I'm asking on behalf of a friend - she's not inexperienced with whelping and raising litters (works for a rescue and has fostered several pregnant dogs) but she's never seen one lose the plug before.

It's come out today, roughly how long can she expect before the pups arrive?  No other signs of labour at the moment (no milk yet either), and the mother looks like a terrier mix of sorts.

Thanks.

I don't always see a plug (maybe it's dropped in the garden or mother has licked it away), however on occasions that I do see a plug (I'm talking about a mucus blob/string) it is usually 3 - 5 days before mine go into labour/delivery.

our very 1st bitch we bred with had her 1st pup 3h after looseing her plug it was very strange to see 1 min there was nothing then she went to loose so much string with blood in it (i knew it was the plug) only did she start scratching that morning 1st pup was born at 4pm it was a long night tho she had 7 boys and 1 girl but she was born dead we worked on her for afew hours i called her angel. you never for get your 1st whelp with your own girl do you!!

My bitch had her first pup 12 hours after her plug went.

Well, it was about 36 hours in the end - 3 boys and 3 girls, total heinz puppies :-)  A 7th stillborn sadly, but mum and the other 6 are doing well :-)

Thanks everyone :-)

Aww thats fantastic, congratulations :)