Dog – Puppy Delivery (Dog Whelping)

Puppies will be born, more or less, 63 days after mating. You should use a dog whelping box for delivery, placing it in a quiet place of the house, where the female dog can deliver her litter without disturbances.
How does dog delivery occur? In the first phase, the female will be uneasy, and can start panting and shaking, and nobody will calm her. This can last more than a day, but normally, abdominal contractions announcing the second phase will appear in the next 12 hours.It’s not necessary to stay with her all the time during this first period. An hour after the start of the second phase, the first puppy will be delivered, with the head forward, and still covered by the allantoids, containing the fluid that protected him while in the uterus. After delivering the first of them, the dog will break the cover, and will lick vigorously the puppy to help him to start breathing. After a quarter of an hour, the placenta that nurtured the puppy will be expelled, completing the third phase of delivery. Count the number of placentas to be sure is the same as the number of born puppies. By general rule, female dogs eat placentas, which is a normal conduct. Normally, the mother will bite the umbilical cordon if the puppy retains his connection with the placenta. Puppies are born each half hour, one after another, but this time can prolonged to twice that much, but you don’t have to worry about it, as long as you see the female dog calm. Time depends, naturally, of the number of born puppies. Dwarf breeds can have from one to six puppies, while bigger ones can have litters of about fourteen puppies. In many cases, this process should end six hours after the appearance of the first one, but with major litters, the female can take some rest and prolong the process.