Has anyone been asked to whelp a litter for someone else? 

No, but it's something that I would prefer to do with the bitch owner present, as they have to learn sometime.

Unless I knew the bitch really well, I'd feel it was unfair. Last thing a bitch wants when giving birth is a stranger around her.

Done it on quite a few occassions, Sunday / Monday being the last one.  I prefer to go to the home and talk the owner through what is happening and when they might need to intervene, sometimes I do whatever is required.  A couple of times I have had the bitch here to whelp, I always have her here minimum 10 to 14 days before her due date to settle in and get to know the routine and noise of the house and when she starts to show signs of having her pups I will phone her owner.

I have helped both first time owners and others who have maybe had a few litters but still like to have someone to chat with and just bounce thoughts around.

Smallest breed I have whelped has been my own Papillons and the largest was Deerhounds. only difference is the size :)

I have been canine midwife to two friends bitches, but they knew me very well.

I also had a bitch to whelp for another friend where she stayed with me from confirmation of pregnancy and until pups were homed. 

This was done as a loan of bitch agreement, but I would not wish to do the latter again. 

The responsibility for someone else's bitch is just too much (she wasn;t well towrds the end and this resulted in her being too weak to deliver and needing  C section).

Totally agree, but what if owner isn't confident about the process?

Yes I've whelped a bitch when the experienced owner had a crisis.  The bitch knew me well.

but what if owner isn't confident about the process?
Then they shouldn't have mated their bitch! :(

but what if owner isn't confident about the process?
Then they shouldn't have mated their bitch!

So how is someone supposed to learn.  Everyone has to start somewhere.

The learning should be done BEFORE mating a bitch not afterwards............

It's not like doing it wrong when you're trying a new recipe and putting the mistakes in the bin. :(

totally agree with what you are saying, but you can only learn so much from books! 

Nothing beats personal experience.

totally agree with what you are saying, but you can only learn so much from books! 

Nothing beats personal experience

BUT, surely you would get yourself a mentor or the person you bought your bitch from for some help and/or advice.  Its far too late once the bitch is in whelp!

Nothing beats personal experience.
Certainly, so a would-be breeder should sit through a number of whelpings with an experienced breeder before trying it themselves.......

Its far too late once the bitch is in whelp!
I agree completely.  Totally irresponsible.  It's like having a baby with just your ignorant, well meaning best friend with you instead of an experienced midwife.

this is something i would love to do, but unfortunately my mentor is 2 hours away from me.  I am not yet at the stage of getting a bitch, but would like to some time in the future.  needless to say i ask as many questions as possible around any matings or breeding plans they have. 

i know when the time comes, i will have my mentor on the end of the phone if I need them and hopefully have learned enough by then.  in the mean time, it's question time :)

My friend who is very experienced person around livestock, has worked in show kennels and racing stables, seen many animals into the world including  haphazard litters of pups where the owners have rung saying help!

Yet she still was not prepared to whelp her very first own litter without experienced help/

We drove some 50 miles to be with her and stayed a week, my dogs slept in the back of her truck (more room than our Land-rover).

I would ask to be at a your mentors next whelping or someone else near you whose bitch you know well enough.

When you come to breed your first litter you really should have someone experienced stay with you, again someone the bitch is happy with.

Having people on the end of the phone is fine in addition to this, but not instead of.

A lot of people think they can rely on the Vet for any help, but to be honest unless your vet breeds your breed then their help is only of use in dire emergency when a C section may be inevitable.  Most know little about the variability of 'normal' whelping.  Most novice breeders are unlikely to spot when help is needed early.

It's another reason that I endorse my puppies - to try to not encourage novices to put my bitch puppies at risk. 

I travelled 1.5 hours each way to my mentor every week when she had a litter for 3 years.  I travelled with her across the country to each mating and if her bitch whelped in the middle of the night I was there then too!  All this was very difficult, especially as I was a single parent and had a daughter just starting school, but I considered it my apprenticeship if I wanted to take on the responsibility of breeding a litter.

I wouldn't have considered having my mentor or the Vet at the end of the phone anywhere near good enough if I hadn't got hands on experience too.  I'm amazed at the confidence of ignorance that we sometimes read. :(

Yes these are all things that I intend to do in the future.  As I said i am not even at the stage of looking for a bitch yet, as still have too much to learn, and work commitments are not ideal (manageable if necessary but not ideal) at the moment. 

I think both of us are pointing out to people reading the boards of the importance of being properly experienced before putting a bitch and litter at risk, so many people think ti OK to mate a bitch and let nature take it's course, which can of course end in tragedy and only ends well through dumb luck.