Your Last Litter

[Steve]

When you had your last litter where was it whelped and where did the pups live for the first 3 weeks ?

I need you to describe the environment your pups lived in during whelping and for the first 21 days.

If you're worried about making this public Id appreciate you telling me privately [email protected]

[Cavalblaze]

When you had your last litter where was it whelped and where did the pups live for the first 3 weeks ?

I need you to describe the environment your pups lived in during whelping and for the first 21 days.

If you're worried about making this public Id appreciate you telling me privately [email protected]

Cavaliers.

Mine are in our Laundry which is in the centre of our house. They were born in the whelping box. Have a baby gate on the door.

They are 4 weeks old and are still there today. Environment is warm, main heater on all day and pups have a heated mat for extra warmth.

[Bokezu]

My last litter whelped in the garage that is internal with a door from the main house, it was well heated and just like another room of the house, they sleep in there until they leave for their new homes, works well for me

[Shelby]

My last litter were born on 12th June so nearly three weeks old. Litter was whelped in the corner of my family room. Set up is a whelping box surrounded by a puppy pen. Whelping box is heated and the puppy pen has sheets all the way around to protect from any draughts. Have had the ducted air conditioner zoned to other side of house so no draughts on pups but the warm air flows into that side of the house.

I took a full week of leave from work and the last two weeks have done half days to be home to check on puppies and the bitch.

[oakway]

In the kitchen in whelping box with a C Crate around to provide protection.

A cover for the pen and heating provided.

[natzs]

Last December 2 Chihuahua litters. Both ended up being c-sections due to complications. Both litters brought

up in loungeroom ,one litter ended up in our bedroom due to the mum wanting to eat visitors. When older

both litters in pens in diningroom which is part of living area due to open plan living area.Lots of love and socialision

they all turned out to be happy,and friendly pups.

[Lowenhart]

Whilst officially "born" at the vets as it was a caeser, the litter was set up with a puppy pen in the bedroom. A petpack crate (it's small breed) was set up with a heating pad and vetbed. The solid crate prevents too much heat loss and some privacy for the bitch.

The set up remains until weaning when the crate is removed from the pen and a wire lid is put ontop. Litter remains in the bedroom puppy pen until they go to their new homes.

Edited to add: Puppies are just confined to the pen during sleep time or when they can not be supervised. They get to run in the house, and back yard when I am home.

Edited June 29, 2010 by Lowenhart

[WreckitWhippet]

I'm happy to share. They were whelped in the loungeroom. The floor is tiled and then has a full sheet of lino placed on top of that, for easy cleaning and disinfecting. The whelping box is covered and has a thick drop down plastic sheet for winter pups and the box is heated with a lamp ( that's an old box and I'm always building new improved models ) I spend the first few weeks of the pups life sleeping on the lounge and making sure that my bitch is happy and the pups are thriving.

There is a puppy pen that surrounds the box, so the bitch can come and go from the pups and have her own space, I keep it screened off for the first few days while the bitch settles and when she indicates she's happy to have the other dogs standing at the pen and looking in, I take the screening down. If the bitch decides that they are welcome in the pen and box, I will let the calmer dogs in, it's entirely up to her.

The area I use is by a large window, I make full use of the natural light, as do the pups when they venture from the box.

It's hard to put down everything that you do whilst having a litter on the ground, but phone me when I have a litter and I can pretty much guarantee that I'm sitting in the bottom of that whelping box ( in the warm LOL ) just talking to the bitch and looking at and handling the pups. I spend hours in there, I get to know the pups inside out from day one and the most rewarding part is the bond I develop with the pups and how well I get to know their individual personailities and quirks. The better you know your pups, the more informed you are as a breeder when it comes to matching new owners with a puppy.

They are exposed to my daughter, every household noise, visitors, the other dogs and what goes on in the street.

[Vonasche]

Our last litter whelped in spare bedroom, which is directly off our family room. Baby gate accross the door. Heated whelping box. Central heating vent closed in the room to avoid direct draught and to avoid drying the air out too much. Central heating left on over night in the rest of the house so warm air filtered through. Room temp was a constant average of 26 degrees for first two weeks. Slept in the room with mum and bubs for first 3 weeks. As soon as their ears were open, a noise CD (Crash Bang Wallop) was on as background noise, very low to start with and volume increased daily.

[ish]

I usually have my girls and their litters in the dining room part of the kitchen, but my last litter was born in the spare room as I had 2 girls whelp a few days apart (one in the kitchen, one in the spare room). I prefer the kitchen as it is naturally a busier area, which exposes the pups to more.

Both rooms were set up in a similar manner. Lino on the floor, home made whelping boxes (one box was made new for this litter, it had higher walls for a bitch who likes a cave environment), heat lamps, set up where natural light was maximised and puppy pens allowing the bitches to have space away from the box. Neither room had curtains so I bought some rubber backed curtain material and pegged it up so I could keep the cold out during the night.

When the 2nd litter were 3 weeks old, they were moved into the kitchen set up with the singleton puppy and all became the one family.

