Okay - Please Bear With Me - Breeding Again

[Tia]

Sorry guys, but I have a question. How do you know when the pups are imminent? From what I have to go on, the dog visited my bitch and the calculated date of birth should be 3rd December, however I am now wondering whether he came to visit prior to the date I have calculated back to.

The thing is, my bitch is always outside when I am and I have been out a number of times this morning and she hasn't come out with the other dogs. Every time I go to look at her through the kitchen window, she is just sitting there looking out of the windows at the back of the dogroom. Normally she would be running around outside regardless of whether I was out or not. She also does not tend to just sit when she is in the dogroom, she is normally lying down on her bed.

Something about her is odd today and I have sent hubby out to pet store to buy a crate just incase.

I only know about breeding horses I'm afraid and to-date have never missed a foal birth; puppies are things that I buy once weaned, so have not much idea about how to tell when they are coming without having a due date.

 

[CAYLA]

Normal first signs......nesting,circling,panting, sometimes a release of discharge from the vulval area...excessive licking in the area.....is she seperated from the other dogs yet...this can stress them out some what...they need a quiet enclosed space of their own to get on with things.

Is it pssible he could have caught her earlier?
How old is she?
Is this a first litter?

 

[Tia]

No she's still out with the other dogs however she has told them to go out of the dogroom - she's staying on her own mostly although I've just been outside feeding the horses and she was playing with the shepherd dog.

She's just turned 5 years old. She's never had pups before and never will again!

Yes I am trying to think back to if he came visiting before the day I took him to the pound and I believe he did, because I would not have taken him to the pound if he hadn't been pestering us, so he could have been here a few days beforehand.

Thank you for the info.

 

[MillionDollar]

Oooooo, I didn't know puppies were due!!! What breed?

As above, she'll get very restless, etc. A bit like a mare really. It sounds as though she might be close wanting to be on her own.

Good Luck, hope all goes well

 

[CAYLA]

Some people monitor temperature change...but not all dogs are consistant with this.

She may also refuse her meal/s when very near the time.

Some give no indication at all and just drop..lol

but generally the vast majority tend primarily to pant....not that I have breed myself

but being a nurse I see and have helped...to my dismay

hundreds of bitches in the whelping process.
In fact answered a total of 25 calls in the last 2 nights of work in regard to advice re-whelping...lol

Im sure she will be fine...and Im sure u will know when the time is near....unless u are in bed...lol

 

[Tia]

My bitch is a straight cross from pedigree parents - Springer father and Border Collie mother......sounds like some designer dog huh?

LOL!! So a SpringerXcollie mongrel.

The dog is a purebred border collie so pups will be 3/4 collie with only a wee bitty madness in them

.

Puppies were not planned - roaming dog visited and bonked her - we only figured it out a week or so ago when her teats started to show.

 

[Tia]

Stupid question - how much mess does the breaking of the waters make in a breed this size? Gosh I wish it was summer time and she could just drop them outside....

I won't be able to tell if she goes off her food as my dogs are all fed ad-lib, however once she comes in the house I guess I can keep an eye on how much she eats when she is inside.

Do they generally give birth during the night?

 

[CAYLA]

Well not to much...considering the mother normally devours the lot....yack

My rescue mammy...started to pant when I went of the B&Q my second home...lol.
I knew she would be starting any time....arrived home a few hours later to 4 pups and not a shred of evidence

Not to bad though....probably some blobs of green/bloody stain on bedding.
Saying that all are different...could look like texas chain saw masacre...

 

[CAYLA]

LOL....re the whelping during the night...all of the out of hours emergency calls we get would suggest they whelp through the night between 2am and 4am....LMAO.

not really......my mammy dropped hers at around 5pm.

 

[Spot_the_Risk]

Tia, just use towels and chuck them in the bin afterwards. Think ours whelped on am old sleeping bag. Don't let her anywhere near carpets, they never recover. Make her up a bed where you would prefer her to whelp, and where the puppies will then stay for a couple of weeks, give her chance to get used to it before she whelps. You don't want her scrabbling around the house dropping pups all over the place - and they can be that dim!

Ours (Srpinger) started showing some signs of distress at about 6pm, didn't drop the first one out until 3 in the morning, and the last one arrived about 10am! But then, our bitch just didn't bother to push at all, lazy cow!

 

[Tia]

Oh man!! Horses are sooo much easier and cleaner ..... and outdoors!

Hey ho! I hope it is through the night as then at least I'll be inside with her, whereas through the day we are in and out all day long.

 

[Tia]

Hubby is away in the big city buying a pen for her and the pups. I was actually thinking of going to the local charity store to buy some used towels that I can chuck away afterwards....all of my towels are velour and lovely - wouldn't want to waste them on afterbirth

.

I get this funny feeling that you feel exactly the same as me with regards to bitches having puppies in your house........

 

[ann-jen]

The thing is there is a massive variation in when they whelp compared to their due dates. They can easily whelp 5 days early or 5 days late to when you calculate them to be due from a known mating date.
If you get a thermometer and start measuring her body temperature each day - it can vary a little from dog to dog so you need to find out what is normal for her - it will drop by a degree or so within 24h of her going into labour. That should give you a little forewarning that things are about to start happening.
Good Luck

 

[Tia]

Thank you everyone - see I told you I knew nothing

.

I have her in the house now and she seems perfectly happy to lie and sleep in her pen, although she does have an open door so she can wander around if she likes. She's a bit wary as she knows she shouldn't really be in the house and is sort of pussyfooting around, but I am hoping she will settle in soon.

The cats are intrigued by her being in here. Tia Ribbon isn't bothered as the dogs sometimes used to come in the house when we lived in England, however the other 2 Canadian cats think this is something most peculiar....

 

[siennamum]

She may just be feeling a bit under the weather, but I would aim to get her in a whelping box asap, and ensure you have it somewhere private and yet near you so you can monitor her and help with whelping, in comfort.
I have used towels and thrown them away, but would always put lots of newspaper down from day one as she will want to shred it when her time comes. I am also a big believer in vetbed as soon as the puppies are born it wil be a godsend.
She's going to regret her little roll in the hay with a traveller, lol

 

[siennamum]

They make loads and loads of mess, you do need to have lots of newspaper, I aim to let the bitch have a couple of afterbirths,but not all so she doesn't have too much of an upset tummy, just make sure you account for all the afterbirths. If you are careful with the umbilical (

) you shouldn't get too much blood.....

 

[Tia]

Oh I have 3 vetbeds! These are used for their summer bedding...will dig them out and make sure they are clean.

Saving up newspapers now in readiness, and she is happily wandering around the house now. I've asked her a couple of times to go on her bed and she has calmly just walked into her pen and laid down; so she seems much happier being in the house now.

I'm very open to suggestions for as clean a birth as possible so thank you for the tips.

I was rubbing her tum last night and managed to feel 4 puppies bouncing around (well I think they were 4 individual ones anyway) so we are quite looking forward to meeting the little critters.