Hi all, my girl is 5 weeks pregnant & my husband is planning on building a whelping box over the next few days. Any tips for sizes, materials etc? The UPVC ones look great but are rather pricey. Also any tips for liners to protect the base from moisture? And is vet bed the best to use for the pups?

I choose to buy the disposable ones by the same people who sell the vet bed from amazon as it is cheaper by a couple of £££s than their own website (free delivery).

My girls whelp in a large plastic dog bed covered with lots and lots of shredded paper. I put disposable inconti pads under the bed and paper to soak up any excess fluid. When they are done, I shift them in to the large box which comes with a waxed bottom layer. I put inconti pads on the bottom and layer with paper. I then put the heat pad on top and cover the whole thing with vet bed. The vet bed with the original green backing is best as it dries almost instantly, keeps pups warm and the fluid soaks through to the paper underneath. I change the bedding and paper 2-3 times a day depending on discharge.

Once our pups are 3/4 weeks old I shift them in to the larger play pen and get rid of the box. I do it this way as I don't need to worry about storing it/disinfecting it/keeping it all together etc. This is what works for us. Not sure how good it would be if the girls whelped in it as the fluid loss can be copious so the box might disintegrate. I know someone else on here used the same box and lined it well with towels and old sheets  - both base and sides and it worked for them even after whelping in it....

I buy the xxl and it costs around £55

Our box was based on one I saw in a Basset magazine, out in Canada.   It was basically two 4 X 4 sections, with a base - the first with pig rails round three sides (the sides were 3 foot high as I recall) with the front low enough for my Basset dams to climb over, but not the puppies.   We had a brood lamp over the top.   The litter/mum used this until they were all up and moving around at which point the box was moved into the kitchen (it was previously in the living room where one of us, usually hubby, could sleep on the sofa with the litter) and a second 4 X 4 section added.  The front of the original box was removed and the front of the second box had a hinged door for mum to get in and out.   No pig rail round that half.   It obviously gave us a big 8 X 4 whelping box with the original part the 'sleeping' area with newspaper under vet bed and the second just layers of newspaper.   You'd need a big area to accommodate it - obviously!

Once the litter was gone, and those we were keeping moved to a 'puppy pen' to one side of the kitchen, the box could be disassembled, scrubbed clean and stored.

I'd agree re buying the original Vetbed.   And using a brood lamp over that end of the box always helped keep it dry up that end too.

I know you said you thought the UPVC were too expensive but have you looked at these? I've used  mine for 8 litters and it was well worth the money  http://www.steelcitywhelpingandkitteningboxes.co.uk/products

I also have a UPVC box and they are well worth the money. Easy to clean and store after use. I used a disposable one for my first litter, never again, so difficult to keep clean.  Got mine from Steel city as well. Would defo buy another even though this one has years of life left.

Never would use a disposable one again.
I know it's often frowned upon over here but a lot of Americans use paddling pools. Easy to clean. Put up and take down as well 
There is some research into rounded whelping boxes and a link to HD and ED as part of the environmental factors as well. Basically a curved or rounded one is far better for the pups and also not allowing them onto slippery surfaces and not to allow them too much freedom too young.

Thank you all so much for your wonderful advice. We found a local timber shop today with loads of off cuts of MDF for next to nothing. So my husband is going to give it a go. We'll try a whelping box & also a pen to attach to it. And if it doesn't work out I will invest in a plastic one. Thanks for all the tips on all the materials you use, its very much appreciated. Where is best to purchase the incontipads in bulk?

Ebay.. lol.. I went for the largest and most absorbant for the cheapest price on there

My OH worked with timber and MDF for many years. He says MDF is nasty stuff that gives off carcinogens until it is painted and to wear a mask when cutting it. Please be careful using it and try not to breathe in the dust. Sorry if I'm trying to teach you to suck eggs, but I thought I ought to mention it to you.

Hope all goes well with the puppies.

My advice, make sure the height is enough that the pups can't get out of even at 8 weeks, its nice to have somewhere to keep them in one place occasionally lol

This is what we did, if any use.

We used a disposable cardboard box.  We cut additional cardboard to fit the base of the box, during whelping, as extra protection - to put over the existing base of the box, so there were really two bases to it.  We bought whelping pads from where we bought the disposable whelping box from.  We lined between the base of the box and our cardboard base, with the whelping pads.  We also lined the whole base of the box, with the whelping pads and then put bath towels on top. 

