As I am currently only getting 3hrs sleep a day (when hubby gets home from work and before he goes to bed) I have YET AGAIN become addicted to Marestare. I always get hooked when I have a litter to watch over!!!  I am currently watching 2 horses that are imminent for foaling and a CKCS that is 62 days today. Which got me thinking...have any of you used something like this as I think I may sign up and set it up next time I have a litter so that at least I can nip out to get some shopping or get a few hrs sleep knowing that there will be hundreds of people watching my girl for me and will ring if anything progresses.

Gosh no!

It is strictly just me and my bitch..no one else.

I never let anyone 'keep me company' or watch out of interest.

Ive always been the same and couldnt wait until the house was empty when a bitch was about to start.

For my last litter I used a webcam and UStream to set up a live stream for some of my interested puppy buyers to see 'their' pups once they were born.  It meant that they could see them without actually coming round in the early days/weeks. I didn't have it on all the time though, just set times that I dictated.  I also didn't use it for the birth, although I know some that have, as I felt that was too private.

I did the same as you kennel maiden, webcam and UStream, camera was on from the early days just an hour a day, definitely not on during whelping, just so potential new owners could see the litter in those first days/weeks before they could visit.  I used the HTML code and pasted it onto my website.

There is absolutely 'no way' I would entertain ( and I mean this metaphorically and literally) such use of technology in my home for a whelping ,or any thing else for that matter!

Call me old fashioned if you like but the idea of hundreds of people watching what happens in my home  is frankly abhorrent  .These voyeurs should have better things to do with their time.

The camera is fixed on the whelping box only, with no sound, so people just watch mum lying there feeding pups - I personally think it's lovely for the new potential owners to see the pups at an age where they normally can't, I don't and would not put it on for whelping though.

I agree SharonM.  My camera was fixed onto the side of the whelping box, and I just sent the new owners the times I would televise (by email or text).  They were delighted to be able to see the new additions.  Word of warning though, make sure sound is disabled!  I thought we had, only to find out that somehow it had turned back on, and people could listen into what we were saying!!!!!!!!!  LOL  (caused a slight bit of embarrassment when we found out...)

I watched  a live whehlping on U-Stream a few months ago and loved every minute of it. It was the middle of the night for the bitch owners but Sunday lunchtime here (as was in the USA). The owners were very techy-minded, so the picture quality, sound etc were perfect. The bitch had been x-rayed during pregnancy (I believe that's done more often in the US than here) because her first and previous litter had been 11! This time there were six and it all went very smoothly.

I posted the link on another forum, and soon there were many people watching from all over the world - some like myself had never seen a whelping before, others had never see ANY animals being born. Everyone was riveted to it. I was interested to see that when it goes smoothly it's not all that different to kittening.

To be scrupulously fair I have just watched one little bitch whelping and it was awful.

There, before my eyes, I watched the bitch wander round and round with her pup hanging and banging on the walls of her Varikennel (much beloved by US breeders to keep their dogs in).  Some time elapsed then the pup was removed - poor little bitch frantically looked for it for quite some time then settled again. Some time later the pup was put up to the camera ( no doubt for the benefit of their customers who are encouraged to watch) its marking displayed and then removed again.....poor little bitch.

It seemed a commercial venture and far removed from my comfy set up with me on my knees, in the dim light stoking my bitches back.

If this is progress, I dont want it.

It some how reminds me of the talking teddy bear on Dragons Den..the one which read stories to children at bed time :-(
With all this time saving equipment what is everyone spending this spare time on?