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Pregnancy week 1 to 3
The mating having successfully taken place, it is important to keep a close eye on your bitch, on occasions bitches have been known to decide they quite like this mating business and wander off looking for a mate to take matters into their own hands.
Your attention to diet is now required to ensure that your bitch is having a good quality food, plus any supplements required. Your veterinary surgeon will only be too pleased to help you decide what is best for your dog.
Be very careful not to indulge your bitch by excessive feeding, extra feed at this time is not required, but may be introduced from around week 6.
Important Notice: - Dietary Supplements; Dosages relevant to your particular breed or size of dog should be strictly adhered to and product label and information followed very carefully, as excessive amounts may cause severe abnormalities in your puppies.
Exercise should remain normal at this time, as it is important that your bitch remains fit and healthy.
A creamy coloured discharged may be noticeable during this period, this is of no concern.
Week 4 to 6
You now have an option during this period; you may want your bitch to be given an ultra sound scan or other method of pregnancy confirmation.
It is very difficult from an ultra sound scan to determine the exact number of puppies present, so it is often advisable to use this process as a confirmation as to whether your bitch is in whelp or not.
If your bitch is confirmed to be in whelp or not it is normal procedure to contact the stud dog owner as a matter of courtesy.
Your bitches muscles and ligaments start to slacken and her waistline may start to disappear. Continue with normal exercise routine.
If your breed of dog is a docked breed, and you require your puppies docking, it is important to organise for a veterinary surgeon to do this in plenty of time, however, it may be that your vet has a no docking policy within their practice,
If this is the case there are veterinary surgeons available to carry out this service. (See Docked Breeds link).
Start to think about your whelping box, do you want to make one yourself, or are you going to buy one? (See whelping boxes link).
Where are you going to put your whelping box? The temperature in and around the whelping box should be kept at a constant 30 to 33 degrees centigrade, (86 to 91 degrees f.) Until a puppy is seven to ten days old it is unable to regulate its own body temperature, constant heat is therefore required. One solution to this is to place a heat lamp directly above the whelping box approx 36inches from the base (depending on the size of your bitch), ensuring that your bitch does not knock the lamp on entering and exiting the box as this can cause the lamp to shatter, obviously, as with all electrical appliances extreme care should be taken.
Introducing the whelping box in good time will give your bitch ample opportunity to make her nest and come the big day she will be relaxed in her new environment.
Week 6 to 9
By now you should be starting to increase the amount of food your bitch eats, probably from two meals to three meals daily. It is much easier for your bitch if you increase the number of feeds rather than the amount of feed, as room becomes a problem as her puppies begin to increase in size and weight.
Some breeders would recommend changing your bitch onto a puppy food diet, working on the principal high energy, low bulk.
Pre-birth worming, at this stage some breeders recommend that you should worm your bitch, it is best to seek veterinary advice on this matter.
It is important and courteous to inform your veterinary surgeon that your bitch is due to whelp imminently, but also to check out their emergency procedures (just in case).
You will find that as the due date approaches your bitch will naturally slow down and she may decide not to go quite so far. Nature has a wonderful way of regulating this in later stages of pregnancy.
Avoid your bitch jumping over or from high obstacles.
The Whelping
It is usual for your bitch to go off her food a day or so before whelping, her temperature will drop slightly from the normal 38.5 degrees centigrade to 37.5 degrees centigrade. She will become decidedly uncomfortable and may feel the need to continually relive herself.
As the birth of the puppies becomes imminent you will notice her start to shiver and slight contractions of her abdomen, it is quite possible that her waters will break, this is quite normal.
During the whelping it is important that you keep as quiet and relaxed as possible, anxiety can easily be transmitted from you to your bitch.
Once contractions become very frequent she may start bearing down (pushing), you need to monitor this time, if this stage of whelping continues with nothing happening it could result in complications, after approx 40 minutes from her starting to push a quick run around the garden can sometimes shake things up and get things going, if this does not work consult your veterinary surgeon immediately. He may suggest that you take the bitch to the surgery, if there are complications then they have everything to hand.
It is worth noting that many bitches prefer to whelp in the middle of the night and you must allow for her to relieve herself before, during and after, it is advisable to have a good torch handy to watch her every move.
There is no set pattern as to the length of time it takes a bitch to whelp, but if your bitch goes for more than three to four hours it may be advisable to contact your veterinary surgeon. He may be happy for you to continue as you are for a while longer; alternatively he may feel the need to intervene. The importance of trust between you and your veterinary team is paramount in making this experience as stress free as possible for you and your bitch.
Once your bitch has the overall idea, observation is the order of the day, with quiet noises of encouragement but always ensuring that there are no obstructions to the mouth and nose of the puppies by removing all mucus. Usually the bitch will sever the umbilical cord by chewing it, however, if this does not occur never cut the cord with scissors, but rather use thumb nail and finger by rubbing firmly across the cord encouraging it to tear, this should be no shorter than 4cms, approx 1 1/2ins from the naval. Most puppies are usually born head and front feet first but will quite happily come backwards.
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