Hello

my little girl is due a week today and has started a few strange quirks!

She will only eat when i am in the room with her. she refuses her usual treats and is digging already.

the main weird change is she is burying her food. I give her food in the morning and if i dont stand with her while she eats, she will bring mouthfulls of food into the lounge and bury it in various places... the washing pile, in slippers, under the sofa etc. she hasnt put anything near her whelping box and will only rarely go in it.

Why is she burying the food? will she use the whelping box at the time or how can i encourage her to use it?

any advice would be lovely

kate

In my experience once shown where the whelping box is my won girls ignore it until they are actually in labour.

As for burying the food it may be she can't face eating it so is hiding it for later.

Hi Kate,
have you got the book of the bitch?? very helpful.

If she is in her last week after day 58 she could have her puppies anytime. Has she just begun digging or has she done this most of her pregnancy ?
I have never had a dog hide thier food but imagine it is preparation for her puppies impending birth as bitches with regurgitate(sp) thier food when weaning thier pups.

Are you  taking her temperature?

Hello,

We think our dogs are so modern, so humanised yet scratch the surface and you'll find a primitive creature, It never fails to amaze me how deeply ingrained their instincts are and pregnancy/ motherhood is the time when these surface most amazingly. These bitches haven't read any books nor been to anti-natal classes yet they show us a thing or two.
Your little lady is making a larder, very sensible as she knows ( or feels) that she cant risk hunger with a family to produce milk for.
What a clever girl.
We humans have few instincts left but I craved Golden Delicious apples and couldn't bear the smell of roast lamb.

My bitch digs constantly even before she had her litter, but when she was pregnant i had craters in my garden and when i noticed her contractions i had to physically drag her inside or else she would have had them outside, the birth was quick 1st pup was born within 10 minutes. I knew something was up because she wouldnt come to bed the night before so i slept with her down stairs with her in her whelping box and she started at 10 in the morning.

I dont think our ideal places are our dogs ideal places to give birth, but it is for the best. Keep and eye on her though my girl was 4 days early. hope all goes well

Louise

I wouldn't be too concerned about her lack of interest in the whelping box.  I recently had a pregnant girl who had been sleeping in the whelping box for 4 nights.  When she went into labour, no way would she tolerate it, it only upset her, and I didn't push it.  I just put a clean duvet on the floor, and laid down with her, stroking her back and whispering nonsense for reassurance.  Once her waters had broken, the first pup arrived in about 4 minutes, and after she had cleaned it up, I put her in the whelping box, where she settled down to feed her pup.  40 minutes later the second pup arrived, and I have had no problems since.  (My next two show pups, so I'm still smiling!)

> couldn't bear the smell of roast lamb.

I couldn't bear the smell of any meat cooking and if I ate it I just chewed and chewed and couldn't swallow it.

Hated coffee too, but fruit I could eat by the barrowful.

I hated coffee too, and couldn't face it for 3 years after last daughter was born (drink enough to make up for it though ;-) )

My bitch buries her food when she is in season (like now!) and for weeks after. I have to limit her eating times and lift the food as soon as she moves away. Her favourite place is under my bed covers :-(

One of my girls, when pregnant, used to bring her tripe into the living room and hide it behind the settee!! :(

>One of my girls, when pregnant, used to bring her tripe into the living room and hide it behind the settee!! <

Great!  :-D :-D

Oh dear, AND I bet it took a while for it to truly ripen!! My little dog pup drags raw chicken around and tucks it nooks and crannies for later.... then forgets.

hee hee, well i suppose at least she is going back to it... if only to move it again!

today it seems she has finished doing the storage thing and has moved onto digging, she will dig everywhere apart from her box.. i have just had to block up the sofa as she is intent on ripping the back off it.