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Topic Dog Boards / Behaviour / Digging after Whelping.
- By Brialaine [gb] Date 17.02.20 07:28 UTC
Can any breeders give me any tips!
My girl is a week after whelp living indoors with us as she always does and being a great attentive mum to her puppies.
But during the night she’s constantly asking to go out searching all the hidding places in the garden and then digging.
I do get that this is instinct but I was wondering should I discourage it by covering over holes that she’s dug .
She’s very settled with her babies so I know she’s not feeling threatened wanting to hide them away from us.
- By onetwothreefour Date 18.02.20 09:37 UTC Upvotes 2
Well, there are two theories to this.  It's very common by the way.

Theory one is that it's related to post-whelping pain - the uterus contracting back down to size, and the bitch's way of managing the cramps, is to dig.  Nothing much you can do about it except for wait it out, according to that view.

Theory two, is it's related to low calcium levels, as is a lot of undesirable behaviour post-whelping.  You can always try supplementing with Tums and see if it improves, it won't do any harm.  (See for calcium on this page as there have been a few topics about it recently.)
Topic Dog Boards / Behaviour / Digging after Whelping.

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