Millie's pups are now 2 days old and is feeding them, but will not pick them up to move them and just lays on them, I check on her every 10 mintues, but she has killed now 2 pups, which is really gutting me! I have moved her now and the pups to the lounge and i will now stay with her at most times, but does any one know why she is just laying on them? and can any one else offer some kind of advice and is there any more that i can do to protect them?

Sadly this sometimes happens with first time mums, I have a litter my girl killed one of hers by lying on it, my children were really upset by it too, I spoke to my vet and she said that sadly this does happen as you can't watch them 24/7 and it was really just bad luck! She also wouldn't let me any where near the litter for the first week, she growled at me which she had never done before, but now nearly a month later and she is back to her normal self and has learnt how to move the pups away..........also they yell louder should she accidently step on one! I think now mum is glad to let me help out, especially as they are now escaping the whelping box...........lol.

As i have moved her and the pups to the lounge will this upset her any more? But while she is there i can watch her and sleep there with her

Sorry to hear about your pups.
I have a bitch who has had 3 litters and she has never moved one of her pups. She will cry and look at the pup and I then move the pup for her.
I never leave my bitches alone with their pups for the first 2 weeks and after that I have a baby alarm plugged in so that I can hear what is going on at all times.

Thats what Millie does crys and looks at me to move them for her! Also she sits quite abit to feed and i think while she sits like that the pups crawl under and behind her and then she just lays down with out even giving them a second thought! I am watching her like a hawk now and I am going to stay and sleep in the lounge now with her for the next couple of weeks! But before she kept laying on them all the pups was feeding and moving around, to look at them they looked perfect which really does make me feel gutted all the more for the little ones!

What sort of whelping box is she in?

Sounds to me as if you need to put pig rails in so that when she lays down the pups have an area to move away from her. So that her bulk of weight is layed against the rail not the side of the box.

She had rails which would of helped if the pups had gone behind her but the keep crawling under her when she its up and then when she lays down she is on top of them " a bit hard to explain" but when i found both pups they have been half under her and half out and she is quite a heavy dog as she is a staff so unless you catch her when she sat up then down again there was not much i could do! But now i have her in the room with me and i will sleep in there with her every night now to keep a closer eye on her and the pups,.. But it breaks my heart when she does it.. Today alone I have had to run to a few times where she is sitting up then lays straight on top of one! Hopefully she want when i am a sleep tonight!

Hopefully you will find that as she settles down more with the pups and relaxes she will lay flat out and not sit up, you could try to encourage her to lay rather than sit up when she is feeding.

It sounds to me as if she is still being a novice mum.

Best of luck with her and the babes.

I am always telling her to lay down, I have to watch her all the time! today alone i dont know how many times i have had to run to save one, I am so worried toinght if I fall asleep, I couldn't bear to lose any more, the kids are dew home from school in the next half hour and they are going to be heart broken, yesterday was the eldest ones favorite and today is the middle daugthers one!

Unfortunately Staffies, can be a bit clumsy with their pups, and this can happen.

Although you don't say what the pups are like before you lose them, it is always possible that they have fading puppy syndrome, and she is not actually lying on them and suffocating them, but is trying to comfort them the only way she knows how.

With fading puppy, they pups do not cry like normal puppies they tend to sound a bit like a seagull cry, quite plaintive, and then they go very limp and flat looking.

I am surprised that if you are with her so much, that you are not hearing them squeak like mad when mum lays on them, as they can have loud voices even at this age, which is what is making me think fading puppy.

might it be an idea to just let her in at feeds time , then you and she can have a good rest,

Hi Millie i have Bullmastiffs and Bulldogs and none of my pups stay with the dam all the time i sleep on the sofa pups are in a pup box keeping nice and warm mum is in whelping pen pups are put on to mum every 2 hours around the clock she feeds and cleans them then they go back to bed mum is let out to pee back in cleaned up and then she rests for the next 2 hours and then we start again if she isnt cleaning them then you must make them pee and poo its hard work but we dont lose any pups this way and its well worth it best of luk jackie.

I agree.I also breed Bullmastiffs and at the moment have a litter of 9.The pups stay in the whelping box and Mum sleeps next to it.I have a heatlamp suspended over the box to keep the babies warm and I put a wire barrier around the box so Mum can see them.At feed time I bring them out of the box and put them on Mum.
I sleep in the room with the pups until they are about 2 weeks old and sleeping through the night,by this time Mum is quite happy to stay outside the box and sleep on her bed.As long as she can see her babies she's fine.I've been doing this for 13 years,and it's worked really well.