hi My bitch has just had her litter of 8 pups everyone all happy and healthy, mum is doing fantastic with them, Just a quick question as cant find answers anywhere!!! I have another older dog who is obviuosly being confined away from the bitch and her litter, When would it be safe to introduce the older dog to the pups? The dog and bitch play nicely together when they are outside, i no it wont be yet as the pups are only 48 hours old, but roughly when would be the best time as not to stress the bitch out????

Thankyou x

Probably once they are on their feet if you want to be sure.

I have sometimes had bitches share the care of a litter but that really isn't 'normal' and I would recommend extreme caution.

Agree with Westcoast - I have a multi dog household, and I find that my girls object to the others "just looking!"

I find that once pups are on their feet, mum calms down a bit.  But they honestly do vary at what stage they will allow another to play and sniff.

thankyou, well she has let him look at them he sneakily followed me into the kitchen the little sod !!! he looked and she was a little weary but ok, but i will keep him away for a while, Thankyou x

I have always separated the bitch and her litter from the other dogs fro two weeks, or until the eyes open.

She will quickly pop pout past the others for toilet breaks and then be back with her babies.

After two weeks I find the bitch is less keen to be entirely concentrating on pups, so bring the litter into the kitchen, where the other dogs are.

This encourages the bitch to keep with her pups as she will be watching the others don't interfere for at least another week.  the other dogs do the averted gaze thing going past the whelping box.

At 3 weeks or so the bitch will allow the other bitches to visit her pups if they so wish, surprisingly I found even the 6 month pup I had when I had the last litter.

I don't own males, but friends tell me that the bitches often will not allow the male dogs near for longer.

Strangest of all a Friend having her first litter found that the bitch was Happy to allow the male of the same breed around pups from about two weeks, but would not tolerate the presence of the Male Whippet at all, until about 6 weeks!  I don't know if she perceived the sight hounds interest as predatory????

I think it depends entirely on the bitch. I have found that if my other dogs so much as walk past the whelping box during the first week or so the bitch feels tense and will give a telling bark. However, with our current litter, nearly 6 weeks, Mum has been totally relaxed from within a couple of days of them being born. She was quite happy for my other dogs (all same breed) to be in the same room of an evening, although they did just settle down on the sofas away from the whelping box so I guess she didn't feel threatened. That said, they couldn't resist the occasional peak and sniff into the box, but Mum did not object at all. Infact pups grandma has been sharing their care for the last two weeks. She cannot get into the whelping box quick enough to greet and wash them and play with them, and they adore her. She even lets them try and get milk ! All this goes on with Mum around and often in the box with them. Grandma will sit to one side whilst her daughter feeds the grandchildren. It is a magical sight and brings tears to my eyes.
This, I appreciate is unusual and you have to be guided by your bitch and obviously not take any chances. Mum has a divine right to her babies and if she doesn't want other dogs around then so be it.

that would bring me to tears too :) ,how beautiful!!!

mum here still dont want 1 of our dogs near her pups(2weeks old) but funny thing is our male thats 6months old is ok to sit and watch them :) but only when mum is in there with them ,he sits with his tail wagging just snifing :)

Like cavlover I think it depends entirely on the bitch -but it's always best to play safe when you aren't certain. I have a tiny Papillon who is just so in love with any pups she sees, so she acts as a nanny. (Common in wolves I believe, although you could hardy find anything less wolf like than this girl LOL.)  I could hardly believe it last year when she started to jump into the whelping box of a MALINOIS with ten pups after just a couple of days -and the mum let her. She still thinks she is the real mum of these Malis despite them now being ten times heavier than her. :) I now have a toybreed pup and again she has shared his care, from about a week of age which was when the mum decided it was okay -before then she didn't want any other animal near her pup. At 3 weeks of age now I usually find two bitches in the box cleaning the pup. :) My foundation bitch twice had a cat in the box WHILST giving birth. So I'm just guided by the bitch herself as they are all different.

My bitch was in the room where my other bitch was whelping. I know people may disagree with this but my bitch was fine. Once the pups were born mum wpuld five my other bitch a look which did send my bitch away from the box but they were perfectly fine and at 3weeks it's lback to normal mum often let's other bitch sniff them. Even when pups where 2days mum was off out with 2bitches and a dog and didn't seem bothered about them going near the room but not near the pups. Just see howbit foes but obviously the other bitch has to be cleaned before she is allowed near them. I clean both my bitches as they come in from outside as they both go nearthe pups

I agree, every bitch is different but err on the side of caution. Ellie was very laid back about our own 2 boys visiting. Not that George wanted to, but Uncle Henry was desperate to get into the box right from birth so we did keep him out for a few days and only let him sniff at them at first. Ellie was quite happy about it though - even when a visiting dog sneaked through the gate while his owner was going to have a look (they were about 5 weeks by then) she let him have a little look, then just walked into him and gently but firmly pushed him back out of the room again!