If we had time and could see a pup on the way, we were ready to pop a whelping pad under mum's bum, so that all the fluids coming out with the pup went right onto that and we just threw the pad away when the pup was out.  We didn't manage this with every pup but it worked great for those we did manage it with.

When whelping was over, we put pups in a cardboard box and we took up the cardboard base which we had cut to fit and threw that away, and we kept whelping pads and when we ran out, disposable incontinence pads for humans, lining the 'real' base of the box.  We switched the bath towels for vet bed at this point.

Our disposable whelping box worked great, and we simply threw it out when pups moved into the weaning pen.  It was important to keep the base lined with incontinence pads though - otherwise the fluids would have ruined the cardboard.  We had no problems with fluids damaging the walls of the box at all.

I drew up a scale plan for what I wanted for my medium sized gundog breed and took it to a recycled plastic firm. They cut the sections to order using Stokbord 18mm for the base (half a sheet made a base big enough for me to get in with  my bitch and her litterand HDPE recycled plastic sheet 6mm for the sides. It all screws together in a matter of a couple of minutes--plastic safety caps supplied by the extremely helpful people at Kedel--go to http://www.kedel.co.uk/recycled-plastic-sheet/hdpe-sheet-solid-colours-recycled-plastic.html to have a look at the recycled plastic, you'll recognise the material if you've seen some of the extremely pricey (IMHO) boxes on display at champ shows. It was a LOT cheaper doing it this way.

I used large incontinence pads to line the base, but Stokbord is used in livestock pens and is not affected by moisture--it also has a high thermal value. I used vetbed--Bronte Glen makes great quality vetbed and sells in bulk at prices that are very hard to beat--go to http://www.bronteglen.co.uk/ to see what they have on offer.

> He says MDF is nasty stuff that gives off carcinogens until it is painted and to wear a mask when cutting it. Please be careful using it and try not to breathe in the dust.

Fully agree and I would worry about puppies chewing it.

you can buy upvc and make your own up. I'm still trying to get the plans from one off a friend as my father has agreed to make me one,

Really interested in "  not to allow them too much freedom too young"
Do you know of any articles around this? I was just wondering about my last litter that I gave more freedom too but seemed to finish totally different in character.

let me see what I can find

https://thewholedog.com/canine-hip-dysplasia-things-to-ponder/

That's an interesting one

doesn't cover the whelping box and space per say but still trying to find something a friend was talking about. Thought he had posted it but can't see he has.

Always interesting to read different articles but I see that it is partly to do with commercial dog food.

It is unfair to suggest hip screening has not improved hip status, as both UK and US statistics clearly show a proportional decrease  in dysplastic versus normal/lower scores over decades.

Before 1940's I hazard to suggest culling of unthrifty stock would have been more common with less sentimentality and fewer purely pet dogs, and less diagnosis and veterinary care.

The 1985 study quoted, from which the premise of the article is drawn, states "all puppies are born with normal hips". All humans aren't. All horses aren't. Hip dysplasia of some variety exists in pretty much all species with hip joints, though it may be very rare in some (particularly those in whom it would result in death before maturity such as prey herbivores). How come dogs are exempt? No, don't believe it.

> less sentimentality and fewer purely pet dogs, and less diagnosis and veterinary care.

Many dogs with poor hip scores show little to now lameness, and if kept lean and fit even quite severely dysplastic dogs can lead a fairly normal life.

So with few people looking for dysplasia, or doing anything about a old dog getting stiff and lame, we were not aware of HD ED as issues, and among workers the fittest best performing dogs wee bred from (and were probably the soundest).

Looking at film footage of prewar dogs very few in most breeds were as heavy.  Pet dogs were often very lean (as were people).

A lot of the dogs did seem to have bent legs (rickets) compared to what we would see now.

I wouldn't not hip score and I believe in putting low scores to.low scores if possible.  or at least look behind the dogs in question.

No excuse not to score and the results become more predictable the more generations and relatives that are scored where patterns can be seen.

That's what I said but the breeder did say that sometimes it doesn't work that way. no reason not to score at all.
I do and always will do.

Yes I was agreeing with you

[url=]
Many dogs with poor hip scores show little to now lameness, and if kept lean and fit even quite severely dysplastic dogs can lead a fairly normal life.[/url]

My GSD X collie was proof of this - she was very fit and lean, we used to walk miles - I think 18 miles was the furthest.   I didn't find out that she was severely dysplastic in both hips until she was about 9/10 when arthritis had also set in.