# Dog keeps moving her puppies



## Dimple

My girl had her 8 puppies on Sunday so today is day 6. This is her first litter. Everything went smoothly but as the time progresses she seems to get more anxious and trying to move them more and more. We did everything 'by the book' - set up the whelping box in the dining room and made it her exclusive room, drawn the curtains and keeping it warm. I didn't want her to feel banished and excluded from the household so I put a baby gate up and draped a blanket over it. That way I can keep the door open and she can see and hear us but my other dog can't go in or look in and the room feels kind of semi closed.

However, every time she goes for toilet breaks she starts wandering around the house, digging in corners, grabbing cushions and blankets or anything she can find and trying to make a den from them. Then she goes back to her pups and grabs them and tries to move them.

We try not to handle the pups, only moving them if she seats on them and they are in the danger of being squashed. I even don't touch or change the bedding. I changed it once after the whelping to remove all soiled newspapers and blankets and put the VetBed in and have not touched it since. This is the VetBed she had and slept on for 2 weeks on prior to whelping so it has her smell on it and she is well used to it.

She is a boxer so it is a bit hard to make a den for her as she is so big but I was wondering what can be done, has anyone constructed a den like structure for bigger dogs? 

She seems clearly distressed. Puppies scream every time she grabs them and tries to move them. I would really like to settle her but not sure how we can make her feel more secure.

I don't think moving her to the living room would help because I don't think it is the issue of being with the rest of the household but more the issue of wanting to hide the pups as she tries to cover them up. I think a whelping box is quite an unnatural set up from the nature's point of view with the VetBed and nothing to cover the pups with but if I give her blankets pups keep getting tangled up in them or crawl underneath and can't get out. 

I'm not sure what else can be done to help her. Any advice would be very much appreciated


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## Sled dog hotel

Is there any other differences in her as well as seeming very anxious and nervous like her gait/way she walks appearing stiff or a bit wobbly, she may seem a bit disorientated and/or confused, any problems in walking, or legs looking stiff and ridged, any signs of fever or high temp, shakes or muscle tremors, signs of increased breathing rate?

If so there is a condition called Enclampsia aka milk fever, milk seems normal and pups don't seem affected, but its caused by hypo calcemia low blood levels of calcium. It can be caused by the bitches inability to move calcium into the milk quick enough so they lose their own blood calcium supply instead.

If she is showing any other signs or you suspect it may be a problem, you need to contact your vet immediately as the blood calcium needs correcting urgently.


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## Jamesgoeswalkies

I suspect every dog is different in this regard and much will depend on the age and temperament of the bitch concerned. As the previous poster says, always get any change in behaviour checked out by the vet however, if all is healthy then she is simply fixated on moving her litter.

A friend of mine panicked when she went to check on her litter of Jack Russels a few years back and found them all gone ... mum too. And it took some searching only to find she had taken them all outside into a shed 

You created a whelping area for her which was fine but I don't think it's necessary to try to create 'a den'. I doubt that is what she is looking for. All of mine have been born in a whelping box in the house and we have never used the cover (though we do have one). Maybe the dining room never felt 'safe' to her or maybe you have had a visitor (canine or human) who has left a different smell and now she needs to move the pups. Is she generally an anxious girl?

To be honest I wouldn't be worried about yourselves handling the puppies we handle ours from the start. The bitch should know and accept your smell.

Try not to add your stress to hers though by becoming anxious. Is she still feeding and cleaning them ok?

J


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## Dimple

Thank you for your replies. Yes, I know about Enclampsia and have been monitoring for that closely from the start. She hasn't been showing any of the symptoms. She has lost some weight because she was not eating well for the first 2 days but now she is eating and is becoming more energetic every day. It also looks like her weight is coming back on. She was checked by a vet a day after birth, I called him out for a home visit to prevent any extra stress from going to the surgery and everything seemed ok. Since then she has been getting more energetic and bright eyed every day (she was a bit shell shocked at first). 

Generally she is on a shy side, especially for a boxer. That is why I thought she will be better off in a separate room rather than in a living room with everyone else. 

She let us handle the puppies from the start and seemed ok with with that provided we did not lift them out of the whelping box. I just stopped handling them thinking maybe it will make her feel better as she seems to be getting more anxious as the time goes by rather than calming down. 

