my dog is giving birth, help!

[Acira]

It's interesting that the docking is becoming so much less popular and even many vets in the UK will not do it unless they are working bloodhounds/scenthounds, so you will see more and more rotties with long tails all over the UK now. I must admit it does take a bit of getting used to, seeing boxers, mastiffs and rotties with tails, but I prefer it if possible. I'd hate someone to come along and cut my thumbs off because it made me look prettier, lol:bunny:

I know that in most European countries its forbidden even to dock a dog these day's.
But have I seen enough trouble with some breeds, especially the ones with long almost hairless tails like stafforshire, bull terriers especially because they don't have long legs and quite a long tail. I have seen many where the tail eventually had to come off because they slapped it against something and it started to bleed and being infected.

Aussies are originally being docked because they herd cattle and horses and they don't need a tail for doing that, its only an accident to happen that a horse or cow steps on that tail.

 

[dv8]

i like miperro
and jr did a lot of research for his names - szarik is quite something! (comes from a name of german fighting german shepherd - oh, the irony! - part of a polish tank crew - plus one georgian - from war themed commuinist tv series).
but i must dissapoint you, no name giving, i leave that to the future owners.

no tail cutting. i think it is unnecessary cruelty and those are not show dogs anyways. i will see about claws thou. do all dogs have them? fiji does not. and she has her tail. patitas of puppies are so small i can hardly see if they have all the claws they should have, let alone some extra ones

i gave them a fresh sheet today, will replace it tomorrow with newspapers or carton boxes.

my one and only worry is that momma does not want to eat. she had a bit of dry food, few sips of milk, all the leftovers from chivo and wet cat food, yeah! i think i may have to cook for her or something.

 

[Acira]

dv8, no catfood please! Its way to salty for a dog and for sure they get diahrea from it. And I would lay off on giving milk also for its not digested by a dog, it only leads to more diahrea. Yoghurt is much better.

Why not put the leftovers from dinner (anything) and mix that under her kibbles?
I have to do that with our aussie mom also because aussies are very picky on their food, if it doesn't smell nice, they refuse to eat, simple as that.

Malinois eat anything :bunny:

 

[Anastacio]

Nice decision on the tail docking. No not all dogs will get dew claws, and it is more unusual for them to get them front and back, also some dogs don't have problems with them so like said, by the time spay or neutering is due or at least old enough to see what happens with them I'd just leave them. Why try to correct something that isn't a problem.
Good choice and great luck.

 

[Acira]

Dew Claws

Dewclaw - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hope this helps.

 

[dv8]

oh, now i see! yes, fiji has that too but it it well attatched to the body, small and tight. does not seem to be a problem. on those little patitas everything looks like it should so i will wait to see if they have to be dewclawed. we shall bring in the vet tomorrow, i hope.
there was only a spoon of cat food, cats had the rest
oh, i see that fiji has abandoned her sleeping army and is now chewing on a bone we gave her on friday (cow bone, cooked).

 

[Acira]

To be entirely clear, dew claws on the front legs remain there because they are quite tight and fixed.

Dew claws on the hind legs are much rarer but they come of with my dogs, too much problems with them because they are just hanging on there very loose and can cause trouble.

I missed on a dew claw on the hind leg in the last litter of Acira, told the new owner about it and suggested that when he was a year and had to be x-rayed for his hips and then under sedation, he would let that claw been removed. He went in the mean time into sport with him, it took only one jump to hurt that foot but took him 6 months to recover from that injury.
So they definitely come of with me as soon as possible within the first three day's of their birth if there are any on the hind legs.

 

[belgiank]

Congrats on the new litter, they look wonderful...

Don't use cardboard to put on the ground, as it does not soak up the fluids as well, as newspaper... and newspaper gives much more warmth as well...

Thanks to a friend here, and the advice of HB, I think, we are buying about 100 pounds of newspaper (obituaries to be exact...:bunny for 50 pesos...

And I read that at least one of the puppies will be spoiled to death... congrats on the new baby, WB...

 

[whirleybird]

struggling for a name for her but JR has been trying to be very helpful....

 

[dv8]

li' update:
all eight plus one are doing fine. puppies look actually very fat, i must say i cannot even tell now which one is a runt of a litter as they all have full bellies. and very big heads. i think they will be big dogs.
i do not think this newspaper thing is working for me - they all move a lot and move/tear paper. few times i "lost" one or two dogs as they wrapped themselves in the newspaper, i almost stepped on one
so maybe we will stick to an old bedsheet. i will wait few more days until they gain some strenght and wash the whole house with cloro.
having puppies is exiting stuff!
thank you again to all who wrote!

