Hello.
My girl gave birth to 8 chubby healthy puppied on Thursday night by through a c section. After a wobbly start she settled down well with them untill early this morning. She keeps taking one of them (always the same one) to an outbuilding down the garden she does not leave it there she stays with it leaving the other 7. I have now locked the dog flap to stop her from doing this but every chance she gets she picks up this pup and she is off. All of the puppies are gaining weight and feeding well. Any idea what could be the problem?

Wendy, is her whelping pen covered?

I had never had this before.. but Beanie began lifting her newborns and hiding them, behind computer, chairs, anywhere she could find.. I asked someone about this, and they told me she 'could' be unhappy about being in the open (no lid on whelping pen).. I got a large throw and just covered half the pen, to give her a cosey den.. she stopped taking the pups out...

It has never happened to me before.. this worked for me.. but, there could be other reasons...

and Congratulations on the puppies :-)

Hi,i've had this happen once from a natural whelping, turns out the wee thing had a cleft pallet and did pass away. If unsure get him checked over to be on the safe side. all the best x.

I would also be thinking something is wrong with it although it's strange that she is staying with that one and ignoring the rest.  I have to say if it was me I'd have her and the litter in the house and not allow her to wander off, though of course if it's a dog that's not used to being inside this can also cause its own problems.

Hi again. She is used to being in the house but she has a dog flap so she can come in and out when she wants. All of the pups as well as mum have been checked over by the vet and are all healthy. I have now covered her welping den as sugested with blankets and she is now much more settled. thanks for your help.

Well when I thought that everything was settled she is off again, we have locked her dog flap but she is picking her puppies up and standing at the door with they crying. She is dead set on taking the puppies outside and i dont have a clue why??

great!!!  keep us posted .

Whereabouts in the house is the whelping box? She is obviously being upset by something - it's just (!!) a matter of working out what it is. Could there be too much activity near the box for her liking or is it somewhere very quiet and peaceful? Are there other dogs about?

PS Not being critical here - trying to be helpful, honest!

wonder if she doesnt think they are safe were they are. is she somewere totally private away from other dogs and people walking past?

Wendy

Hi can you give us a few more details please,does she usually live indoors or out? Is the room where you have the whelping pen one that she is normally allowed in?Is she normally happy to be in that room?
Is it quiet or is there a lot of family members or other pets walking past the pen? Where is she taking the babies to in the garden? Does she have her favourite place outside? Does she go to the same spot every time? Have you noticed if before she had her babies she was trying to make a den anywhere?

thinking along same lines and posting at same time Ridgelover lol

wendy

Hello again. Yes she does live in the house and the welping box is in a nice quiet roomthat she is used to being in. There is a kennel in the garden that the dogs quite often chill out in and this is were she is taking them. I did not notice her making a den outside befoe she had them, she did take a liking to my bed and we were expecting her to try to make a home for her babies on my bed. When she is with them she is very content as are the puppies but then out of the blue up she gets and starts moving them. None of my other animals are bothering her. This is not her first litter and she is in the same place as when she had her last litter, I guess that for now I will just have to keep watching her. They are booked in for another check with the vets on Monday, her previous litter was born at home with no problems could she be a bit confused after her operation??
Thanks all for your thoughts x

Hi Wendy. I think you may well be correct in thinking her op has confused her a bit. She had to have a c section didn't she? For now I think you just have to keep a close eye on her. She may settle once the babies are a bit older,new moms can be very protective and as she had the stress of delivering by section  she perhaps thinks the kennel is the safest place bless her. Are you able to sit with her to give her a little extra support?
By the way congrats on your babies arriving safely.

Hello again all.
Well the good news is that Bella has been settled with her babies for the past few hours. The babies seem to be getting fatter in front of my eyes LOL. We have already picked a name for the little girl that we will keep we are thinking Lucy what do you guys think? We will keep a very close eye on her (wont be hard as I spend hours watching the babies), there has been somebody with her 23 hours a day since she had them. She waits for us to go for a pee pee break then legs it with a pup!!!! She is an exelent mum and I am sure that bless her little cotton socks she has just been a little confused. Thanks again all x x

So glad your girl is bit more settled now. Puppies are one of lifes great time wasters lol I have spent hrs watching mine and yes they grow as you watch them and even faster when you have to leave them to visit the loo! Lucy is a pretty name,is your breed large or small?,think it would suit one of the small breeds more than the large though.

Well she is medium sized, i wanted to call her flo, son wanted to call her lexi and husband didnt like either so we settled on lucy. She has not moved since my last post, I have even fed her from a spoon in her den. As i am writing sh ehas just come out for a drink and a love and now she has gone back to her babies lol a short but sweet visit from my baby bella. Thank god i think that the drama is over, i must have grown 10 grey hairs over the last 12 hours. Well i still love them all to bits x x

What only ten grey hairs!! You got off light lol
Pleased to hear she is settled now
Wait and see how your baby grows before deciding her name,Lucy is sweet but it may not match her character as she grows and I like my dogs names to sort of match the personality.

Well I think that I can honestly say that they are all now as happy as little pigs in poo LOL, huge sigh of releif. I love mu doggie and they love me :-)

Ah bless em. So pleased mom has calmed down.Hope all goes well for you now. Dogs are just the best are'nt they?

>>>She waits for us to go for a pee pee break then legs it with a pup!!!!

Maybe she doesn't like you being there so much.

Our last litter (11 years ago I admit) The mum would put her head over a pup and growle.  We all got very worried she hated the pups or something.  We found she was acctually growleiing at us, protecting the pups (when she did this pups where only days old)  When left alone we heard nothing over the baby talk things.  She was a great Mum, just wanted to do it on her own more or less.  She was never a human loving bitch and liked her own space and wanted fuss on her terms, never aggressive, but would happily sit out the way of everyone.

Hi thanks for your reply but Bella is very loving towards humans I mean me and her are soooooo close. Her previous litter there was no problem at all I can only asume that she has been a bit confused this time due to her section. I have not been an interfering grandma lol I have just kept a watchfull eye and given her love as and when she came for it. She now seems very content so do her puppies x

But 23 Hours ady is alot for a dog thats not used to it.

Next time round we will be watching pups round the clock but we will not be with them.  We are lucky enough to be able to set up wireless webcams so the bitch (Who loves people and will do anything to be with you) will have time to be on her own with her pups. :)

I do hope she continues to be content and not try to take her pups away but something to always bare in mind.  I would never believe our bitch would growle at us but she was so protective of her pups I would never put anything past a mother. :)

Hi again, our girl is used to us 24/7, she normaly sleeps with me! we are not in her face all the time just keeping a watch full eye and givin her love when she comes to us. I realy do thank you all for your help and advice in my hour of need ... ... I thin that the confusion has been caused by the fact that she has a kenel in the garden. Bella is very much a member of my family and she has a dog flap (just like my kids have a key lol) there is a kenel in my garden and my dogs do go in there through choice sometimes but they are very much house dogs that sleep with me and chill out on the soffa and watch corra and emerdale with me lol x

Glad to hear that things are getting better.  Due to her c-section she was bound to take some time to fully settle, hope all continues to go well.

I know nothing about breeding or puppies pre 8 weeks but I think I see the problem. She has been watching too many soaps. Lets face it there are rarely good role models for parenting in the soaps!!!:-) Maybe some baby programmes on Discovery home and health would be more beneficial. Congrats on your pups. I have an 8 week old pup whose legs are growing as I watch them!

lol she also loves to watch the dog wisperer. Mum and puppies are now doing very well :-)