The only visitor we had was the vet, the day after birth and we haven't had anyone new since. I haven't even taken my other dog out for 3 days now just to stop him bringing strange smells in despite her not really having any contact with him.

Perhaps it is just a new mum syndrome... Should I just force her to stay in the room she is in and tell her of if she grabs the pups to move them or would that just upset her more? Or should I try and move her to the living room, maybe she will feel more protected surrounded by the family? 

She is just so anxious and unsettled. I try to stay calm when she grabs a puppy not to add to her anxiety and just let her walk around with it. And then talk to her in a calm reassuring voice every time she settles down again but nothing seems to work


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## Sled dog hotel

When she tries and moves them where is she trying to move them too? Is it where she usually spends most of the time or where she will have company?
If she is trying to move them to a specific room or place, then personally I would move the whelping box there. A lot of breeders or ones that I know actually usually camp out and sleep where the whelping box is to be put and established once labour starts and the pups are born.

Im also assuming she is a first time mum aswell? I also noticed that you have said that she is shy for a boxer, if you mean by shy that she can be anxious or nervous in situations generally, then that is probably paying a large part now.
In all honesty shy or dogs that can be anxious shouldn't be bred from really.
Mums temperament and behaviour can and does influence the pups behaviour a lot of the time too. Age too can play a part how a bitch copes with birth and a litter too, especially in slower maturing breeds, as bred from too young and not mature enough it can influence how they will cope.


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## Lilylass

I see you say she's shy - is she also clingy?

I too think that it might be that she feels insecure being in a different room to everyone else - esp if it's not a room she often goes into

How long before birth was the whelping box set up in there / did she spend time in it in there before the birth?

I know Maisie's breeder sleeps in the lounge with them for the last couple of weeks before they're due & until the pups leave!


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## Blackadder

I've had the same with one of my girls, I set the whelping box in a queit room thinking this would be best as we had a fairly busy house.

After the pups were born she was fine for the 1st few days but then started to move them into the main, busy, living room. We tried putting them back but she wasn't having any... as fast as we put them into the whelping box she carried them back 

We gave up & moved the box to where she wanted & it stopped instantly. I think she missed the company she was used too.

What I did do was to cover the box with a sheet that hung over so she had to push through to get in/out to give her some sense of security... I don't know if she needed it but she got it anyway!


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## Burrowzig

I agree, move the whelping box to where she wants to be.

I set mine up in the bedroom, next to where Kite (the bitch) would normally sleep, and stayed in the room with her for the next 2 weeks after the pups were born. The other dog was mostly kept out, just slept in a crate on the other side of the room at night and was barred from going round to the far side of the bed to where the pups were. If Kite had been at all anxious about my other dog's presence, I would have respected it and kept her out.


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## Dimple

She is 3 years old so not too young. Boxers are not really supposed to be bred from until they are at least 2 because some conditions can't be tested for effectively before then. And then it took me a few months to find a suitable stud dog as I didn't want someone who just looks good on paper through the KC match tool or handsome from the pictures. I wanted to see the kennel set up, meet the dogs and chat to the owners well in advance to make sure that I only breed to improve the breed. This is most likely to be the only time for us so I wanted to get everything right.

She is shy for a boxer in the sense that she is not too much in your face and is not charging about. Her breeder was actually quite proud of this trait she got in her breeding line and apparently many people want a boxer who is not too pushy. The trainer she had when she was younger described her as 'a thoughtful dog'. She just has just a wonderful, gentle personality with such an understanding nature. I guess this makes her more sensitive to the events and maybe I was quite anxious without realising, which made her more anxious as she always watches us and how we behave and that in return has an effect on her behaviour. She is just such a delightful dog to have that I wanted to breed from her and hopefully give the pleasure for the puppy owners to experience the same. I chose a very calm and confident sire for the pups so I am hoping that the pups will be very well balanced character wise, at least where the breeding is concerned.

I am not sure where she is trying to move them to as I never actually let her out of the room with a puppy in her mouth to see where she would take it but she was digging about in the garden, behind the shed, looking in the garage and digging up the carpet in the corners of the living room so I don't know if she actually knows where she wants to move them. I slept with her for the first two night in the room, on the floor by the whelping box but that just seemed to make her confused as I guess she is not used to seeing me sleep on the floor so I moved next door and been sleeping on the couch with a baby monitor so I can go in if I hear puppies yelping too much.

