Hi there
We're breeding our first litter of gundogs and with three weeks to go I've got a min/max thermometer in the proposed whelping area.  With the heating on all night and all day it's 23 degrees in the area generally, not specifically in the whelping box, which isn't set up in place yet!.  I've bought a petnap heat pad.  My question is, will the heat pad with the general room temperature be warm enough for newborn pups, or should I use a heat lamp as well. If I set up both heat lamp and heat pad,would I put the thermometer on the heat pad to give the correct reading?  30 degrees, which I have read is what I should be aiming for in the first week is quite a high temp to achieve!  Room is draught free.
Many thanks for advice.

If they are a coated breed and the room temperature is already 23'C day and night if they were my pups and especially bitches they'd be too hot with any extra heating after the first week, and certainly the heat pad would be enough

But my girls and pups have a covered whelping box/cave.  It's draughts that will do damage.

We always used a brood lamp (heat lamp) and we had one (now passed on after we retired) that had a red bulb, to give a darker light.   It has to be at the right height but although you could get on with a heat pad, I found a brood lamp kept the whole area warm, and DRY.   It would depend on the breed, but with our Bassets, we tried to keep the area at around 80F although we did drape a sheet over the back end of the box so mum could get in under the direct heat from the lamp.   Some will suggest the heat on the floor of the box should be higher, some lower.   But this worked for our puppies.  A good indication of whether you have it right is if it is, the puppies shouldn't need to be huddled together.   If they are, it's not warm enough.  We kept a thermometer in the bottom of the box.   The danger could be when mum has to come out of the box to attend to her comfort, and feed etc.     I would suggest 23C isn't high enough for the base of the box.