Pups are 8 days now text book whelping shes still not settled with them thought it was her whelping pen with it being open so we put her in her pen draped blackets made it den like ...she cries to come out when shes feed them she was half cleaning them so i hax to get them to poo with cotten wool which stressed her she is getting better at cleaning them if i hold them to her and when she can be bothered have anyothers come across this she has lots of milk and they have doubled in weight ...she still eats and drinks in the pen its not to hot but they dont use the heat pads tho i have to tell her to get in when they cry any ideas plz im nackard :(

Also they cry alot with belly ache ther poo is normal.

I cried over a bitch like this.  I thought she would never settle.  I have never been so stressed.  I used to sit on the floor next to the whelping box and bring pups out to pee and poop.  I had a small dog bed all ready, and put each pup in as I finished them.  One day, as I put the last pup in, my bitch jumped in with them, nosed them to the milk bar, and my struggle was over.

I am sure your young lady is playing you.  :-)  I do hope that she settles soon, I so remember how worried I was when it happened to one of mine.

If she didn't want to go in with her crying pups, I would move them.  Even if it means she is feeding on the living room floor.  Anything to help find out what it is that she isn't happy about.

Are they too warm, it has been very wet, but very humid too, and pups can get very winey if too warm, and the bitch not keen to stay in the box either.

Their mouths and pads will be very red and they will be restless, especially after feeding when they get even warmer from the exertion.

Are you softening the bitches food as she may also have a sore mouth from cleaning the birth fluid and weeing the pups.

I hope so jean im shatterd :( i want to cry too but dont want to stress her out i keep cleaning them but she hates it so its got to be done im do offer her to do it ,she does but its not enough to make them poo il be glad once they can wee and poo without help text book whelping and pregnancy then this ....things always feel worse when you cant keep ya eyes open :/ thanks jean x

Not over warm ther mouths and paws isnt red they lay close but not on top of eachother she keeps asking to go into the livingroom she loves to rub her face in my new rug after eating lol and wants to do this again shes not panting overly i hope she settles shes having natures diet puppy food with cottage cheese init its very soft shes also drinking 1ltr of goats milk aday at least as pups are growing shes eating and drinking more ....shes a very spoilt dog and makes me wonder if its our fault ???:( thanks Barbra x

I am going through exactly the same thing with a first time mum she refuses to clean at all and refuses to lay with the pups(we have 6 as 1 sadly passed) they were born last thursday and as the days go on it gets no easier it seems the only thing on my girls mind is spending time with us! I found mine were crying alot so went to the vets she gave them anti biotics just incase there was any infection(which i doubt)  as there poos are normal but i must say they seem alot more settled. I set my alarm to assist every feed day and night as if i let it pass my girl wud not flacker either, however there is light at the end of the tunnel hopefully the vet said once they reach 2 weeks to start and wean them very slowly to take the pressure off mam. I have never weaned so early so am going to do so research but if it was ok it would certainly be a big help. Just to mention also on a night we have our girl lying in her basket next to our bed and the whelping box on the other side with heat blankets in as i said our girl refuses to get in with them shes hapoy to feed assisted but thats about it. The vet said trying to make her sleep with them could only cause bigger problems so to keep going as i am, i have never experienced this before but must admit i have always owned little white fluffy toy breeds and this is our first flat nose toy breed so am thinking it may be just the breed, the vet who im very close with said they are one of the hardest dogs to breed and have little mothering instinct and when she said this before i thought it was rubbish but i have been proved completly wrong! She also had a text book whelping which is very unsual for her breed.

The problem is the poor bitch is in conflict between her attachment to us, and her natural instincts.

You need to either have the bitch in with where you spend most time (living room), which we now do since my children grew up and left home, which means the other dogs no longer allowed access.

Or if the whelping box needs to be in another room, then someone needs to spend time with her sitting by her, reading watching TV etc.

As it is I don't leave the bitch and pups out of sight until their eyes are open, especially with a Novice unsettled bitch.

One of mien was such a Princess, as my husband would move all the pups for her so she could get in and out easily without possibly treading on anyone, that she would go and fetch him to do this each time she wanted to go back in ;)

I do everything I can to foster the maternal instinct, (which can be blunted by domestication, waiting til fully mature, or being over attached/pampered) from feeding in the whelping box, keeping company, whatever she wants, as it was my choice to have the litter, not hers.

Cookies this is a small white breed she just wants to sleep on her own vet bed outside the pen iv put it with them it dont matter she wants out il be glad when they can do it themselfs :/ iv had a litter do it from 14days im counting the days down 6 more to go ....all the best with yours ....x

Had to laugh about moving pups iv done it in the past ...we in the dinningroom maybe she wants to be in the livingroom but tv is on and hubby stays in here too as shes his baby girl :/ hes so soft with her x

>One of mien was such a Princess, as my husband would move all the pups for her so she could get in and out easily without possibly treading on anyone, that she would go and fetch him to do this each time she wanted to go back in

ROFL!!! 

I just knew there was a purpose to husbands.  :-)  I love how well you have him trained.  :-)

She is one from the first litter I (or should I now say we) bred once we got together 6 years ago, so very much Daddy's girl.

Mind you he is great at whelping (bred two working terrier litters years ago), very hands on, so takes up a lot of the slack.