Okay, I'm freaking out. I went to check on our pregnant dog this evening and there were three puppies all around the kennel and one she dropped after I let her out of the kennel. One of the puppies was stuck in the kennel fence. She wasn't due for another week, or so I thought.
This is the first time since I was a child that I had a dog with puppies. Cows, horses, pigs, or any barnyard animal I can handle. My poor precious lab, no. Especially since our German Shorthair knocked her up! He has since been fixed and we were hoping she wasn't.
On top of all that my hubby is still at work and I had to get her and the puppies inside and cleaned off. Yeeeuck!
All the puppies are okay. She had 12, which is a record litter. However, only 11 have made it. We have six chocolate and five black labs, eight males and three females in all.
My friend came over this morning to help me get Smudges to out to potty. She wouldn't leave the babies. We had to take them all out of the kennel, but that's when I got a good look at them all.
She is an excellent mother. This is her first time and she did quite well.
Hubby isn't too pleased. She wasn't suppose to get "in the motherly way." Was totally an accident, but once she was we couldn't do anything about it. Now Tolak has been fixed so no more mistakes after this one.
He is bummed because we can't take her out hunting. He said any other time would be okay, not great. She is one of our best hunting dogs and so good for me. I'll have to deal with the idiot that got her pregnant who is also a spaz.
I had a dog that had ten, all of which survived, and even with that it was a lot for one dog and one girl to handle. Your Smudges will need a bit of help from you so that she can get some rest, because odds are very good that, with 11 surviving, at least one of those will be begging for mom's attention 24/7.
What my vet advised me to do with my ten was to find a small box (not too small, but not really large, either-- small enough that with all the puppies in it they can't spread out) and to put all the puppies in it while she could see me doing that. Then when all the puppies are in the small box, let her stick her nose in to satisfy herself that they are all in there. The puppies will get warm from the body heat and will all fall asleep, and mom will get a bit of rest. She may even be willing to leave the nest for a few minutes to go potty, and to eat, once she gets the idea that the box is a safe place for her little ones.
I'm sure others will have better advice than I do, but that and some nourishing foods really helped my pup a lot. Gestating all those pups takes a lot out of the body and your dog will need some serious nutrients in order to make her milk. I'm sure you know all that already. Have fun, you will have your hands full for a while, but they sure are cute!
Replying to myself, lol... just to add that you want to leave them in there long enough to let mom get a bit of rest, but not for too long. I forget exactly what the vet advised as to time, but I think that 20 - 45 minutes two or three times a day was about right (if mom would put up with being without them for that long).
I am "expecting" a litter of pups next week...I went out and bought two puppy bottles and will be getting formula from the vet before they are due. You may have to bottle feed some to help her. We did that before. This will be my baby's first litter and I am hoping all turns out well.
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