hi , my bitch is pregnant but i dont want to keep the puppies in the house as the only place to have them is in the front room and i have a three year old son , i no the bitch can get protective over there pups and i dont want her to go for him if he goes near them , is it possible to have them in a dog house in the back garden if i put bedding in there and make it warm for them or put a heat lamp in there or something ?

Does your bitch normally live outside in a kennel ? Will you have CCTV so you can make sure that she & the puppies are alright ?

I certainly would never make a bitch whelp & rear her litter in a kennel. Perhaps you should have planned for a place for her to whelp inside the house before you mated her up ?

Why oh why did you not think this through before you mated your bitch? Are you prepared to spend then first few weeks of the pups lives camped out in the shed? or are you happy to run the risk of squashed, cold, hot, ill pups dying because you cannot keep 24/7 watch on them?  Maybe you can set up CCTV to watch them but for the first 2/3 weeks you really need to have 24/7 cover to make sure all is well. So no in my opinion (For what it's worth) it would not be acceptable unless you will be spending a lot of time in the shed as well.
Just bed her down in the lounge with a cage around and be very vigilant with your son never letting him in the room with her unsupervised. When the pups are older if you really must then they could go into an outside lennel but they will miss out on so much socialization being away from the normal household noises etc.. not the best way to start your babies off and not so good for those who buy them and have spooky pups who have never heard the washing machine or hoover!
Aileen

This is something you should really have worked out long before you mated the bitch. Yes you can have puppies outside, but personally I would NEVER consider moving them out until about 5 weeks of age -and then only if a good sized breed, not smaller breeds. Puppies need the upbringing indoors to get early socialisation. They need to hear the TV, the vacuum, the phone etc etc -they won't get any of that outside and will quite likely grow up with fears.

When we have a litter they always spend the first 6 weeks in our front (best!) lounge and then move into the morning room for the latter 2-3 weeks or so.
Personally, I could never raise a litter outdoors - it is a worrying time enough already, I can't imagine how I'd feel if they weren't even in our family home all safe and cosy !
You should have considered this before you went ahead and had your bitch mated.

Definately with all the others here. I whelp and rear ALL puppies in my living room and they stay there until they leave, i sleep on the sofa for the first 4 weeks and wouldn't dream of having a litter outside. It is October too!

You should of bought some puppy panels that you could of put up around the whelping box to make a safe area where your son can not access the bitch and her puppies and then you would need to be very vigilant. All alot of effort i know but that is what rearing a litter is.

This is of course just my own opinion and i am sure some breeders whelp/rear outside, mine are large breed but i would still not consider it under any circumstances. Good luck with your litter and i hope you can make arrangements so these newborn puppies will be safe and warm after all they didn't ask to be born that was your choice.

> i dont want to keep the puppies in the house as the only place to have them is in the front room and i have a three year old son

Did you want to have puppies or is this an accidental mating?  Are you planning to keep a puppy?  If this isn't a planned mating is it still early enough to talk to your vet about a termination?

You have a duty of care for these pups which is going to be difficult with them outside and out of sight and sound.  If you have no other choice but to raise these pups is there a family member that could help with day care for them or your son; could mum and pups be kept in your bedroom; can you get help from your local rescue centre?

Your son is old enough to understand what you tell him at 3 years of age.

Personally I can't think of anything worse than being a bitch whelping a litter and having a toddler making noise and being close by.  But this is the situation you are in so make the best of it.

You can't put the bitch outside to whelp and raise her pups, get a crate cover it with a throw to make a den type place for her, preferable in a corner somewhere, behind a chair or just somewhere quiet....er (is the kitchen out of bounds for some reason too) get bedding in there for her and once she has whelped cover the crate to give her privacy, with only yourself checking on her regularly and listening out for any problems.

Speak to your 3 year old, tell him he is not to go near her, not to lift the cover up or play near her you will need to stay vigilant also at all times to protect the pups from being picked up by your son and to not worry the bitch who may well give your son a warning.

Not an ideal situation, but if you all work together it will work out, the pups are on their way so no use trying to plan something which is too late, but make the best of what you have.

Edited to add, leave some of the crate uncovered to allow light in, she should not be in total darkness.

Hi i have a 15 month old and a 2 year old with a bitch in whelp,i will be letting her have the pups in my bedroom,for the first couple of weeks,with a baby monitor on,then when she is ready i will move her into the kitchen with the pups it has a stairgate on it, and little ones dont go in there anyway so its nothing strange for them.they will be able to go outside where they have a nice insulated massive shed with heat lamp when they are much bigger so they can play in the garden aswell as coming into the house alot,i think you just have to work around kids.My little boy already understands that he has to be very gentle with mum to be as she has babies in her tummy. Good Luck!

I would never dream of shutting my dog away outside. she would think she is being punished. I have 11 4 weeks old pups and they were born in the living room and will stay in the living room until they leave

My bitch would be just the same,she has her own chair in the lounge and doesnt even lie on the floor as she is far too good for the floor Lol!there is no way she could live in a shed although she has taken to my sons wendy house quite nicely and she does have a couple of duvets in there for when she wants to be outside i think she likes it in there for some QUIET time and she goes in it when she wants to.

ok thanks for your help i will deffinately not be putting them outside , i have a downstairs toilet that is quit big do you think it would be ok to set up a whelping area in there and we could use the upstairs toilet when we needed, there is a lock and my boy would not be able to get in there also there is a radiator in there so would be warm for them ?

