sorry to sound like a wuss but ive been reading the book of the bitch , and im a little unsure of something , perhaps someone can put me right, when a bitch starts to give birth, the water bag appears , is there just one bag for the whole litter or is there one for each pup? i want to make sure in case my dog is pregnant. if there is one for each pup , doe's the labour  pattern follow like water bag , puppie, water bag ,puppie etc. hope you all can make sence of this

Hi Millies Mum,

Sssshhhh, don't let on but I was unsure about exactly the same :D :D :D   There are so many things to take in and I'd plagued the life out of everyone I knew who'd bred a litter but when she started and her waters broke I suddenly thought "heck - does that happen only once!!!!"  Well, it does ;)  then each puppy is born in it's own little sac with a separate placenta for each puppy.   The first puppy out I ruptured the sack for him and then let mum start licking him right away while I attended to the chord - she however was much more efficient than me and done the other seven herself!  I just supervised that the same number of afterbirths were delivered and that she didn't get to eat them all - I'd heard differing opinions so settled for allowing her one (yuk).

Good luck, Teri :)

thanks teri, im a complete novice but willing to learn !! there are lots of things i am unsure off but this topic seemed the most serious, can you tell me what do i do with the water bag , do i throw it away or will the bitch dispose of it !! thanks again for takin the time to reply  

The mum will most likley eat it when she licks the pups.

I thought each pup is born in its own sack & has its own waters?

I am a novice in puppies but have had a few litters of kittens  & assuming it is the same?

Hope someone can clear this up?

Jo
xx

Yes the membranes are quite thin and soon licked up. 

>I thought each pup is born in its own sack & has its own waters?

That's what Teri said isn't it? ;)
The fluid goes through the vet bed into the newspaper under if you are lucky and on to your heirloom eiderdown if you are not :D

Was a shock for me with my 1st litter. I had wrote out the general "what happens in what order" from the book of the bitch in large writing and pinned it on the wall to reasure me. Lou broke the rules straight away when her waters broke and I never got to see the water bag at all !! (wasn't sure if she had just done a wee). Then her 2nd puppy was breech, "dry" as in not in a bag with her cord already severed !!

Oh well they like to suprise us don't they?

Sorry just woke up :-(

I thought she said happens only once - that will teach me to sit up waiting for my girl to go into labour last night ;-)

Jo
xxxx

hi TS
there is only 1 water sack (just water no pup) that comes first
but each pup has its own sack that has water in some will be born pup in sack and others will be born with no sack as its broken on the way.