how soon after c-section can my girl go for walks and how far/long?
pups are 5 days old

Hi Benson

Your girl shouldn't be going out for walks yet as she could bring home infection to her puppies.  She can walk around your garden and had she not had puppies to care for she could have had short walks.  But as she is new mother she should only be on your grounds.  I don't let my girls go out until the pups are 5 1/2 weeks and on their return home are disinfected to make sure nothing nasty is around that could harm the puppies.  I know many breeders disagree on when is the right time to retrun to normal walks after whelping but IMHO now is certainly far too earlier

thanks hillbilly i just felt a bit guilty as she keeps going to the front door she will just have to wait

I agree with hillbilly to a certain extent in as much as I do everything to encourage the maternal bond and do not encourage my bitches away from their pups as in a domestic situation their attachment to us views with their maternal instincts enough, and I want them concentrating on their babies at this time.

I probably don't take mine out until the pups are well and truly eating 4 meals a day well so that if Mums milk took a nose dive they wouldn't be affected.

As far as infection goes young pups have their mothers antibodies until the time they a re weaned at least, and of course my other dogs still go out for walks and mix with the pups from around 2 weeks so that is a calculated risk anyway.

> she keeps going to the front door she will just have to wait

At five days I would expect my girls to be in constant attendance with their pups and if yours is coming away from them so soon I would be sitting in the room with her to encourage her.

Generally I find the first three days the bitch will be in with her pups all the time except for being forced out for a toilet break and run straight back to them.  Then until the eyes are open I would expect them to either be in with the pups or when pups asleep or if it is hot then for them to lie by the whelping box, and again to only briefly leave their side for toilet breaks.

By 10 days to two weeks they are wanting to be more involved with family and friends again, so this is the stage I bring the pups down to the kitchen, which enables her not to be torn between her responsibilities and her usual life.

i don't know if it's maybe a breed trait then but our bully bitch was happy enough to leave the pups for a time as well, one of us would always sit with them so they were not on their own. she was still attentive, feeding them, bathing them and having cuddles etc :) as well as lots of play when they got bigger but would happily go to the toilet, go visit the other dogs or sit by the pups but outside the whelping box (was a hot room so i thought maybe she didn't want to risk overheating them when she decided to do this). as long as shes doing everything she needs to surely a not to stressed out bitch is a good thing? avoids having to fight to get her to go to the loo etc

she was also happy for the big puppies to come see them after a few days (my amd my sisters 5 month olds) and when the puppies were bigger they played lots with the big pups. apparently our girls mum was the same and allowed the father to assist in bathing the babies after a couple of days.

benson hows she doing with the sitting on them? has she got a bit less daft yet?

It's odd but I've not had this with my bitches - despite the fact we have fairly similar primative spitz breeds.

We have a litter at home now, just a couple of days old, and mum is leaving them to come for cuddles on the sofa every now and then and popping back to the pups to settle with them quite happily.  The pups are well fed, happy and content, but if i made the bitch stay with them all the time she'd get stressed. 

she's wanted playtime in the garden with the two males she spends most of her time with normally and they've both been allowed to go in to see the pups.  She barks to go out to toilet and is quite happy to leave the pups and return to them when she's finished.

I wouldn't take any bitch with very young puppies off the property to walk in a public place, but if she wants a break every now and then, so long as the puppies are doing well then i would let her take it.

Maybe I gave the wrong impression, but my girls stay in the bedroom away from the other dogs until the pups eyes are open and would not be happy if the other dogs came in the room, or want to spend time out of the room the pups are in, though forcing them out to the toilet really only applies to the first three days.

They certainly don't want to play ro itneract with the others, they are working far too hard for that.

It is only as the pups develop that they want to interact with the others.

In the wild both Canids and Lions will have their pups away from the rest of the pack and pride for the early stages, and only bring them out to the rest of the family once they are mobile.

Fro this reason I encourage them to be Mums exclusively for that brief time and minimise anythign that will distract them from that important task.

I also like to sit with Mum and pups reading a book, and just watching them breathe, so she probably gets more of my undivided attention this way than normal, they aren't daft :D

If your bitch is wanting to go for a walk then I'd take her. 15 minutes a couple of times a day should be fine (on lead, of course, following her surgery!). As in humans, movement is needed after surgery to prevent problems, and a stir-crazy bitch isn't a happy bitch, leading to stressed puppies. The pups will have all the immunity she has at the moment, so there's little risk of infection.

Mine have always appeared at the door when I'm getting the others ready for a walk at about the 4th or 5th day, and I've never had any problems from taking the dam out too.

she is doing much better trying not to lay on them she gets a little confused when they lay in two piles not knowing which to lay with and only laid on 1 pup once yesterday.  she is feeding and cleaning them great but in the evening when pups have been feed and asleep she has a wonder out and wants fuss from us and this is when she hints a the door to go out. this has been for the last two days.

Mine have always wanted to go out with the others for their walk and are very contented when they come back to sit with the pups until the next walk is on the cards. Also, mine always seem to like having the company of the other dogs milling in the room with them next to the whelping box. In my last litter, her daughter would not go upstairs to sleep when my husband went up but wanted to be with me and slept next to the whelping box

If one of my bitches wants to go for a walk then I take her, but I'm out in the country and don't have to worry about other dogs/infection as much as if I was in the town. But she would be on lead until her stitches were out, and would only be out for a 5 - 10 minutes. It does all mums the world of good to be away from the baby/ies for a little while ;-)

Mine aren't allowed to go for "true" walks until the pups have gone, I just wouldn't allow the risk of picking up an infection.  My girl who is a working gundog wouldn't want to anyway and her pups are only 3 weeks old tomorrow.  She is happy for a run and play in the garden at the moment.