I have also now closed the door of the room where she is in, instead of just having a baby gate with a blanket draped over it. I think it made her feel a bit more secure. I will see how it goes over the next day or so and hopefully she will feel settled. If not, then I will look into moving her into the living room. I already have a plan of maybe putting a dining table over the whelping box and draping some sheets over it so it feels a bit more like a den.

The fact that she seems a bit more settled with the door closed makes me think that she doesn't want to be with everyone else but wants more privacy.


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## Tex

I started breeding a few years ago and every year I learn something new. 
My bitch usually tries to move her pups on the third day from the whelping pen I made for her 5 years ago. 
She tries to move them closer to me particularly at night. 
This time she had been trying to move them since day 1. Not Birth day but the next. She seems real unsettled. She did get them into the bathroom while I was asleep and unfortunately since it’s such a small area she laid on one and it succumbed. 
I’ve been trouble shooting ever since. Lights, coaxing etc. Nothing seems to be working. Finally, I strung two large towels over the pen and secured them on either side and shut the lights off again. I stayed w her for a bit to settle her. For the moment she has settled. 
Tomorrow I’ll make this more permanent and secure if it seems to work. 
My whelping pen has pig rails so the pups don’t get squished, like my poor little gal did. 
I think in the Wild, animals move their young so they stay safe and away from predators just in case a predator has discovered the den. I think it may be hard wired into their brain. 
Even w your daughter not pestering your bitch, she may have done it naturally. But, it is a good idea to keep your child away. 
Sometimes we have to be reminded who is in charge. It’s not the dogs and its not the kids but the adults who are responsible for them. Sometimes it hurts. That mother guilt. I’m feeling it after I lost that pup. I should have gotten up and I guess slept on the floor beside the whelping pen. I’m responsible for these pups and their mother. I had a pocketbook hit and lost pup. You don’t want anything to happen to your 1 year old. That’d be even a greater guilt than mine. Everyone meant well and was just reminding you of your responsibilities as a mom. What 10 times over? A dog , 8 pups, and a one year old. You do have your hands full. And, to be truthful, the first three weeks are the easiest and then the work begins!
Good luck w your litter. 
Tex.


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## Sairy

Tex said:


> I started breeding a few years ago and every year I learn something new.
> My bitch usually tries to move her pups on the third day from the whelping pen I made for her 5 years ago.
> She tries to move them closer to me particularly at night.
> This time she had been trying to move them since day 1. Not Birth day but the next. She seems real unsettled. She did get them into the bathroom while I was asleep and unfortunately since it's such a small area she laid on one and it succumbed.
> I've been trouble shooting ever since. Lights, coaxing etc. Nothing seems to be working. Finally, I strung two large towels over the pen and secured them on either side and shut the lights off again. I stayed w her for a bit to settle her. For the moment she has settled.
> Tomorrow I'll make this more permanent and secure if it seems to work.
> My whelping pen has pig rails so the pups don't get squished, like my poor little gal did.
> I think in the Wild, animals move their young so they stay safe and away from predators just in case a predator has discovered the den. I think it may be hard wired into their brain.
> Even w your daughter not pestering your bitch, she may have done it naturally. But, it is a good idea to keep your child away.
> Sometimes we have to be reminded who is in charge. It's not the dogs and its not the kids but the adults who are responsible for them. Sometimes it hurts. That mother guilt. I'm feeling it after I lost that pup. I should have gotten up and I guess slept on the floor beside the whelping pen. I'm responsible for these pups and their mother. I had a pocketbook hit and lost pup. You don't want anything to happen to your 1 year old. That'd be even a greater guilt than mine. Everyone meant well and was just reminding you of your responsibilities as a mom. What 10 times over? A dog , 8 pups, and a one year old. You do have your hands full. And, to be truthful, the first three weeks are the easiest and then the work begins!
> Good luck w your litter.
> Tex.


I'm afraid this is a really old thread (4 years old) so hopefully OP's litter are all thriving and happy, healthy adults. Feel free to start your own thread though


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