 

[J D Sauser]

I had a dog in Spain. She was really crazy for them stray males. Anyways, she gave us 10 (yes, TEN!) on her first time. They were all different in size and colors!
There were some larger and stronger ones, she did not have as many nipples, so the weaker ones had little access. So, WE FED them. I did not know what with we were supposed to, but I soon got the impression that cow's milk did not seem to satisfy them. So we went on to mix baby milk powder into milk and even add honey. The LOVED it. I still don't know if that was the right thing to do, but the small ones quickly got bigger than the larger ones on my new diet.
We had to feed the mother too, she looked like she was being sucked out completely (chupacabras!)... she looked OLD and tired and yet, she was barely 3 years old... but she recuperated.

They ALL made it. Then, we had to find 10 parents and also convince my kids, they'd had to let go, one by one .

Congrats to you dv8!

... J-D.

 

[Anastacio]

More advice that honey works well. A first for me but obviously a good substitute.
Very lucky dog, Spain is the worst country I've ever been for the way it treats its animals in general, but dogs, wow. I became slightly racist of Spanish for a while until I got Sabe and realised it wasn't all of them who enjoyed watching animals suffer!!:tired:

 

[Acira]

Anastacio, where do you come from?

Sure, Spains animal rights are also giving me the shivers but there are bad breeders and owners and trainers in EVERY country!

Dv8, how are mom and the pups doing?

 

[Acira]

I had a dog in Spain. She was really crazy for them stray males. Anyways, she gave us 10 (yes, TEN!) on her first time. They were all different in size and colors!
There were some larger and stronger ones, she did not have as many nipples, so the weaker ones had little access. So, WE FED them. I did not know what with we were supposed to, but I soon got the impression that cow's milk did not seem to satisfy them. So we went on to mix baby milk powder into milk and even add honey. The LOVED it. I still don't know if that was the right thing to do, but the small ones quickly got bigger than the larger ones on my new diet.
We had to feed the mother too, she looked like she was being sucked out completely (chupacabras!)... she looked OLD and tired and yet, she was barely 3 years old... but she recuperated.

They ALL made it. Then, we had to find 10 parents and also convince my kids, they'd had to let go, one by one .

Congrats to you dv8!

... J-D.

That must have been the hardest part I guess. Great job you did with those pups!

 

[dv8]

acira, they are all fine, thanks.
i am very impressed because i have heard stories about rottweilers sitting on their puppies and suffocating them but fiji is extra careful. she hardly steps away from her babies and she looks so tired, poor thing...
little suckers, on the other hand, do not look tired at all

 

[AlterEgo]

i am very impressed because i have heard stories about rottweilers sitting on their puppies and suffocating them but fiji is extra careful. she hardly steps away from her babies and she looks so tired, poor thing...

Oh my gosh, in one of our rottie Diana's litters [Santo Domingo] she rolled over onto several of the puppies and they died. I never knew it was something common with them.

AE

 

[Anastacio]

Anastacio, where do you come from?

Sure, Spains animal rights are also giving me the shivers but there are bad breeders and owners and trainers in EVERY country!

I'm a Brit. Sure there are bad owners everywhere, but I like to see people trying to put a stop to it rather than encourage it, Bullfighting makes me want to stab men in gay trousers every time I see them, I don't get it at all, what is so tough or manly about stabbing a drugged up freightened bull to death and giving it about the most painfull ending possible to top it off.
The cat and dog mentality is to try and hit them when in the car, I could really be quite racist towards the Spanish if I got drunk, narrow minded and into a conversation with them about the rights and wrongs of these things.:devious:

 

[2dlight]

I'm a Brit. Sure there are bad owners everywhere, but I like to see people trying to put a stop to it rather than encourage it, Bullfighting makes me want to stab men in gay trousers every time I see them, I don't get it at all, what is so tough or manly about stabbing a drugged up freightened bull to death and giving it about the most painfull ending possible to top it off.
The cat and dog mentality is to try and hit them when in the car, I could really be quite racist towards the Spanish if I got drunk, narrow minded and into a conversation with them about the rights and wrongs of these things.:devious:

How do you feel about cockfighting(and I mean the roosters) in the DR?:nervous:

 

[belgiank]

With every litter this may happen, has nothing to do with rotties...

That is why we use a "litterbox" in order to prevent this...

Look at the box, under the topic "abuelos"... here we already removed 3 of the pipes... but normally in the beginning, the four sides of the box have a pipe about 4 inches from the side and the bottom, so the puppies can roll to safety if mother is somewhat careless...

 

[dv8]

we put pieces of wood along the sides of fiji's house for that same reason. not very well done, as i turned out because after she lost her big fat belly those planks are a bit too high...
i was told rotties are especially dangerous because they are so big, heavy and kinda clumsy. it was quite a surprive to me to see their pups are so small comparing to the size of an adult: