Hi Guys,
starting to get things ordered for my bitch who is due 8th Jan . Hubby is buying all  my bits and pieces and just wanted to know which whelping box to buy. Some friends use the Crufts Feedom play pen but I am worried about the bars later on when they start to run off and explore. I was thinking about the UPVC ones but theres soo many don't know where to start?
Any suggestIons would be greatly appreciated xo

I've used Snowsilk for 20 odd years because I like a complete cube - insulated because they're double skinned, covered, snug and warm.  They aren't expensive if you're going to re-use them.  Easy to clean and store.

Snowsilk here too, we have a huge one that we used for the Boxers years ago and a cube with lid for the Frenchies, they are excellent, worth every penny.  It's like everything else, you get what you pay for, go for the original, not a cheaper copy.

Snowsilk for me too. I tried to buy a cheaper one as a second one but it wasn't great so stuck with snowsil again.
I have used mine every day for years as mine have them as beds and they take the use and still look great

we make our own :) it would cost me a lot of money for the size we have 5ft by 4ft we then take it to the tip after ,we havnt had many litters and this litter we are waiting for could be our last 1 :(

I've got a link a board one from fit and fertile , its been fab , easy to wash and keep clean , easy to dismantle etc. Not too pricey either

Hi Guys, I think I'm going to go with the link-a-board box looks pretty good..thanks xo

Have you got puppy panels and a blanket that you can make it into a 'den' and keep the heat in and to enclose the bitch so that she can't wander out in the early days?  Don't forget that you'll need a base suitable for scratching.....
And if you want link-a-bord, buy direct. :)

I might buy a crufts freedom pen for later on when they get more mobile. I am buying a heat pad to from Petnap for the pups. I am buying the link a board with base and rails. Thanks

This is the puppy pen i use for my shepherd pups , its been great , been used many times and have no complaints http://www.doghealth.co.uk/collections/puppy-pens/products/puppy-run-big-foot

I might buy a crufts freedom pen for later on
I'm thinking about the new whelps.  The temperature is kept more constant if they are kept in an enclosed 'den' rather than an open topped box. :)
I've always used an enclosed box (for 20+ years, and have never lost a pup once born alive.  I think that the bitch settles better feeling more secure and the temperature is more constant without having to have the whole room too hot. :)

Thanks for the tip westcoast I will do that as she is a terrier breed maybe cover one end with blankets to make a den for her. cheers!

I wouldn't leave them unattended with a home made blanket tent that could be pulled down and smother pups, but you'll not be doing that anyway for the first 2 weeks and until they can regulate their own temperature. :) :)

Snowsilk here too. My box is still going 13 years on.

Hi, I bought link a board bits and made up my box to my own specification. I've been really pleased with it. What you might find though, if you've actually ordered it already with the base, is that you will need a non-slip surface to go over the base. Fortunately someone on here had warned me the base was just the same slats the sides made from ... very slippery, and quite frankly, totally useless. I used a cow mat instead for the base - perfect as it is warm to touch and not slippery.

On the Link A bord website, it has options to buy it with the safety rails and/or with the base.

Trialist, do you think that it would be best to buy it without the base then, and to use your own base?

And (sorry if this sounds like an ignorant question but I am beginning to research all breeding-related matters about a year in advance!!) - What are the safety rails exactly??  Are they the things sticking out into the whelping box, and how do they work?

When I posted a question re the link-a-board box earlier in the year, someone told me that the base was just the same as the sides, therefore very slippy. Having used my lovely box for my summer whelping, I wouldn't have wanted to use the same as the side panels for the base. The poster who advised me was quite right, and there would have been lots of pups and Mum slipping around. Besides which, they're just slats, so every 15cm there's a potential leakage point.

I plumped for a cow mat, probably not everyone's first thought. They aren't cheap, just under £40, but they are big. So my 1 cow mat provided me with a lovely base for the whelping box and a crate mat. The only advantage of the link-a-board base is that it will give you a solid structure around which to sit the side panels. For our whelping I actually left the cow mat intact (looked lovely in the bedroom :-) ) as I wasn't sure whether I wanted to cut the cow mat to fit exactly inside the box, or to sit the side panels on top of the cow mat. Consequently, when my girl whelped and pushed against the sides of the box there was a little bit of movement. Not a lot but a little bit.