My bitch was keen to come out for a walk after the first week but even more desperate to get back again to check on her brood as soon as we got back!  A 10 to 15 minute walk seemed to be just what she needed for her sanity! :-)

glad shes getting the idea :) i think you (and we!) are probably lucky to have a bitch with maternal care but who is relaxed enough to leave the babies, cause lets face it you sometimes need her to!

> mine always seem to like having the company of the other dogs milling in the room with them next to the whelping box

is this really unusual? our girl kizzy was happy to have the older pups in from time to time to visit the babies. my aunt had her mother and when she had a later litter she allowed kizzies sisters to help out cleaning and looking after the babies. it ment when one of them was eventually mated she was a cracking mum, already knew how to do it all

> mine always seem to like having the company of the other dogs milling in the room with them next to the whelping box

>is this really unusual?

Mine have never allowed any of the other dogs even to look into of the whelping room for at least a week! Approaches are generally allowed to begin after about 10 days.

oh well, kiz has always been super chilled. the older pups were in after about 5 days and had a good old sniff. my boy was facinated and loved them, he was also super careful, it was really sweet. then when they were bigger he taught each of them how to dig holes, garden looked like hell

> is this really unusual?

I would say yes.  There would be fisticuffs if any other dog came near the pups before the eyes are open and after that the others are allowed to look but not to be in with the pups (by now they are in the kitchen).  The others instinctively avert their gaze when going past at this stage.

By about 3 weeks plus Mum will allow her female relatives to investigate the now mobile and playing pups.

As for mixing with the other dogs at 6 weeks plus I have found pups much more socially aware since I have had more adults for them to interact with than Mum.  They soon learn who will play who is grumpy etc., and don't take the liberties they would with Mum.

thats odd then, but i don't think it;s a bad thing, just means that mum had an easier time of things and the younger bitches learned what they were doing in advance

my vet advised the bitch should be walked 3 days after birth and seeing as she is vacinated and her milk has antibodies to protect pups my bitch was fine. obv it will be longer after c section i would presume it would be the same after spay-7/10 days on lead

I am not concerned over the illness' covered by vac - it's the other things such as meeting other dogs who have a bug - sickness and diarrhea - mine also aren't vac against kennel cough.  I prefer to play it safe - although my girl would like to go out with the others about a week after whelping as she is less with the pups by that stage, she soon gets used to the idea and waits patiently for them to return. 

How long does a new human mother have to stay isolated from other people to stop her carrying an illness to her new baby?

Everyone is different.

My breed isn't a large breed and I have a huge garden so any bitch goes out for a run around out there. My mums never get out until after pups are weaned.   I don't take any dogs to ring craft etc either during this period.  Any shows I do, dogs are completely washed on return from show and I am stripped of all clothes before I go into my house.  Not on the door step of course :-) but I hang a nighty in my grooming room and go straight in there on return, put the nighty on then straight into the shower

Just my method.

Yes everyone is different with their views and no one can say their way is right.  However, I would like to think that when I was breast feeding my children I didn't stick my nose into anything that looked remotely disgusting on the floor.  Nor did I sniff other womens bottoms but as you say each to their own.

but surely sticking noses in yuk places is what dogs do? doesnt mean pups will catch anything. my bitch would be stir crazy if not allowed out till weaning. i think the most important thing is that visitors and potential owners wash and gel their hands first.

You don't have to allow your bitch to 'stick her nose into anything disgusting' or meet other dogs when you take her out. But exercise is important for health - and that includes milk production.

>Nor did I sniff other womens bottoms

Did you stop to chat to other people? (How did you know thatthey weren't about to come down with flu, or something?) That's the social equivalent, and is important for mental health.

I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one - as I said each breeder has their own opinions on many topics.  Your way suits you and I am certainly very happy with the way in which I have looked after my bitches when having bred a litter.  My girl now has eight week old babies, some have now gone and all are the picture of health and my girl has been none the worse for not going out for walks until I permitted it.  Her milk production was no problem what so ever.  Her mental health is, as ever, wonderful, she does have the company of three other dogs (which I disinfected on their return from walks).  I also do not allow visitors other than imediate family and very close friends until the pups are three weeks old.  Perhaps you think I am over cautious but I will continue to act on the safe side JMHO.

can the argument not be made that a little grubbiness is sometimes good? if pups, or indeed children since we got on to breast feeding, are never exposed to any germs do you not feel it can diminish their capacity to cope with such things? i've always felt that being a bit grubby sometimes can encourage robustness :)

hi i have spoken to my vet about this and she said that a short lead walk would do her some good so today for the first time i took her out and she loved it she came back and went strait in to her pups cleaned them and then fed she is now having a nice rest very happy and content.

thank you for all your opinions and i have thought over the pros and con very hard and feel that to walk her would be a benefit to her after her op.

glad to hear alls well and happy :)

I know my girl went out in the garden (big garden and only our dogs that go in it..) and for the first 2 or 3 weeks she used to dash out, do her widdle, and dash back in again...though we used to take her on a lead at night so she had a mooch round....her c-section never seemed to bother her until the pups little claws grew, and she got a bit sore when they were kneeding her..

she was kept away from the other dogs as her whelping room was in our study, though at 4 weeks onwards she used to like and sit with the other dogs for a while in the evenings...

she was a lot happier when we moved the pups into the family room in a big pen from 6 weeks as she had stopped feeding them by then and used to just do the motherly washing and monitoring play-time when they came out with our other dogs.....so funny seeing 8 littl;e pups whizzing round the room so fast and the other dogs looking so bemused by them! Plus it got the pups used to big dogs etc...

I'm sure your girl will appreciate some time out and you are the best judge on her needs, and she is the best judge for her pups needs :) you wuill probably find that she won't want to go too far anyway...