, following you around as if she's looking for praise all the time. When she does this, sit down yourself, so that she sits down with you and gets as much rest as she can. Her waters will break anywhere so be mindful of this! It may happen on your carpets, your furniture or your lap! I know you won't tell her off wherever it happens because you love her and besides, she really can't help it! Its not wee i hasten to add so will not leave a lingering smell like urine does but it does have a slight odour to it but its not overly offensive. Once her waters have broken she will experience extreme pain! You'll end up crying with her but there is nothing you can do unless your vet is prepared to let you have a pain killer of sorts but i've never heard of a vet doing this, yours may be different. However, dogs are great at coping with this and she'll just get on with it really. Once her waters have broken, the pups should start arriving! Mind you, they won't fall out immediately after or come one by one! It can take anything from five minutes to an hour and a half after the waters have broken so don't panic! Just before the 1st pup arrives, your dog will pass what looks like a milky bubble, like a kid blowing chewing gum! She'll burst this herself, but if she's very fat with the pregnancy and can't reach it and she cant do it by scraping it on the floor, wipe a rough towel over it, that'll burst it! The 1st pup will come out, head first, covered in a white-ish sac, its mucus and has protected baby for the nine weeks its been inside mum. Mum will instinctively break this sac with her teeth, please don't panic and think she's eating her child, she isn't! It does look as if she's being rough though ha ha. If for some reason she doesn't break this mucus sac, you MUST do it, and please don't sit there for ten minutes thinking about it or the pup wil die! Just take a towel, not too rough this time, and wipe the pup with it, being mindful of the fact that its still attached to mum by the umbilical cord. If she's doing this herself, she'll get rid of the sac by eating it and she'll chew off the umbilical cord and eat that too! If you're doing it, cut the cord in the middle, nowhere near the pups stomach! You shouldn't jump in right away though as dogs are naturally very good mums and they'll do this themselves. Pup number 2 will follow shortly but that too can take up to an hour or more. While this is all going on, and if she lets you, gently massage her stomach ( you'll feel the babies! ) and rub her back, she'll appreciate it! Once her stomach has stopped contracting, thats all the babies out but let her lead, don't move her or anything like that. She'll clean the babies and they'll suckle naturally. You can open the champagne then ha ha. If its her first litter, she may have one, she may have three or four. Its a wonderful thing to witness but it should be just you and her in the birthing area, don't go calling the neighbours in and if you've got kids, keep them away as they'll make her nervous. Good luck, hope it all goes well and could you please let us know how it went? Thanks x

Answer 2

When my dog had her first litter of pups I was petrified! I read book after book and scoured the internet for information and advice. I watched her like a hawk and was on the phone to the vets seemingly every hour, lol! She had been panting and pacing for a day or two before she had the puppies.

We had prepared the whelping box in our bedroom but she had the puppies next to our bed on the floor! I was in another room when I heard her groan and I ran in and there was a puppy! She was brilliant, tearing off the sac and licking the puppy clean. She had a puppy every 15 - 20 minutes until she had had twelve. She had six of each.

After a few days it was evident that one of the pups wasn't thriving and I began bottle feeding him. He was quite poorly, his fur fell out and the vet advised me to have him put down on more than one occasion. He was always very tiny growing up, half the size of his litter mates, but is now his breed standard size and doing well with a wonderful family who adore him.

The second litter was harder work, it took our b*tch longer to have the 12 puppies (12 hours this time) and two had to be revived as they didn't start breathing and mum didn't show much interest in them. She also had the first one outside when she went out last thing. She had showed no signs of being in labour so we weren't watching her. The first we knew was when she walked into the house with a puppy in her mouth!

The last litter we had earlier this year were all fine, the birth only lasted a couple of hours and ten healthy puppies were born.

We have had 34 puppies born and 34 puppies survive!

Answer 3

I've bred 7 litters of my own. I've whelped probably 40 litters or so. (I've been flown across country to help whelp a litter). All whelpings are different.

I've lost relatively few pups. I've never had a c-section done but am always ready for it. I've had b*tches go into uterine inertia and needed oxytocin for it. I've had whelpings take over 24 hours (we were all exhausted by the time the 13th live puppy arrived). I've had to bring pups to the vet to be euthanized due to cleft pallates (none of mine). I've breathed life into pups born apparently dead.. I don't give up until its clear its futile (part of why I end up getting called to whelp.. I've developed a reputation for keeping pups alive).