The plus side of the cow mat (which was the main consideration for using it) is that it is 1" thick so now provides a perfect insert into the link a board box to make it solid. It has a non-slip surface, and most importantly it is warm to the touch ... so good for winter whepings, but it was also brilliant for a hot late June whelping too, and it wipe cleans very well.

If you do opt to get the base you will need something non-slippy to put on top. Paper and vet bedding will inevitably get rucked up. Maybe a piece of non-slip lino or some rubber sheeting.

The safety rails (they are the things that run along the insides of the box) are to help to provent potential crushing of the pups by Mum - give the pups a 'safe haven'. I believe with some breeds crushing can be quite a hazard. I didn't use safety rails as my breeder mentor had never felt the need for them in 50 years with the breed, and my other friend who has the same breed has never used them. With a combined experience of 90 years I figured it they didn't need them I wouldn't get them. I guess you have to take into account what your own bitch is like - mine is very stylish and knows exactly where every inch of her body is being placed :-)  Just like her owner :-O  :-O

Just as an aside, if you are looking a year in advance, it might just be worth sticking something on the Bring/Buy section to see if anyone is selling one off 2nd hand.

I found the Link-a-bord whelping box very heavy, in fact a bit too heavy for me to move when it needed cleaning etc.  I do have a Snowsilk - yes I know it's a lot more expensive, but definitely worth it, it can be pressure washed, folded flat and put away for next time, the LAB one is lots of planks and pins and corner brackets, I only used mine for a week before taking it apart and throwing it into our shed, where it will probably never see daylight again....lol.

SharonM - If you don't like you LAB (unlike me who really loves mine - specially to my own design - and sturdy enough that I can sit on the edge of it and dangle into the whelping box ... doesn't everyone do that?!! ;-) ) and it's not going to see the light of day with you again, maybe you ought to talk to rabid and see if you can flog it to them?

rabid - talk nicely to SharonM ... she's shoved her Link a board box in a shed :-O  never to see the light of day again (poor box & it is coming up to Christmas) so she might be sweet talked into selling it to you! :-)

Edit:  SharonM ... do you work for Snowsilk? Just wondering!

I keep reading about disposable whelping boxes, but it doesn't seem like people on here use them...

They don't seem like v good value for money as they cost half as much as any other box and then you have to chuck them out and buy another next time.

Is that the only reason people don't use them or am I missing something else?

For me, knowing that (all things going well) I would be having future litters, it wasn't cost effective for me to 'buy' a disposable box. My friend trialled one of the cardboard whelping boxes and it was ok, it did survive a whelping with a medium sized breed, and was perfectly adequate. But, as you say, for what it is it's quite expensive, even if it does have modifications of side rails and fancy pads to fit in the bottom. I think my box only cost me another £20 over the cardboard whelping boxes.

There are people on here who use cardboard boxes - one lady buys in a pack of 10 (buys in from a manufacturer rather than use old TV boxes to avoid any contamination) to use through the whelping. If I recall, it worked out at something like £3 a box, and only a few used during each whelping.

In truth, there is absolutely no need to spend any money on expensive whelping boxes. For many many years they were managed without and I don't believe that a fancy box, with a fancy name and a fancy price tag has had any impact on puppy survival rates. There are also well established people on here, who if you look through their posts, don't use expensive whelping equipment. It's just down to personal taste. I know someone in Oz who whelps all her bitches in a shower cubicle - quite a large one, but it means she can clean it out dead easy, and for her it's the best place with regards to temperature.

My breeder mentor uses a very nice wooden box. However, I opted for something that I could move easily, could take apart to disinfect, could flat pack easily for storage, which is limited. I don't have outside hose facilities so it was a case of finding something I could clean in the bath!

