# Whelping and other dogs in the house



## Insane (Apr 19, 2008)

I mated my bitch two weeks ago for the first time, so I obviously don't know yet whether she is pregnant but if she is I was just wondering about what others do with other dogs in the house around the time of whelping and afterwards.

My bitch is a border terrier and I also have a large eight and a half stone boy who is a big softy but I have already gathered that he can be nowhere near the mum and pups in the beginning so I am (if she is) going to arrange for him to go and stay at my in-laws (who love him to bits anyway) but when would you recommend he could meet the pups and come back home?


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## poochimama (Apr 24, 2008)

i have 5 poodles when molly went into labour the other dogs were kept away after she had them mum and babies went in the crate . As the pups got bigger i have a pen so they have more room and it keeps the other dogs away eventually i let mum less and less in to feed so they could wean . If you need any advice just pm hun


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## Guest (Apr 29, 2008)

Insane said:


> I mated my bitch two weeks ago for the first time, so I obviously don't know yet whether she is pregnant but if she is I was just wondering about what others do with other dogs in the house around the time of whelping and afterwards.
> 
> My bitch is a border terrier and I also have a large eight and a half stone boy who is a big softy but I have already gathered that he can be nowhere near the mum and pups in the beginning so I am (if she is) going to arrange for him to go and stay at my in-laws (who love him to bits anyway) but when would you recommend he could meet the pups and come back home?


Hi Insane - do you have reason to suspect either that your big boy will harm the pups, or that your mum to be will be worried if he's around? If so, then you are right to send him away. If not, however, I'd let him stay. I'd make sure you had a secure place to whelp - ie in a separate room where the mum feels she and the pups will be safe - and then I'd introduce him after it was all over and mum and pups had had a feed and some sleep. This is what I did with our bergies - both male and females - when Evie had her litter. It seemed to calm Evie knowing the others were around - she was happy for them all to examine the pups except for Gabby, our oldest female bergie. For some reason, she made sure she was always between Gabby and the pups. Providing you have a secure puppy pen, and the mum isn't fazed by your boy being there, it will be better for your boy to feel he has not been left out, and better for the pups to grow up around another dog.


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## Insane (Apr 19, 2008)

Thank you both your experiences. I am pretty sure he won't harm them, he was so gentle with her when I first brought her home at 8 weeks and she loves him to bits so I don't think she will be stressed by him. From your advice I think I will send him to the in-laws for the first night (as there is no way he will allow me to be in with Jess if he is not he follows me everywhere) and let him meet the puppies the next day under supervision and then take it from there.

I expect (and hope) I will have lots of questions over the coming weeks, so thank you for being here to ask.


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## Guest (Apr 29, 2008)

Insane said:


> Thank you both your experiences. I am pretty sure he won't harm them, he was so gentle with her when I first brought her home at 8 weeks and she loves him to bits so I don't think she will be stressed by him. From your advice I think I will send him to the in-laws for the first night (as there is no way he will allow me to be in with Jess if he is not he follows me everywhere) and let him meet the puppies the next day under supervision and then take it from there.
> 
> I expect (and hope) I will have lots of questions over the coming weeks, so thank you for being here to ask.


Sounds sensible! And ask away any time you have a question - there's always someone on here who will either know the answer or know in which direction to point you.


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## je69 (Apr 21, 2008)

My girls all get on realy well but i always keep them apart when one of them has a litter.I have found that even the normally very placid girls can get very snappy and over protective of their pups when one of the other dogs comes near.
To overcome this i just use a baby gate to the room where mum and pups are and i cover it with a blanket so the other dogs dont nose in and upset mum.
My girls are only possesive when they are still feeding and as soon as the pups start to be weaned they then dont mind the other dogs taking a look.
I would play it by ear as your girl may be fine but its certainly not worth upsetting mum ,as if mum gets stressed and upset then she may not feed her pups and some mums have also been known to hurt their pups.


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## Chocosmum (Oct 12, 2009)

Hi!

