How to know when my dog is going to have her puppies

xDramaxQueenx

I am stressed out to the high heavens waiting for my little dog to have her puppies. She is MASSIVE, but she has been massive for the last month and still, they haven't been born yet. I have taken her to the vet, who has told me she is fine and that she will have them when she's ready, and just general advice on what to look out for, such as nesting and recommending assistance should there be a 1.5 gap between each puppy.

Here's the thing, I have never had a girl dog before, and so, never had puppies before. She strayed into our house sometime in August already pregnant so we don't even know when she is due around.

Is there anything besides nesting that I can look out for?

Cherry Blossom

Previous thread with similar circumstances here

Toulouse

Keep a close eye on her as you don't know who the Daddy is so if he was a lot bigger than her she may run into problems delivering. Dogs often whelp at night so make sure your vet has an out of hours service or if not you'll need to make alternative arrangements.

Dogs will generally go off their food just before giving birth too.

If you google for a guide to whelping you should get info on the various stages of labour and what to look out for.

This is a good book http://www.amazon.com/Book-Bitch-J-M-Evans/dp/1860540236 but might be a bit late.

borderlinemeath

xDramaxQueenx wrote: »

I am stressed out to the high heavens waiting for my little dog to have her puppies. She is MASSIVE, but she has been massive for the last month and still, they haven't been born yet. I have taken her to the vet, who has told me she is fine and that she will have them when she's ready, and just general advice on what to look out for, such as nesting and recommending assistance should there be a 1.5 gap between each puppy.

Here's the thing, I have never had a girl dog before, and so, never had puppies before. She strayed into our house sometime in August already pregnant so we don't even know when she is due around.

Is there anything besides nesting that I can look out for?

A couple of things would have me worried.

Firstly, you have no idea when she is due as she was a pregnant stray.

Secondly, you have no idea who she was mated with. What size is she? If she's a small/medium bitch for all you know she may have mated with a large dog and could have serious complications with delivering puppies that may be too big for her to deliver naturally.

Is your vet on call 24/7? If not, I would change vets because with a situation like this I really wouldn't leave the dog to have a natural birth without at least a vet present as intervention may be necessary.

Usually nesting is a good indicator or trying to find a place that's quiet - could be under a bed or in a quiet corner. Also as it's not exactly pain free, your dog will probably go off her food - always a good indication that your dog feels a bit off.

borderlinemeath

Toulouse wrote: »

Keep a close eye on her as you don't know who the Daddy is so if he was a lot bigger than her she may run into problems delivering. Dogs often whelp at night so make sure your vet has an out of hours service or if not you'll need to make alternative arrangements.

Dogs will generally go off their food just before giving birth too.

If you google for a guide to whelping you should get info on the various stages of labour and what to look out for.

This is a good book http://www.amazon.com/Book-Bitch-J-M-Evans/dp/1860540236 but might be a bit late.

What he said:D

xDramaxQueenx

I am worried about the daddy too. I mentioned it to the vet, and she said not to worry about that ( ) as the uterus doesn't allow the pups to get too big? I have heard horror stories about small dogs having a hard time having puppies though, so I am worried that there will be complications. The vet that looks after all my dog related things is on call 24/7. The dog is sleeping inside at the minute, but looking through that thread that was linked in the 1st reply, I am going in to argos now to get an inflatable paddling pool and I will line it with old sheets and towels. She has taken a shine to my bed and tends to get up out of her own bed during the night to get into bed beside me, so has anybody any ideas on how I will get her to stay in her own bed? I don't want to be too far away from her, so putting her in another room really isn't an option.

ISDW

Would your vet be able to do a scan, so that you could have an idea of the size of the pups? Best of luck, fair play to you for taking her in and looking after her.

Excellent already given, and on that other thread. We had a welfare bitch that was in pup when she came into us, same as you, we didn't know when she was due. She wasn't a huge eater anyway, so that didn't give us any clues. When she started to put weight on, we realised what was happening. No real sign that she was going to whelp, but then one day, while out in the field playing, she had a green discharge, so straight into the vet and she had a c-section. So just keep an eye on her, I'm sure she will be fine, but make sure you have petrol in the car in case you need to go to the vet in the middle of the night.

DBB

Firstly OP, big kudos for taking her in and caring for her. What an experience you're in for!
Is there any way you could get your mitts on a whelping box? They are worth their weight in gold and easy enough to make a home made one... Google them.
As for symptoms, restlessness, panting, going off food, looking desperately for a nest, clinginess to the owner, all good signs. But just to throw a spanner in the works, I took a rescue heavily pregnant bitch in here a few years ago who only started showing some if these symptoms about 2 mins before she started to whelp!
Big second to The Book of the Bitch, you simply must get it!
Lastly, and this might sound stupid, but has she been scanned to confirm the pregnancy? I know a couple of dogs who I was 100% sure they were in pup at the 5-6wk mark... Belly swollen, I could feel what I thought were heads inside, watery milky discharge from the nipples... But turned out to be pseudopregnancies!
But I'm guessing your vet has ruled this out!
Good luck with it all, keep us posted.