thankyou all for your advice, i guess its like everything a waiting game, she lets him in the room with them but not near the whelping box, i guess she will let him when she is ready, thankyou all again xx

gollie would let pagan with the pups at 5 week

Xena would let Blade look at them at 3 weels and be in the same room but not in the box or near the box till they are about 4-5 weeks and then she is happy for him to take over with playing etc although she did have a big litter of 10 so must have been very tiring for her :-)

last night he was around the whelping box and she seemed alot more at ease with him .... time will tell on this 1 i think before she had the pups they were inseperable and he is pining a little for his play m8 bless him .... pups r all well though and she is happy and comes away from them a little now, i took her for a quick 5 min walk round the block this morning just to give her a break and she enjoyed it .... :) awwww i cant wait to c all 10 dogs play with each other :)

> gollie would let pagan with the pups at 5 week

by four weeks old my mums are more than happy for the others to interact, but the ones that have had pups before don't often bother much, LOL.

> she is happy and comes away from them a little now, i took her for a quick 5 min walk round the block this morning just to give her a break and she enjoyed it .... :-)

I would do everything to encourage a bitch not to want to leave her puppies at all for at least the time until their eyes are open.  For the first three days my bitches have to be taken out of the whelping box to toilet and run straight back into them (at this stage it is the almost constant suckling that gets the milk supply in).  After that they will sometimes lie outside the box for short periods, but basically for at least a week they are no more than a foot away except when going for a toilet break.  The girls are fed in the whelping box or next to it.

As domestic pets their instincts and their attachment to us can be in conflict, certainly not a good idea to take her for walks, she has a tiring and important job to do and should concentrate all her energies on her litter, and you as the substitute for her pack should be concentrating on caring for her.

>awwww i cant wait to c all 10 dogs play with each other :-)

Most adult dogs (males especially) are unlikely to want to play with young puppies full of teeth for any length of time if at all, often they are afraid of them and could hurt them.

You need to have a place where the pups can be contained once mobile, so that adult dogs can easily escape from their attentions.

It doesn't happen often but newborn litters have been killed by another dog in the household, not for nothing are bitches protective of their young where other animals are concerned.

>For the first three days my bitches have to be taken out of the whelping box to toilet and run straight back into them (at this stage it is the almost constant suckling that gets the milk supply in).  After that they will sometimes lie outside the box for short periods, but basically for at least a week they are no more than a foot away except when going for a toilet break.

Mine have always been similar for the first three or four days (forcibly removed to the garden for toilet breaks then a mad dash back to the nest) but after that they start to appear at the front door when the others are being got ready for a walk. That's when I know they're ready for a breath of fresh air, a stretch of the legs and a change of scene. A five-minute walk keeps them happy and content, not getting anxious and stir-crazy, and relaxed when they're back home with their babies again. never had a problem.

> A five-minute walk keeps them happy and content, not getting anxious and stir-crazy, and relaxed when they're back home with their babies again. never had a problem.

I'm probably warier with living in a heavily dog populated city area.

>I'm probably warier with living in a heavily dog populated city area.

That would certainly make a difference.

However, if the bitch wants to go out then it would be too stressful for her, IMO, to force her to stay confined against her will.

After about a week my bitch was behaving much more like she wanted to go out for a walk. A couple of days after she would rush up tail wagging when the leads were got out, I took her for a short walk, then it was daily. She didn't go off lead though or interact with ANY other dogs other than those from our house until all pups had gone to their new homes. I would get a fresh bucket of antiseptic disinfectant by the back door and wipe everyone down before coming in. I am going to invest in Parvocide for the next litter as it seems to be the cover-all disinfectant where dogs are concerned. Have read you can even put in a spray bottle and mist over the fur when coming inside.

I kept my male away from her for a couple of weeks, although he missed her terribly (they also are inseperable!). When he was allowed in to see the babies, he just wagged his tail at them. I allowed him closer in stages watching her for any signs of aggression/apprehension which didn't happen.

We haven't got any aunties/grannies here (yet) to help with the pups, that must be a sight to see!!!

When the pups were around 6/7 weeks they were acting like a bunch of hooligans and would rush my male. He would always want 'out', but when we were down to 2 for the last week, they went in with mum and 'uncle' and were absolutley fine together. my male is so great tho, and acts like a big puppy at age 4 - I don't think he's ever going to grow up!

I'm so glad my bitch was completley horizontal when she had her pups, she never even grumbled... at anyone/anything! Can I just ask, is she likely to be like this next time (am hoping to mate her around June next year) or is she likely to be different?

ive found that if all went well with birth and mum is healthy and having a happy time of it ,then she will be the same as last time :)