I'm new to the forum, but have something to add (and ask) to this topic! 

Our 2yr old retriever (Kit) is having her first litter of pups in about a week (she ONLY just began to show so we were completely unsure!) and we're madly scrambling to get everything ready in time. 

We also have a 5 month old lab (Choco) in the house and I'm a bit concerned about him. We have decided to take him to my cousin's house once Kit's temp drops and them bring him back a few days later. But because he is still a puppy do you think it will be safe? I don't want him to play too rough with the new pups, but perhaps Kit will protect them anyway? 

Also, I'd love to know how you went about returning to work etc. (If only we had maternity leave for pregnant pets!) When is a safe time to leave Kit alone with her new pups? My partner works close to home and will probably be able to check on them at least once a day, but otherwise they will be by themselves from 7-4! 

Kits a very obedient dog and we've told her she should have the pups on Friday night so that we can have the weekend free... lets see if she listens! :blushing:

I'm then thinking about leaving the pups on our enclosed patio (with a heat source) so that Kit can still roam around the garden if she needs to and we don't have to keep the house open during the day. Is this too early? Should I leave the pups inside longer? 

Choco is a very relaxed pup (for a 5 month old lab) but he loves Kit to death and will follow her anywhere - any experience here would be really appreciated! 

Thanks!


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## Spaniel mad (Jul 17, 2009)

When storm went into labour she was in the living room and i put the other 5 dogs in the kitchen. They wouldnt settle and storm was getting a bit unsettled as she could hear them so i let them in the living room. They gave storm a sniff and a kiss and then they settled down on their beds and sofa and didnt bother Storm anymore and she seemed fine having them around.

Even when she had finished she went over to the dogs as if to say its OK now and she let them have a little look.

Her pups are now 5 weeks old and have been in the living room since birth. They have a pen around them to give Storm some peace with them. 

Now they are bigger the pups are coming out of the pen and the other dogs are great with them.


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## Chocosmum (Oct 12, 2009)

Thanks Spaniel mad! 

Maybe we'll wait till Kit gives birth (keep Choco away from her) but then introduce them early - they've all gotta live together after all! 

Spaniel mad - when will you start introducing your puppies outside? 

I think a pen on our patio will be good as long as we can keep it well heated - and get something built before she gives birth! That way we can make it quite large so they have room to roam around. If Choco sneaks into the pen and Kit doesn't like him in there - I'm sure she'll let him know! 

Thanks again


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## Spaniel mad (Jul 17, 2009)

Chocosmum said:


> Thanks Spaniel mad!
> 
> Maybe we'll wait till Kit gives birth (keep Choco away from her) but then introduce them early - they've all gotta live together after all!
> 
> ...


They went outside for a little bit yesterday but it has started getting very cold here and today its freezing so if the weather doesnt pick up then they will only be going out for a wee and pooh as we have started their house training.

2 of my other dogs keep trying to sneak into the pen but storm gives them the look and they run out


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## Molly's Mum (May 22, 2009)

Chocosmum said:


> Hi!
> 
> I'm new to the forum, but have something to add (and ask) to this topic!
> 
> ...


Hi & welcome to the forum.

I hate to be the one to say it and amazed nobody else has!

It really is not senisble to even consider leaving your girl & the pups alone from 7 - 4 and outside on a patio.

When my girl had her pups; she was never left from 2 weeks prior to whelping and the whole time the pups where here (8 weeks). I only let the pups out in the garden when they were 4 weeks old and this was in July when it was warm; then it was always supervised.

I strongly recommend you maybe rethink a little.

Good luck & I'm sure there will be others around to offer some advice.

MM


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## Spellweaver (Jul 17, 2009)

Hi Chocosmum

If I were you I wouldn't send Choco away completely. However, it might be better just to keep him in a different room when Kit first goes into labour, so that she feels safe and secure - for her first pup Evie decided she couldn't possibly give birth in the whelping box we so carefully prepared, and went upstairs, pulled all the clothes out of the washing basket, and insisted that if we didn't let her have her puppies there then she wasn't going to have the puppies at all! She was quite happy to come back downstairs after the first pup, and after we had moved the other three dogs out of the living room where the whelping box was.

