Making Puppies: Pregnancy and Whelping
You have bred your beautiful young bitch, so you take her to your vet to have an ultrasound made to determine if she is really pregnant and how many puppies you can expect. Young bitches tend to have larger litters. What a thrill it is to see the ultrasound and your unborn puppies, as your vet counts how many he finds.
Your Pregnant Bitch
Taking good care of your pregnant bitch is an important part of producing healthy puppies. Be sure she gets good nutrition, and if your vet recommends, give her vitamins. If you keep her in your house, be sure she is not in the kitchen when you operate the microwave, for the microwaves can damage the puppies. Reassure her and show her extra affection. Pregnancy can be uncomfortable and she will be experiencing many changes in her body.
The Whelping Box
A good serviceable whelping box is a necessity. If you are handy with hammer, nails, and boards, you can build a whelping box easily. If you have a large bitch such as a German Shepherd, you will need a whelping box that is about 5 feet square. Be sure to put an extra rail inside the box so a puppy cannot get smothered against the wall. Do not put a floor in the whelping box, but rather place it on linoleum. Whelping boxes are expensive to purchase, and relatively simple to make.
Gestation Period
Counting the day your dog was bred, count ahead 59 days. The puppies can come anytime between 59 and 63 days. When it gets close to the time, about day 59, start taking your bitch’s temperature twice daily with a rectal thermometer. Her normal temperature is between 100.5°F and 102.5°F. As she gets closer to whelping, her temperature will gradually drop. When it goes below 99 degrees, she will whelp in twelve hours or less.
Whelping
When the bitch is getting ready to go in labor, she will become restless, getting up and down in the whelping box. She may scratch the material with which you lined the whelping box. A piece of linoleum just a bit bigger than the whelping box is easy to take care of. When the first puppy is born, the mother should remove the membranous sac that surrounds the puppy. Cut the umbilical cord about one inch from the puppy. Dip the end of the cord in iodine. If the cord is bleeding, tie it with some dental floss. The mother can eat the afterbirth of one or two puppies; more could upset her digestion. The rest of the puppies will be born in a matter of time. It might be several hours before the bitch has finished whelping. The entire procedure should take place without any problems, provided you don’t have a small bitch who was impregnated by a large dog. If she is unable to deliver the puppies, you must take her to an animal hospital
Newborn Puppies
New puppies must be kept warm. If you have electric heat, you can control the temperature in the room that has the puppies and the whelping box, by turning up the thermostat to about 80 degrees. An electric heating pad is risky; it can overheat your puppies and kill them. A heat lamp can be used provided you place it an appropriate distance from the puppies, and you have provided a place in the whelping box where the bitch can lie without getting overly hot. Some old sweaters or knit material placed in the whelping box can help keep the puppies comfortable and will not smother them.
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