As far as hand-rearing.. no.. however I have supplemented a large litter with bottle feeding ... and *I* bottle feed the biggest pups so the smaller ones get a better chance eating off of mom.

Favorite book for whelping: The Whelping and Rearing of Puppies by Muriel Lee.

I start working on neural stimulation within 48 hours after a pup is born.

Answer 4

well for one.Its best to have a nice soft place for her when she gives birth.Along with paper towels to help clean off the puppies when she doesn't clean them good herself.Take care of the dog feeding her food and lots of water.Just don't overdose on the food and water.But u want a full healthy litter of pups :] After u help dry off the pups leave up to their mom to do the job.But when she starts to move and try to get up keep the pups a distance from her cause she might step on them.But if any of the pups just happen to not drink the mother's milk itself then get one of these and fill it with the mother's milk and feed it the pup:
here's a link:
http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/216901/2/istockphoto_216901_large_syringe.jpg
its not a needle its meant for a baby when ur giving the medicine.But u can use for the pups incase they don't feed themselves on their own.
good luck.!

Answer 5

my little dog who was abandoned on the highway 2 months earlier when i found her,she had 6 pups 2 mths later. i stayed with her through out the deliveries. she ran under the pool pen and started digging so i picked her up and put her in my cage that i brought into the spare room. i filled it with clean towels and a soft blanket and then waited. as soon as she started panting and making a little grunting noise the first pup came out. then a few mins later another. it took about 3 to 5 hrs. the only trouble she had was she bit the cord too short on one of the pups and it bled really bad,so i grabbed the little guy and applied pressure until it stopped bleeding and he was ok. she did everything right and cleaned and fed them right away.she stopped feeding them at around 3 weeks so i fed them pablum and puppy food moistend with warm water then i also mixed in puppy canned meat with milk. they did wonderfull and i found them all homes except one which i kept.offer her little bits of food and water in between the births good luck with your new babies.

Answer 6

My lab on the day of delivery was very nervous, she was shivering and moaning this started at 8 in the morning, we had to hold her and comfort her all day. around 7 that night she kept wanting to go out to go potty and would pee a ton then try to have a stool with nothing, around 8:30 she had a small stool with blood then at 9:30 she started to shiver and moan and put her head on my chest pushing on me and our first pup came out. everything went pretty well like all the articles I had read. but our 4th pup came out feet first and got stuck, we had to help pull him out, he was huge. during the whole delivery which started at 9:30 and ended at 3:30 with a total of 11 pups, our momma dog kept throwing up after each pup. it was what she had clean up from them. she had some trouble a couple of days after the pups were born not eating but did a great job of taking care of them. I made sure I marked and weighed and checked every pup, every day to make sure they gained weight. I did lose my runt, so when the pups stayed at the same weight for 2 days or didn't gain weight I gave them all some milk replacer to help them out and to take a little bit of stress off of our mom. feel free to email me with any questions.

Answer 7

The most helpful thing that I would say is this: You'll know when she's close to actually HAVING the babies is when you squeeze her nipples and milk comes out (that's what my vet told me) what my vet DIDN'T tell me is this: Check the nipples in the VERY back, closest to the hind legs, those are the first nipples to get milk. Once milk comes out of those nipples it'll be in the next 24 hours that she will start having puppies.

Answer 8

hi i just had my first litter of great dane puppys about 4 months ago.. but i didnt know she was going to have them when she had them and only 5 of the 9 survived. but the vet said she would only have 2 and she ened up with 9... but i had to raise only one which was a good thing

Answer 9

That is very exciting news!

Plenty of Newspaper/Mops/Love/Care and Attention required.

Oh and be prepared for a lot of hard work keeping the young family under control

Answer 10

Umm yes I have been through that because my dog had three liters. Your dog is going to 8 puppies maybe. For about 2-5 weeks the puppies will be drinking milk from her nipples. After that time get soft dog food and cut them into little chunks and feed it to puppies.(Dont feed them the crunchy chewy kind,they dont have teeth yet). When they are about 1month old you can either sell them for free or keep them and raise them yourself. Your dog might hide the puppies from you when they are first. (Check under the bed or a nice hiding spot it maybe be on a soft spot). Well I hope your dog is sucssecful with her puppies. Conrdadulations!