Spare room set up (whelping box wasn't set up at this stage and more lino went down on the carpet)

Whelping box in the spare room

Kitchen set up with all the pups

[supercharged]

SBT123 - great set up similar to what I do! But silly me never thought of lino!!!!

Only difference is where you guys are using heaters we are using air conditioners up here in sunny nth QLD! Well for nine months of the year anyway. Its only just getting cold enough for a jumper for an hour in the morning here!

Whelped last litter inside, whelping box surrounded by puppy pen, first four weeks inside then transition to outside ventures and inside to sleep.

S

[Lyla]

My labs were whelped and lived in the dining room. My bitch was not a fan of the puppy pen around the whelping box so it was removed as she kept jumping it. She was also reluctant to stay in the whelping box without me so I was in there for the birth of all puppies.

Once all the pups were born she was happy to stay in the whelping box with her babies so the puppy pen wasn't necessary. The whelping box is also very large, so there was plenty of room for mum to move away as pups got older, she rarely wanted to leave them anyway. She was very protective of the pups, so none of my other dogs could come inside, and she wouldn't even allow them on the verandah to look through the glass door. She couldn't care less about people though. My eldest who was 7 helped with the whelping and handled pups from birth. The next day the other 2 kids who were aged 1 and 3 got in the whelping box with mum to see the pups. The pups had me and my kids in the whelping box at various times through the day every day, and there were also plenty of neighbours who came to have a look.

Pups were born in November, so ducted aircon was used as necessary, but temp was pretty good in the house. They were on a thick fluffy blanket inside the box, changed daily.

I also slept in the lounge room for the first week, but this bitch proved to be such a great mum, it wasn't necessary for me to help much.

Pups were raised with people around most of the time, all the usual kid and house noises, and stayed inside exclusively until 4 1/2 weeks old.

[BJean]

Kangal - 4m 2f.

Whelped in a draft free, sub-area of the barn, the whelping and rearing area is about 3m x 3metres, roof 1.4m in height.

bedding and insulation made of straw. Also heat lamp set up from the far side of the ceiling area. (ie to the side of the area ceiling, not in the middle, so that dam was not exposed to full heat.)

Pups were not handled at all for first three weeks, only looked in on to see that mum was nursing okay, and to give dam supplement feed: milk and eggs, whole dead chicken carcasses.

[litter was whelped under breeders terms on farm ]

Pups were first handled at three weeks of age to see what sex the puppies were.

Pups were first weighed at 5 weeks of age so could be wormed.

Dam was given no assisstance at all during the birth.

Of 7 puppies born, 6 survived.

Now 7 weeks and an outstanding litter, even type across the board,

one exceptional bitch puppy and two lovely male puppies.

All puppies either normal average (1m, 1f) or well above average (1f, 3m) weight for age.

Exceptional female puppy at 6 weeks, 5 days.

Weight 8.1kg

Standout male puppy, 6 weeks 5days.

Weight 9.0kg

Edited June 29, 2010 by lilli

[WreckitWhippet]

A bit off topic, but it's really interesting to see how the different breeds are cared for.

[BJean]

Query for those that have pups contained in an area that utilises lino, tiles, floorboards:

do you add anything to the floor to give the pups traction when they move /play / run etc ?

:D

Edited June 29, 2010 by lilli

[FHRP]

Litter was born by c-section at vets. Whelping box was in the spare bedroom with heating pad and column heaters to control temperature. Pups regularly handled and weighed from day one, tails docked on day 3. After a few days my other dogs were allowed to look in and allowed in the whelping box when the dam was comfortable. No kids in the house and only me, but did have 'visitors' (co-owner, vet and a close friend) in those first few weeks. Lots done after three weeks, but you didn't ask for that The litter I'm referring to will be 10 years old next week :D

Edited June 29, 2010 by FHRP

[ish]

Query for those that have pups contained in an area that utilises lino, tiles, floorboards:

do you add anything to the floor to give the pups traction when they move /play / run etc ?

:D

Mine had vetbed in the whelping box (previous litters have used carpet mats) and once they were walking well enough to get out of the box, I had rubber backed vet bed mats on the lino. The number of vet bed mats were reduced as they became more coordinated and the pups were eventually moved outside

[Ozstar]

My babies are born in my bedroom next to my bed and stay there for the first 3-4 weeks then move into the family room.

Once they are around the 5 week old mark they spend the day outside if the weather is nice.

Leanne

Edited June 29, 2010 by Ozstar Kennels

[Rebanne]

c-section so whelped at the vets, then went to the the lounge room, whelping box to start with then bunnings special :D

[WreckitWhippet]

Query for those that have pups contained in an area that utilises lino, tiles, floorboards:

do you add anything to the floor to give the pups traction when they move /play / run etc ?

:D

The lino is that rough textured stuff, I've not found that slippery. The tiles are , so they are covered up. I limit the newspaper to one corner as I;ve found that slippery too.

My guys head outside to play, at about 4 weeks. They are on the cement, grass and into the dirt at that age.