This is our first litter both my dog and I. I have tried my very best to follow Mr. Frawleys whelping video. The video said to introduce the dog into the whelping room seven to ten days before her due date. I tried and it backfired on us. She felt like she was being punished or abandon. So I moved in to the whelping room with her for the past four nights. They have been rough for both of us for she just does not like the whelping box.
Today is day 61 and this morning her temp dropped for the first time in a week. When we go outside all she is interested in is all the bushes and shrubs as if this was going to be the spot. So we are now confined to her whelping box for I am sure in the next 12 hours or so she with give birth.
Here is my concern. Outside the box she is fairly calm and relaxed. Inside the box heavy panting and much stress. In this condition is it going to delay or complicate the birth? I am not sure if I should force her to the whelping box or not. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Amanda.

It shouldn't complicate much except she may be one you have to watch wanting to move the pups in the first few days. You also may need to insist her place is with her pups as opposed to the couch after a couple days.

A reason she may not be comfortable in the box is she might just be really hot laying on whatever material you have in there. If you have a heater in there turn it off until you're done whelping. Another reason is she might not be comfortable period. I know my bitch during her last litter looked like a hippo with an alien about to burst out of her stomach. She was uncomfortable, fidgety, and just generally unhappy that last week.

I am assuming you live in a fairly normal house and not a place where you really have option 2 so I would simply insist and perhaps use an X pen if I needed to really force the issue of keeping her butt in the box.

Hope all is going well with the new litter.

FWIW, I lost the battle on whelping location. About three weeks ago, I was doing a training session over the phone. Nikki came in and whined a bit like she had to go outside. I told her, "In a minute." I wrapped up the call and went looking for her. Found her in the middle of the bed with a big grin on her face. I went over to take her outside, looked down and found Puppy #1 beginning to nurse, a nice 480gm sable.

I decided it wasn't worth upsetting her by moving her from her chosen spot. Things weren't going to get any messier at that point. Probably a good choice, very relaxed mom delivered the remaining puppies smoothly and quickly. She started at 4:18pm and finished a bit after 7pm. Final count was four females and one male. Four are sable and one female will be black and tan but mostly black.

After she was finished -- five little spines in the x-ray, five squirming, squeeking pups latching on to Mom like a gang of little leeches, and more importantly, five placentas, I moved her to the 'official' whelping box. She is a super mom.

I should probably feel honored that she decided the safest and most secure place to give life to the most important thing in her world was my bed and bedroom.

And that's why they make Maytags.

This was shot when the pups were 2 hours old. I had set up a warming pad and heat lamp. Quickly saw the photo-op.
http://www.mytrialphotos.com/110318_1145_NikkiHappyMom.jpg

Ed's whelping video was a excellent resource. I also picked up a video from my repro vet (Dr. Hutchinson, Northview Clinic, N. Ridgeville, OH -- he's pretty well known in dog breeding circles around here.) Ed's had more practical information, especially for preparations and for the stages after birth. Dr. Hutchinson's had more detailed medical information -- expected daily weight gain based on adult size, puppies have a lower body temp - around 96F for the first week or so, when to scoop and head for the vet.

Some differences. Something to remember is that the Leerburg video was shot sometime ago. Ed & Cindy's views on whelping and raising puppies have changed somewhat since then. He's noted them on the website. I can't find it just now. But the primary changes are in nutrition of the mother and pups and in the use of vaccines.

Have fun with your litter.

Charlie, what a precious picture of Nikki and her pups!
That is an awesome shot! Wish you as well as Amanda all the very best with your new litters!

How beautiful. What a nice whelping box too, love the bumper.

Thank you all for your replies / help. We are still without puppies. Yesterday her temp dropped to 98.3 and remained around 98.3 – 98.8 all day and all night. I was taking the temp 2x a day for a week and her base line is around 99.5 – 100.5 and starting this morning it’s back to her base line again.
That’s why when I saw the drop to 98 and it being day 61 I thought this is it. She looks like she swallowed a Volkswagen and just whines persistently as if she has to go outside, hates the really nice 5’x5’ box my Dad built.
Melissa I think you were right about being too hot, shut all the heat off and soon she calmed down enough to get a short nap. And Charlie awesome story about Nikki it inspired me to get out an old crate mat and I laid it next to the box but outside of it. So far it seems to be calming her down a bit.
And Joyce your dogs are beautiful!
I am beginning to wonder if beings she a house dog if she feels like she would get in trouble for messing inside?
I sure will be glad when this is over. I need sleep.

As I recall, when her temp goes back up, puppies will soon follow.

I found that note on the change in puppy practices,
http://leerburg.com/pup-med.htm

One difference between the Leerburg and Hutchinson videos was the recommended temperature of the whelping box. Leerburg had a temp of 85-90F. Hutchinson recommends mid-70's. In fact, when we did the ultrasound on Nikki, he specifically recommended that temperature.

According to Dr. Hutchinson, the 85-90F temp came from an old puppy whelping handbook, 'Borden Blue Book', that discussed saving orphan puppies. Borden's developed the first puppy milk replacer. From the results of Northview's repro practice, they see much better outcomes when the litter is kept in the mid-70's for the first few weeks. After that, the puppies can thermoregulate on their own. They've also found the puppies can dehydrate quickly in the warmer temps.

I talked to a few other folks about the floor level temp and they also use the mid-70's mark. Of course, they also use Northview.

Initially, I tried the warmer temps. Nikki got very uncomfortable and restless. The pups seemed restless too. I inched it back to 76-78. She was much happier at that temp. Puppies seemed very comfortable at that temp too. I set up a seed warming pad under the carpet and warming lamp in one corner of the box. That provided a warm spot if the puppies were too cool. It was never used. I also had a carpeted floor in the box so the puppies didn't get the heat sucked out of them by the floor.

This has been a very quiet and calm litter. About the most noise they make is a gentle clucking when nursing. Sounds like the read/write servo on an old 8" floppy drive.

I did the 'Super Dog' thing with the puppies. That is a series of novel and mild stressors you apply to the puppy when it's neural system is undergoing rapid development.

It reminded me a bit of a technique we use when training computer neural networks. It has a fancy name but essentially we feed the neural network some off-kilter data and jar it a bit with some randomness. The resulting computer neural network is more stable and better able to handle unusual inputs.

I don't know how much effect it will have on the puppies as older dogs. They did seem to be much less stressed by the exercises by the end of the 14 day period.
This link describes the process. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rREKM-IKIXs
A longer text description and rationale: http://www.elcajonschutzhundclub.com/Early%20Neurological%20Stimulation.pdf

But, for now, they really don't seem to mind being nose-down or or their backs. Nail trimming is 'whatever'. When I put the male on his back, I just get a yawn. I like that. Both parents are very confident dogs. I hope the puppies got that in their genetic cocktail.

FWIW, Nikki's bonifides are:
OFFA Good (we are still trying to figure out why her hips didn't go 'Excellent')
OFFA Elbows Clear
Conformation: SG1
Titles: SchH3
Great-Granddaughter of the legendary Greif Zum Lahntal, Daughter of Natan vom Busecker Schloss.
Other notable dogs on her side include Pike von der Schafbachmühle and Bernard Flink's old dog, Itor.
Third-Generation Raw-Fed and Vaccine-free (except for rabies)

4 females 2 males 4:30 AM I am beat I will try pic's tomorrow thanks for all your help.

Amanda

Glad it went ok Amanda ^.^ Can't wait to see the pics.

Congrats!