ok this is our first litter, we are staying by her side 24/7 since the puppies came last night after we stepped out for 10 minutes to find her on top of one of the puppies. Now that the giving birth is over should we still stay right by her to avoid this happening again? Thanks

Was she hurting it? Or was she cleaning it? Do you think it was a "bad" move?

Do you have some kind of rails to stop her from rolling over on the pups accidently?

i think she just didnt realize what she was doing she was cleaning it but the head was trapped under her body. I have them in a small room on carpet with think folded blanket, she has two walls of a corner she has been leaning up against. We are just beat and need sleep and are scard to leave her un attended

It's hard to say without being there but a lot of times a mom can be looking like she is squishing a pup and she isn't. If you are really worried maybe you can sleep in the whelping area, a puppy will cry if distressed or hungry.

I have a whelping box with pig rails. A lot of people use one of the round plastic kiddie pools with success. I think the round design works like pig rails.

The first couple of days my of a litter my husband and I pretty much take turns sleeping. <grin> I have a cot in the puppy room.

she seems to be lieing down on her side well with the puppies between her legs resting comfy right now, ive been leaving the room for 5-10 minutes phases to see what she does with me not there. So you guys stay right in there 24/7?

Depending on the mom. First time moms I normally stay pretty close to.

My whelping room is off of both my bedroom and my living room. With the door open we can hear any signs of distress. One of us is normally within hearing distance.

I like being able to get mom outside quick when need be the first 24 hours. It can stop a lot of clean up....<grin>

There is a fine line here, you want to stay close but you don't want to stress mom either.

ok. now last night 16 hours after her last puppy she popped out 2 more but they were still born, my wife is a mess cuz she thinks theres something we could have done to prevent this, is there? since then thou mommy has rested better and shown more energy as well as eaten more. Seems still breathing a little harder then normal, we dont know if thats common or not.

We did what you said and just slept outside the doorway of where she was last night with many walk ins to check and make sure the puppies had not gotten smooshed or laid on.

Also, i took the still borns away, since then she seems a little cautious of me touching the puppies, but i talk nice and try not to touch them until she realizes im not gonna take them.

Are we doing the right things for the situation? We are clueless it seems and will probably have our dogs spayed and neutured after this, we didnt realize it was so difficult. Thanks for anymore insight it is much appreciated.

You are letting your mom dog just lay on the floor in the corner? Really?

eesh...

Dog breeding and puppy raising is not for the faint of heart. While it's not uncommon for a bitch to have puppies up to 24 hrs later it's also not preferable.

Also get a kiddie swimming pool and a 42 inch X pen and put your girl in it. First time bitches often need a reminder to be with their pups rather than lounging with you. For my little guys simply letting the litter be with the bitch in a crate works fine but for larger litters a whelping box or a kiddie pool is a huge asset.

So long as your girl isn't mental or aggressive she should get over her concern with you handling her pups. You should be handling them daily and weighing them.

When in doubt, take your girl to a vet to make sure she's done and is doing well.

Also there are several websites devoted to puppy raising along with a great many books written on the matter. Puppy raising when done right is a very labor intensive - gross activity, I didn't sleep well for about 5 weeks during my last litter. I put countless hours into four little pups of which I sold only one puppy. I imagine for that litter I made about 1/2 cent per hour if I was lucky.

Would I do it again? Absolutely. I have learned more whelping and raising a dog of my breeding than I ever expected. I'll never make a dime doing it, but for me the gain is there. I couldn't imagine doing this with another person though who wasn't 110% on board with that lifestyle though.