I have a bitch due on the 1st March, and this is my first litter.

I am lucky that I do not work, however I do have the school run, troublesome children!

I understand that the bitch must be watched constantly after day 56, however is this to the nth degree?  Do I pop her in the car with me to do the school run, or do I leave her at home?  The school run takes about 50mins in total, and this is obviously twice a day.

She is used to travelling in the car a great deal, so I am not worried about that, however as she is getting bigger she is obviously finding it increasingly difficult to get comfy. 

What do you recommend?  Many thanks.

I'm afraid to say you need to find somebody else to do the school run as no way can you leave the bitch alone for 50 minutes when she is due, nor can you take her with you. There was a much publicised case once when an exhibitor brought a pregnant bitch to a show, not thinking she was due for another week, and she gave birth in the car -far from ideal. Some bitches take ages, some are very quick and you have no way of knowing until it happens.

I had a bitch give birth 4 days ago, it ended up being on the same day my dog food delivery was due to arrive, so I got a friend to come over and deal with that as I could not risk leaving the bitch even for 5 minutes to go outside to sign for the food. My husband had to go to work and was on a late shift and it was 8.30 pm before I even managed to get myself a drink or anything at all to eat for the first time that day as I could not leave the bitch.

yes i agree alot can happen in 50 mins im lucky my other half doesnt go to work until after school run but only takes 10 mins to drop kids off

Not a ridiculous question at all but perhaps one that should have been asked before mating your bitch.

There is no way can you leave her for 90 minutes twice a day - she may well be in the middle of whelping!

She will need you undivided attention for a week before and at least 3 weeks afterwards.  I found it difficult enough on my own without having children to look after as well, so you will definitely need help for at least 4 weeks.

> I got a friend to come over and deal with that as I could not risk leaving the bitch even for 5 minutes to go outside to sign for the food.

Yes  definitely agree. Dont leave the bitch even for 5 minutes.  My daughters bitch had pups a couple of weeks ago. She was showing no signs of labour on day58. No digging, panting or straining. My daughter let her out for a wee then brought her back in. The bitch went straight up stairs where the whelping box was where she had been spending most of the last couple of days. My daughter made a drink and then followed the bitch up. In the time it took for my daughter to make her cup of tea the bitch had given birth to a pup on my daughters bed. Unfortunately the puppy wasn't breathing and my daughter was not able to revive it. She now feels really guilty as she might have been able to  save the pup if she had been there. :(

aaww did your daughters bitch have more than one pup?

Your daughter is lucky the pup wasn't born when the bitch went for a wee!   It has happened ;-)

My bitches don't do the digging and panting etc.   

If I'm lucky I'll see the occasional deep breath or quick sigh - that's it.   More likely they just 'look' at me and that's when they are ready to get down to business.  And the pups are born really quickly.

I wouldn't let my pregnant bitch out of my sight in the last few weeks.   And for the last  two weeks, I took a towel with me when walking them, just in case, and certainly went to the garden with a towel.

I had children in school for my first two litters,  someone else did the duty for a few weeks.    It's not a risk I would be prepared to take, even for the 20 minutes twice a day.   

What if you were delayed?      Murphy's law is that if it can go wrong at the worst time, it will ;-)

Not a silly question at all.    A really pertinent one.

Hope you can get someone to cover school run duty, it's the best way really :-)

Thank you for all your replies, it is no problem at all for me to make sure that my husband stays with her or takes the children to school, I'm glad I checked!

>Your daughter is lucky the pup wasn't born when the bitch went for a wee!   It has happened ;-)<br />

Been there done that in September, maiden bitch no sign of whelping, watched her going for a wee, her position looked odd, and I saw the watersack, she yelped, and I had to drag her indoors and she dropped the pup at the kitchen door!!!

> Your daughter is lucky the pup wasn't born when the bitch went for a wee!

Not really as she was watching her outside and would have seen a puppy born there :( She did have another 4 puppies so the bitch was not too distraught. I was surprised just how upset the bitch was she kept washing the pup and we couldn't take it away from her as she got so upset. She just kept washing it and trying to get it to suckle. we couldnt take the pup until she had a live one to look after. It was very distressing for her and us.

Should you find your bitch needs a bit of help bringing the puppies on however, I can thoroughly recommend a ride out in the car (leave the kids behind though) ... especially if you've called the vet to meet you at the surgery at 3am!! ;-)

Hope all goes well with the whelping :-)

Hehe, thank you, I will bear that in mind!

>I was surprised just how upset the bitch was she kept washing the pup and we couldn't take it away from her as she got so upset.

In many years with dogs, this has only happened to me once.  Only the dead pup was a singleton.  I found the whole thing distressing.  The bitch was beside herself with grief and wanted to clean the pup over and over again.  It was heart breaking.