As I said in my earlier post, once mum and pups are settled, that is the time to let Choco in to have a look. From what you say about his character you should be ok, but keep an eye on Kit and watch that she doesn't get stressed about him being there. As he's only five months old it will be a learning curve for him too, so he might need a bit of training. I suggest that if he doesn't already know the "leave" command then teach it to him now before the pups are born. I would hazard a guess that he will want to play with them as soon as they start moving about, which is fine, but make sure that he only plays with them under supervision so that you can control him. In fact, I would only let him into the room where the pups are under supervision, as he'll be big enough to jump over the puppy pen to get to them to play!

Re returning to work - like you, I wish we could have maternity leave for pups! When we planned Evie's litter, we arranged that between myself, my OH and my eldest niece , we would take enough annual leave to make sure the pups were never left on their own. From seven until four seems a long time for puppies to be left, with just one visit during that time. Have you got any family members and friends that could help out while you are at work? There's a lot of work to be done with a litter of pups.

In the beginning you will need to supervise them when mum feeds them to make sure that all pups are suckling equally (with Evie's litter the first born would have had all the milk if we had let him!) and once they are on solid food they will need at least one, of not two, meals during that time. (If you can't get anyone to help, the first one of you to come home is going to have to deal with a lovely mess of poo and poo covered pups!) As they grow older, and you begin to wean them, you also need someone there to supervise and control Kit's access to them so that she doesn't suckle them as much. In addition to all that, part of rearing the pups is socialising them, even from that early age, so their being alone for such large amounts of time is not ideal. Once we knew mum and pups were healthy we encouraged friends to visit - we made them take off their shoes and wash their hands and then let them handle the pups so that the pups quickly became used to people.

Re taking the pups outside - it all depends on what the weather is like! I certainly would not advise that their permanent pen be outisde on a patio. Their permanent pen needs to be somewhere warm and free from draughts. Evie had her pups at the end of January, and it was b----y cold, so we only started taking them outside from being about 4 weeks old. After we fed them we would take them onto the patio, wait until they had wee'd an poo'd, then we praised them and took them back in. On the odd days when the weather was warmer, we let them have a supervised play on the patio for about 15 mins at a time.


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## moboyd (Sep 29, 2009)

Molly's Mum said:


> Hi & welcome to the forum.
> 
> I hate to be the one to say it and amazed nobody else has!
> 
> ...


Didnt even see that bit I bought a large metal playpen. called discovery panels from Croft, I was able to put this up in our conservatory(it is pretty large room admittingly) but I found this wonderful, for containing mum and pups safely if I had to pop out to the shops etc, and the other dogs could not get over it to interfer(this was when the pups were a few weeks old and mum was happy to have other dogs around) I got a 4ft one for safetly measures, I certainly wouldnt have my pups outside thats for sure, and my breed is an arctic breed, even with heat source, ther are drafts, and always the possibility of theft.

mo


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## Chocosmum (Oct 12, 2009)

Hi and thank you all for your advice - its very very welcome! 

Our cousin (whose dog is the daddy) & his wife a very willing to help so we should be able to make sure someone is there all the time, at least for a few weeks. We have a huge family and having puppies around will draw them in like flies so we're going to sit down tonight and arrange a roster  

I like the idea of having a separate room for mum and pups (laundry will be nice and easy to clean too) 

Moboyd, I'll have to have a look for something after work today that will be suitable. It would be great to have a nice clean, warm covered area for Kit and the pups so that we can easily separate them if Choco becomes too rambunctious! 

I'm actually in Australia (I'm an imposter! hmy but really like the advice on this site. We're coming into our summer here now so it's very warm out - but I definately won't take the pups outside until 4-5 weeks old. 

Thanks again for all your great feedback! 
Cheers!


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