Hi Guys , i have a few questions that i would appreciate your advice on. My bitch is on day 53 and over the last few days is getting a bit grumpy with one of the bitches younger than her , i understand that she is hormonal and feeling uncomfortable so i have been seperating them when i am not around. My question is should i be getting her used to being away from the others ? her whelping box is going to be upstairs away from the others but i don't want her to feel she is being excluded in any way.

Also , do you seperate your bitches a few days before they are due to whelp or wait til things get started? She is particularly close to one of my males and only wants to sleep in her whelping box if he is also in it ! How do i get her used to spending time in it alone or will this come naturally when her babies are here?

Lucy

Mine always waited until the last possible minute before going into the whelping box ;-) They wanted to be part of the pack until then. Then no-one was alllowed near the pups until she was ready for them (except me, of course :-) ) Even my teenage daughter wasn't allowed near.

If she is being grumpy towards one of your other dogs then she might want to be separate from that one bitch. She doesn't know if the other bitch is going to try to kill her babies, after all. I would let your male be with her until she is actually in labour if he gives her some comfort and company.

My bitches are never interested in a whelping box, until they have whelped!  :-)

If they have a favourite chum, that's fine.  I only seperate when they take a particular dislike to one of the dogs.  A bit like us, they get tetchy with hormones raging!  And you never know which dog they will take exception to.

I found years ago, that trying to get them to spend time in the whelping box, just stressed them out.  Yet, once they've whelped, and I move the pups into it, they settle just fine.

Depends on the bitch. :) I have one that wants to be separated from the others from the moment she has been mated. Another who refused point blank to be separated at all, only just accepted to have a puppy pen around the whelping box in the same room as her friends.

This is an interesting question.  My bitch is due to whelp tomorrow but up to yet, still wants to be very much still with our other dogs. She has been sleeping in the whelping box with her mother or her sister, but it will be interesting for us to see what she will do when the pups arrive :)

My bitches are never interested in a whelping box, until they have whelped!

Same here. :-)

Mine is a box with lid and they are put in it to sleep (with me at the side) a week before they're due to whelp so that they are used to it.

Ditto, I don't allow the other dogs near the whelping box which is in a room they are not allowed into.

My last two bitches (mother and daughter) would not go into the box at all until they were about to whelp preferring to spend most of their first stage of labour with the others and on their feet.

The mother on her second litter was willing to go in the box a little earlier and spent a few hours in there before producing the first pup, the first time I took her up there and kept her there once the water bag had been seen.

my bitch is due to whelp in about three weeks.  My other dog, a neutered male, and her sleep in a room together.  I intend to give the room
over to her and let my male have the kitchen when she is ready.  should i move him out at a certain time, or wait to see if she lets
me know when she wants him gone.....

I'd get them used to being apart more now, so that he doesn't feel so neglected and isolated later.