My girl had her pups on Friday night and since yesterday, has been leaving the whelping box which is upstairs in our room and coming downstairs.  She only comes down for 5 mins or so to see if anyone is eating, then goes back upstairs to check on them.  I have upped her food and am now feeding her 4 times a day and a massive amount but still she comes down.  Yesterday, I left her and she curled up on the sofa to go for a nap!! This is far too soon.  She used to stay upstairs with me in the room but now she leaves me sitting there, babysitting!  Surely it's too early for the pups to come downstairs?  I don't know what to do?  She's not massively protective of the pups(unless it's the cat) and I'm worrying.  I should be fighting to get her to come out the box but I feel it's the other way round for her.  She's a great mother when she is there and they are gaining loads of weight and never need to cry for her but I just think it's too soon to leave them?

This is why my pups are born in the lounge, The whelping box goes into a corner and is covered like a den and the dog gate goes up at the door so she is behind it and the others cannot see in the box. They stay there for 3/4 weeks before being moved out into the utility/conservatory. That way Mum is always still part of the household. My girls do not go upstairs at all anyway so would find it very unsettling. It also means I can stay settled in the room and still have the comfort of the TV/radio/kitchen/etc.. and non of the girls feels left out. My big hairy girls feel to hot in the whelping box so gat out and settle on the floor but have no desire to wander far. By 2 weeks mine are raring for a walk and it is quite usuall for them to wander off out in the garden for 1/2 hour's peace and quiet. They are good Mums though and the pups do not suffer.
Aileen

I find the bitch can be torn between the pups and us, so I too now have them whelp in the living room, as no longer have young children.  In the past when the house was a lot more noisy and full of kids then I used to stay upstairs with the bitch as much as possible.

I always brought my pups down to be in the kitchen at two weeks where the other dogs are, but now I keep them in the living room to three weeks, and then move to the kitchen when they need  more room than the whelping box.

Have you got a heat pad in there for them cracar? As long as they can gravitate towards it if they feel cold, or move away if they're too warm, they should be OK.

They sound as if they are thriving by what you describe about their weights and not crying. And if she's a great mother when she is there it sounds like she's doing all the cleaning etc too.

Some bitches just seem more maternal than others. Even within the same breed or line you can get big differences. Still at this stage it won't make much difference to your pups if their mother is lying outside the whelping box or has taken herself off downstairs. They will still huddle with each other, it's not as if you had a singleton.

As long as they have a human babysitter to keep an eye on them they should be OK for a bit longer till you feel you can bring them down.

Good luck with them, these early days won't last for long.

I tried once to have a bitch have her pups in the bedroom -she refused point blank and would rather have them in the living room despite being surrounded by other dogs and cats. What I did was put a puppy pen around the whelping box so nobody could get in and this worked fine. This is now my standard procedure unless I get a bitch that really wants to be 100% on her own in which case I'd have to move some of the other dogs out to kennels for the duration and use the kitchen.

I thought she would prefer it in our room as the other dogs are not allowed in there and I can close the door and keep the cat and kids out so she has total privacy.  Last year, I had thte same idea for another bitch but she refused to come up and instead had her pups downstairs from the beginning.  I have a (this sounds awful) cupboard which is in the hallway and looks into the kitchen.  My hubby took off the door and put on a babygate and the pups will go in there when they come down.  All my downstairs is open-plan so this is a safe, warm place which the pups can see/hear but not be right in the middle of it.  I might move her down here and see if she is more settled.  Saying that, she ate brekkie then went back upstairs straight away.
I just feel bad for her as she is my shadow and still wants to be with me all the time.  I just can't stay with her 24 hours a day(although someone is).  So wherever I am, she wants to be.
I have 4 kids and other dogs so I worry that she will stress about the pups if I bring her down.  The kids know to leave her alone especially when she is near her pups.  The dog on the other hand, isn't bothered in the slightest!!lol

Living room for me too.

I have them in a whelping box then surround this with a freedom pen to keep mother within earshot, she can get out to lay on cool white sheeting when she choses then pop in when theres a squeak.

The kind of mommy who leaves their pups early and wants her 'old life' back we call 'slut mothers'..... they often do a good job but need their mind kept on the task :-)

It's a shame that you have set everything up so that your girl can have peace and quiet and somewhere to relax and feel under no stress from other dogs/children etc, and even have you spending time with her in the room and low and behold she leaves you to it and goes downstairs. :-D

Oh dear........

Well, you did all the right things but as with everything from training - whelping the ground rules can be there but the dog has to also be worked around re: their personality and character.

Some bitches love the quiet and security away from a busy household and are very protective of their litter, they may sleep a lot and feel happier this way, others recover very well after whelping and do not feel any threat to their pups from people or other dogs and are completely laid back and tbh they can get extremely bored in a bedroom, missing out on the hustle and bustle of her normal life.

Many of us move our lives in with our bitches, I always move my office into the whelping area and I can be heard chatting on the phone and working whilst keeping a close eye, later on at approx 2 weeks I open up the dayroom so that she can go and sit in there with the tv etc if she wants, but only be a little way from the pups or she will sit on the conservatory furniture watching over her den, with me working away or if having nothing to do I will paint or something to keep in the same area, our girls need a little break, though yours is really, really early.

But, it looks as though the cupboard thing will have to suffice instead, move them down and if that does not work move them back up again, looks as though you are going to have to try it though. Yes, her food and liquid consumption needs increasing a lot, but sounds like she is just missing out on her family life.

You basically have to go with what your girl wants............. so change things accordingly. :-)

My litter were born in the dining room which is off the living room. Puppy pen panels round the whelping box, the dining room entrance was fenced off, me sleeping on the sofa at night lol and mum was quite happy to pop in and out of the box whilst still being part of family life as she saw it. By day two she had insisted on joining in with her usual twice daily runs with the other dogs (on our own land, no one went out until all the pups had left home). At 3-4 weeks the pups were in the conservatory (also attached to the lounge) but spent a lot of time in the lounge or, if the weather was nice, out in the garden.

Mine are born and stay in the living room too.  Though saying that my Calida was the most relaxed I'd ever had.  She wouldn't spend lots of time with them and would come out and play with her toys etc and go in when necessary.  She was a brilliant mum and really happy.  Pups were fed plenty and she was made to stay in all night with them and was very content.  I'd bring them downstairs and sleep downstairs if you are worried.

My girls are happy upstairs for the first week then want to join in with normal life so they and pups spend the day down stairs in a crate which the other dogs can see but not touch the pups, at night they all go back upstairs to the whelping box works well here as I am the only resident human so no one else to disrupt the plan or leave gates,doors or crates open.

By 4 weeks old the bitches have done feeding and happy for any of the dogs to interact with the pups whilst she supervises/watches[ video on my website of my first litter being cared for/played with by my then only male,not the sire, at 4 weeks old], my maiden bitch was scared of the pups till they were older and more active and watched from the side lines

My whelping box is in the extension room just off the Dining Room but we have armchairs and television in there so we basically move in to the room with the whelping box. The other dogs follow us in there and as long as Mum is happy to have them around we are happy to have them in with us. I had one bitch that literally would not be left in there without her friends around the whelping box. If Mum wasn't happy to have her friends in there we would just split up and one of us would be with Mum and the other would have the other dogs in the front lounge.