Just have a good look around at what's available, ask advice, but as you'll see it's all very varied and not many of us are going to agree ... though there is someone else on here that likes the LAB 'cause her comments swayed me towards getting one. Not in a million years would I splash out on one of the expensive jobbies (for a start they're not sturdy enough for me to sit on the edge and dangle!), but money is a big consideration for me. Decide how many times you think it may be required - if a 1 and only breeding then I'd go for the new cardboard box option, or get a 2nd hand box.

There's someone else who has made a box from the polypropelene corrugated board (Correx). I did look at pvc sheeting (the sort you use on fascia boards) to make a box from (given the criteria I had), depends how much time you want to put into actually making one up.

My box was up 2 weeks before whelping and for almost 5 weeks after whelping - it stayed in the same place, so that might also be a consideration, whether you're planning to move it around. My pups were moved around, but they returned to the same place at night time for the first 5 weeks. The box was then moved to their final location.

Hope this helps :-)

PS Just had a thought, depending on what size breed you have (we're medium), a garden trug is an absolute essential. I bought one and I used it for carrying pups from one place to another, for carrying pups to my vehicle when we went on jolly jaunts out, and whey they weren't being carried about in it, it was put on it's side in the puppy pen, with a piece of blanket in and that's where they slept. Every single one of the pups adored their trug! The best value £3 at Asda I've ever spent, and it looked lovely for photos (ours is blue :-) )... a trug full of puppies!! Oh, and a smaller one for carting all their junk around!

In truth, there is absolutely no need to spend any money on expensive whelping boxes.
I wouldn't agree with that at all.  For me I wouldn't put a price on the security, warmth and confidence that my Snowsilk box has given to my bitches over 25 years. 
For me, I know that I can steralise properly between litters and store and erect it easily.  I've never had any infections, lost a puppy once born alive (not true - I had 1 puppy born with the wrong plumbing :( ), or needed veterinary treatment for bitches or puppies.  I have the peace of mind of knowing that bitch and puppies are safe.
The price of the box is about the price of one puppy if you want to talk about the economics rather than comfort and easy or use.
For me, it's a no brainer. :)

PS  I think that the plastic trug/bucket for moving puppies from inside to outside is a great idea! :)

rabid - told you we wont all agree :-)

WestCoast - glad you like the idea of the trug :-) Our nice blue one looked very good in photographs when it was parked, full of puppies, next to Rosie the Rayburn (Rosie is bright red)! (For anyone about to tell me off for parking puppies next to the rayburn ... Rosie wasn't on as it was mid-summer!)

Well we went with the whelping box from Keith shea same as link-a-board..can't wait till it arrives!!

We have a large breed, maybe a garden wheelbarrow would be a better option :)

I do value all these opinions - I like to canvas everyone and see if there is any consensus on any one product.

Thanks!

hubby made ours yesterday :-) our girl loves it and is sleeping in it right now :-)...its cost us £10 ,we went to ikea got 2 long lenths of wood and 2 shorter 1s that cost us £3 LOL we cut out a flap that can be lifted up and down for her to walk into and when pups are bigger its put up so they carnt jump out ;-) ...its massive too 7ft by 3 ft ,its on tiled foor with lino as the base so very easy to clean and vet bed covering the floor ,plenty of room for mum and pups for the 1st 4/5 weeks then il move them in the kitchen in a puppy play penn and right near my back door to tolet train them and to play outside :-) xx

We have used a 3 ring blow up swimming pool.  But we have a medium size breed.  The curved sides are more comfortable for the bitch, the rings act kind of like pig rails (though in our breed few people use/need those), they're easily cleaned, and then just tossed when finished.  Very cheap.

I know several people in my breed who swear by them.  They are also really good in that you can put a large heating pad under the pool rather than in the pool/box so no issues with pups getting tangled in the cord (or chewing it).

Awww, I bought my doggies a 3-ring blow up swimming pool early in the summer when it was very hot. BIG mistake ... it lasted all of 3 seconds before Mum to be got her chops into it!! Great idea though, specially for doggies with removable dentures :-)  :-)