Ok, a friend of mine who raises working (herding) Kelpies, just got notified that she will have to be out of town for work when her bitch is due. She asked me if I would be willing to whelp her litter (Would I? I offered to leave work to get her now and pay for it all myself lol). I thought I would never be able to raise a litter again - been there, done that, won't EVER breed showline any breed again, icky dogs. Ooops, sorry. My biggest concern is, this bitch doesn't know me. I plan on micro-managing her like I do my others when they are new dogs, but I don't really want to be eaten by a new mamma dog with the snarlies. I don't plan on hovering quite as closely as I did with my litters, but, I will be there to supervise/assist if needed. Any suggestions? I also wouldn't mind suggestions on getting her acclimated ASAP as whelping is stressful enough and now she will have to deal with a (temporary) new home/handler, etc. She will get her own room and no access to my other dogs or children. I will leash her for potty breaks, etc as I do not wish to take any chances with her. I will also notify my vet to be aware of the upcoming birth since her vet is 2 hours away from me.
I have printed up all of the whelping/raising puppies articles and the bottle feeding one (reminds me, need to reload the paper tray lol) Getting my list of emergency numbers, supplies, disinfectants, etc ready to go and she isn't even here yet. :-)I love birthing babies!!!
What am I missing?
TIA

Send for her now so you can get her settled in and part of the routine and you can learn to get to know her habits.

Personally I won't do this for a friend, too much stuff can go wrong and frankly I like my friends more than I like their dogs. Stuff like this is a recipe for bad blood between people. I had a work conflict as well but the difference was I simply informed my employer that the dog was more important than they were for that day.

I see your point. She and I have worked with other things in the past and have worked well with each other. She is the only person I would consider doing this for. I also agree with the job thing in my situation. I have taken a vacation when my bitch whelped, but this is an opportunity for her to get her dream job and she has been working on this for quite a while. I would love to help her in any way I can to get this position.
I think I will see about getting her today, maybe tomorrow after I have her 'room' ready for her. I like the idea of getting to know each other first. She's due 27 May.
Thank you very much for your reply, Melissa, I really do appreciate it.
Have a great day!

I have whelped litters for other people and I always made sure I got the girl one month in advance.

With that I was able to bond with her, she was able to settle in, and she was able to decide that the whelping room was a pretty good place to have her pups.

Good luck!

Cool! I guess I'd better hurry and get her.
I am actually looking forward to this, I AM a glutton for punishment. :-)

I've actually been surprised that the momma has accepted the new situation and me as well as they have. I do the normal bonding stuff, hand feed, play with them and spend one on one quality type time with them every day.

It is scary taking care of someone else's girl. I know I vet a lot quicker then I do with mine and I've been accused of vetting them pretty quick!

The puppy formula Ed has out is the best. I've tried others and they just do not hold a candle to his.