Hi, my girlie scanned for 3 puppies and is due in a fortnight. I set the whelping box up today but as neither she or I have done this puppy thing before I'm not sure when she should start using it! At present she and my other 2 dogs sleep in bed with me (I'm single for a reason lol) and I've set up the box in the spare room. So, either I sleep in there with her and start her in it now so she's used to it and shut the others out or I wait until a few days before her due date to start her in it? Bit unsure! My other 2 aren't going to be happy about sleeping without me lol!

If your other resident dogs will be upset too then I would start introducing your girlie to the box sooner rather than later and make sure the others don't stress her out when they stress themselves out!

Thanks, I have a feeling she won't want to sleep in it while it's this hot though, being so thick coated!

try feeding her in it, set up a fan to keep her cool and make it a nice place for her to be in general. Then darken it and turn it into a den - She will start going to it on her own once she realises that it's a safe place - just for her.

With my girls whelping box I slept in it with her for two nights.. Now she just goes in it whenever she feels like it. X

My large breed had the box down in the kitchen for 2 weeks before whelping and started using it as a bed straight away, my medium breed, much more a sofa dog, had to be persuaded even to look in the box and for the first litter she insisted on having a puppy on the sofa and then happily transferred to the box where she completed the whelping.  Don't try to make her get in or stay in it, she will almost certainly take to it eventually, keep it quiet and fairly dark, bitches usually know what sort of place makes a good den, or she may go in the garden and dig a big hole to have them in!

You say that you have a box set up in the spare room for her.  This segregation will stress her out and she will be far less likely to take to maternal duties.  I sleep downstairs with my bitches for the first 6 weeks, it is a sure fire way of saving squashed pups lives when you are woken by a loud squeak.  You need to have someone else to run your errands too.  I live alone and ensure that my regime is sorted well ahead of the birthing day.

My other dogs aren't allowed in the living room until pups are at least 4 weeks, obviously that is if mum is fine with it.

I too have a houseful of dogs instead of a man.  It's liberating isn't it?   

Don't worry, I planned on sleeping in the spare room with her but I've moved it to my room now and the others can have the spare room! She's still ignoring it but it's still warm so she's flaking out on the cold tiles to sleep! As for squashing, I've fixed pig rails in the box as a precaution but it's next to my bed so I should hear any squeaking! She's only staying with me for the first week or so and at the end of half term she's moving in with her breeder to raise the litter as I'm not allowed time off in term time! Not looking forward to that bit :(

To avoid our bitches being upset with their new accommodation, we'd assemble our whelping box and have it in the area she'd whelp in and raise her litter for the first few weeks and have her sleeping in there from the final week of pregnancy.   As it was mainly in our living room (where we lived over here at any rate when doing litters), my husband would sleep in the living room on the sofa-bed with her.   This worked well and meant when the puppies did arrive, mums were quite happy to be in the box.   And none of the other hounds were allowed in there from the point mum started sleeping in there.

Pig rails won't help if the bitch is feeding the pups away from the rails (eg in the middle of the whelping box) and then lies/rolls on one. The squashed puppy might not make a noise either so hubby and I take it in turns to stay up through the night to keep an eye on things.

I set up my all singing, all dancing whelping box, with puppy rails, heat lamp and heat pad in the utility room, just off the kitchen, doors open all the time. My girl slept in there for several days and gave bith in there. Two days later, she moved all the puppies into a bed that had been used by one of my other girls (now out with the other dogs till pups are older) that was in the kitchen. The moral of the story........mums will go where they want regardless of your best intentions. Pups are now 10 days old and still in the tatty bed.

Smiling as my girls have sometimes chosen how things should happen too.  One insisted on trying to shove herself under a radiator in the front room.  The green stains on the carpet never did come out.  I was taking a bitch to bed with me to keep an eye on her.  She whelped in my bed.  I could go on and on.  I've had a bitch whelp on the settee and ignoring her beautiful whelping box.  So your girl choosing a  "tatty" bed is normal. 

I'm a big believer of trying to reduce stress, and sometimes it helps to let them choose.

Thanks for all the replies, she's still ignoring her whelping box! I have a feeling it'll be in my bed...