Can I have your views on this please. Pups 3 weeks old and mum not been out of garden yet - is it safe to walk her - she is so bored, I am hearing conflicting views on this. Thanks

I didn't start walking my girl until her pups were 5 weeks old. Although she wasn't happy seeing the rest of the dogs going on their walks, she would be fine once they'd gone out of the door. I know that there are different views on this but that is what I did. We also only lead walked the others around where we lived. Once the litter was old enough to go outside in my garden, I decided it was ok for Mum to go back out for her walks, but again only around where we live.

Mine are walked after a few days. Can't hold them back and IMO it is good for their mental and physical welfare.
I disinfect as best I can and the pups have immunity from things their Mum has immunity from so I consider the risk is lessened as a result.
Mine would simply go stir crazy if I did not do otherwise. Perhaps I would do differently if they had not taken early colostrum.

I think it will seriously affect her happiness to keep her in for the next 5 weeks - she is a big dog and I have a small garden! Would wash her down before returning to pups but others have said still risk parvo/kennel cough and don't want to put pups at risk

I didn't take mine out until pups were much older and then she was on lead only in a low dog area. If I was in suburbia I would only road walk her

If she's desperate I would take her out, find somewhere that not many other dogs tend to roam, and as you say wash and dry her tummy and feet before letting her back in. My girls have always started asking for walks with the others by about 3 weeks, and I tend to take them perhaps twice a week, that seems to keep them content.

Thankfully none of mine are ever desperate to go out and the first week or so no one goes anywhere. The second week we do lots of brain draining exercises. When we finally do go out it is in low dog areas and for very short periods of time.

By 6 weeks, I try to take the dogs out on the field and take the pups too. There are no dogs walked on the field and they stay in a pen I set up. This way I can watch them and the dogs can have a good run to let off steam.

As mentioned above, the pups do have immunity from mum.

If you can find a very low dog area and minimise the risk by cleaning her then for her sanity it should be ok, maybe take her every other day or just a short time but some bitches are just stir crazy indoors, I didn't take mine out in public but am lucky enough to have the space at home

Mine are all back out for walks after a few days. They are waved off with warm water and dilute hibiscrub then dried off before doing back in with pups ( short coated breed so not difficult to dry ) Mine would be anxious restless stressed mums if not taken out

I'd be happy to take mine out, but she really doesn't want to leave the box long enough to even get to the car(!). 

When she is happy to go out, I'll take her to the beach - 5 mins away and washed by tides daily - early in the morning, before other dogs are around.

I don't take mine out.....I would hate to bring something back and make the puppies ill.

Not all infections are brought in on feet....what about if the bitch picks up something through her nose? You can't use disinfectant to wash that out.

It isn't worth it in my opinion.

Having puppies should not make my girl a prisoner. She is a normal dog after the first few days.
A stressed out Mum does not make a good Mum and strong puppies should have immunity. Isn't that what nature intended?
I can walk mine in a very low dog area so I would go for something like that rather than no walk.
Of course if they don't hanker after going out, and many have their own areas - great- but a bitch is entitled to their own routine if that is what makes them happy.

There is lots of research now to show that one reason in humans that we have increasing allergies to everything and food intolerances etc, is because kids are raised in too-clean environments and we disinfect and sterilize everything. It seems that the same happens with dogs...as we are seeing increasing canine allergies too....

If she doesn't want to go out Rabid that's absolutely fine, you want her to be a good mum and stick with the puppies. But if they are going stir crazy that's different. :-)

Totally agree LucyDogs, I'm basing it on what she wants.  When they are good mums, when does this mother-litter bond loosen a little?!

I find that once the litter need her less, weaned but maybe still having a sneaky suckle and once the needle teeth get very painful at feeds the bitch wants to go out with the pack. Often will go and hang around the kennel doors and I know she then feels she has done her bit and wants to go back to her pack and her job. Only once have I had a bitch that stuck to her pups like glue and just didn't want to leave them... So I left her with pups until they left,her choice. I personally like to have Mumaway from pups a few days before they leave so it's not such a wrench to leave Mum as they are then used to her not being around.

My females are 100% concentrated on their babies for the first 7 to 10 days.  Then I notice that they start allowing themselves to take breaks.  They may even want to spend a few minutes lying on the rug in the livingroom.  This increases as time goes on, with longer and longer breaks.  It also corresponds to the puppies, who don't need to feed ALL the time, like newborns do.  They sleep longer between feedings, and Mum knows that.  Since Mum cannot get in and out of her box on her own, she lets me know when it is time to take her out and then time to put her back in.  As I said once:  a partnership is formed between the two of us.  We know that we understand each other.

Same as Nimue, not that I've had many litters, but so far I am finding that they start to snooze near the box rather than in the box at around 1 or 2 weeks of age.

When we were breeding, we had enough garden for walking not to be needed for nursing mums.   And with my breed, their teats would be hanging so walking in the country locally could be a problem      I'd suggest this is up to you, but always be aware of infection being walked into the litter.    You'll have to wipe her teats and feet with mild disinfectant before she returned to the litter.   Frankly the time she'll be nursing is only really a matter of weeks, so she should be able to manage without exercise per se for that long.

As you can see they all vary. Mine want to go for walks after a few days and by a week post whelping are happy to leave sleeping whelps and re join main family for down time. They have free access to come and go as they please. By time pups eyes are open they are usually inviting the Aunties to visit and baby sit !

Mine would be like yours klb.

Klb my girl pretty much turned the litter over to her own mother once they were mostly weaned! Mind you then Grandma started producing milk for them so I had to put her in a onesie!

The joys of extended families

On the subject of walking mum after pups are born, how long is it ok to leave the little pupsters for, at what age?  (We are now coming up to one week.)  I'd leave their heat pad on...

Depend on the mums - after a week even my first time mums are careful and shuffle pups together before lie lying down.  I sleep downstairs in same room as whelping box until eyes open but by one week will leave pups an hour or so if mum is settled.