How do you plan to care for them if they are locked in a toilet?

Most of us sleep with our girl and pups for the 1st 3 weeks at least.. sometimes longer, for the intial 2 weeks, we spend 24/7 with them, even going for a bath/shower we have someone sitting with litter.. we need to make sure, pups are getting fair share at the milk bar, make sure mum doesnt sit on/squash pups etc..

If you girl is shut away, how will you know if she is going into Eclampsia, showing signs of distress etc.. I think you need to find somewhere more suitable for her to whelp, and for you to be with her..

At 3years old, your son is old enough to understand that he should not go near mum or pups, when you explain this to him..

that would be better than a outside in a shed, but you can ask any breeder on here and they will tell you they SLEEP with the bitch from a week to a few days before whelping right up until the pups are a few weeks old. (i personally slept in the same room as them until they had gone to their new homes) If she is a new mum she may not know what to do and be overwhelmed, and she will think she is locked in a room away from her family and alone with these strange pups and is scared. Motherhood does not always come naturally. Adding to that if she does get scared she could kill them, if she gets on fine with them she may squash one. And believe me its easily done. My first litter i stayed with them and didnt leave them unattended even when i went for a wee until they were 4 days, on the 4th day i thought, right she's asleep so i jumped in the shower to wake myself up which took no more than 3 mins and made myself a flask of tea which took about 5 mins. So in less than 10 minutes and all were asleep when i left mum had accidently lay on one in my absence. Believe me it was the one and only time that i will ever leave them for any amount of time until they are up and walking. So you see it isnt a matter of mum whelping and looking after them and you popping in to say hello, you really cant leave them unattended for any amount of time.

None of what you are planning is ideal I'm afraid. Several weeks before the birth my whelping box goes up in the dining room and the bitch has access to it. During that time, she makes it her own, ruckles up the bedding and creates for herself a safe 'cave' for her to have her pups in. When the time comes she knows where to go and feel really safe in there. Also a few days before the event the spare matress comes down and thats also on the dining room floor, where one of us sleeps for weeks.
I can't see how a toilet would work tbh because you do really need to be with them pretty well all the time, crushed pups can die VERY quickly.
You really need to set up inside the house where you can be with her all the time and explain to your 3 year old that new mums need privacy and he can meet supervised with the pups when they are older and running around, when the socialisation with small children will do them good.

Your living room is the perfect place for your puppies to be born, its warm and comforting, plus if she lives inside its a place she will know and feel safe. Its also a place we spend the majority of our time. When you have puppies, you NEED to spend 24 hours a day keeping an eye on them, and generally most of us have a 2nd person around, so that shifts can be taken. Even when going for a wee, thats when things do tend to go wrong. I have lost a pup this way before and i intend to never ever ever let my guard down. its simply not worth a life. 4 mins was all it took. Your little boy will be curious, but your bitch will be in instinct mode and fighting for the very life of her puppies. You will have to be a responsible adult and keep them apart. Hes too young to learn the lesson 'he'll only do it once' but you have to explain it to him.

> Your son is old enough to understand what you tell him at 3 years of age.
>

I agree, my 4 year old was fine with my first litter and both my kids were 14 months old when I had a new  puppy.

Baby/Dog gates are very useful, and really should be being used to separate your son and the bitch when you can't supervise directly anyway.

do you mean to say that you leave your 3 year old child to wander about without supervision then??? :( if not, then thesrs no problem is there.

Although lots of breeders do set their bitch and litter up in a living area this may not suit all bitches.  You can't predict how she will react.  Many bitches need somewhere more private particularly in the first week or two to raise their puppies.  If they don't feel happy with where you have set them up you can run into problems with a stressed mother.  Some really would like to have them in a cupboard LOL.  Seriously you need to buy a good book on whelping and raising puppies and study it.

If you don't want to have pups in the sitting room, what about the kitchen or your bedroom?  I had my first litter in the sitting room with 4 small children, the youngest only 18 months old.  They knew what they could and couldn't do, and knew not to go near the pups unless I was with them.  The mum was our family pet and would have been very miserable to be shoved outside in the cold.  The pups were fine and that litter produced the mother of a champion.  At least if the pups are in your bedroom, you can sleep next to the whelping box rather than trying to sleep in an armchair.

At least if the pups are in your bedroom, you can sleep next to the whelping box rather than trying to sleep in an armchair.
If pups are in an upstairs bedroom, how can you watch them during the day?

> If pups are in an upstairs bedroom, how can you watch them during the day

stay in the room?? i have them in my bedroom. i do live in a bungalow but i cant see the relevance wether its upstairs or not, they just need to be attended

Yes I've had them in my bedroom when I lived in a small flat and I could be nextdoor in the loo and the kitchen, but if someone has a family with children, then I can't see that they can spend all day upstairs to not leave the pups unattended and be away from the kitchen.........

we had a rota, i only left the room when someone took over from me but had teenage kids to help

Pay someone to rear the pups so mom and the pups get the attention they need.
You cant put a litter of pups and a mom who is used to being inside outside in the weather were having,
its not freezing but its not what she is used too.