Hey guys… new here so please bare with me!
I need a bit of advice as I’m getting really concerned about my first ever litter.
My girl had her first litter 9 days ago. We have four in total - two boys, two girls as unfortunately we lost two during her long and hard labour.
For the first couple of days the dam seemed great and I was really proud of her. She didn’t want to leave the box and seemed really attentive. From about day 4 she started to become a little more reluctant to spend time in the box and would like in the run at the front and when I’d let her out for a wee she didn’t really seemed that interested in coming back in. I weigh the pups morning and night and up until a few days ago they were piling on around 20-60g every weigh in until one day a couple of them started to fall behind. I put this down to how much time the dam was spending in front of the box so I’ve had to get rid of the run to keep her in there. They’re feeding much better now because she doesn’t really have a choice but I don’t see her clean them too often and I started seeing yellow gloopy poo on one of the males and around the box. She will clean it up if she sees it around the box but doesn’t seem too bothered about cleaning the puppies so I’ve just today toileted them a couple of times myself. A couple of them on the first time almost projectile shot out the poo and the wee was really spraying out. The second and third time not as bad. Do I need to be worried? Does anyone have any advice for me? Thank you

Please don't shut the bitch in with the puppies to force her to feed them. It's perfectly normal that by about 5-7 days in, she will want to sleep outside the box and visit them to feed and clean when she decides to.

Please at least give your bitch the chance to be a good mother by not interfering with her natural instincts. Unfortunately by forcing her to be there when she doesn't want to be, you might only be creating her want to get away and dissociate from them more - affecting her mothering abilities and interest in them in the opposite direction.

It is very normal for puppies not to gain weight every day and even to lose some or remain the same for a day or two. You don't want this to happen more than one or two days, but don't overreact if it happens for a day or so.

I have to agree with all that 1-4 has written.  I'd be alarmed if when  the puppies shout to be fed, she won't respond but many's a time when my girls won't really want to be with their litters after say the first week or so, 24/7.  I weighed mine once every day and for the most part, all gained.  If the litter is ok with how much food they are getting, they will be quiet other than when actually feeding as some can get impatient as the teats are drained.  If something isn't right, the litter will be noisy.

On another note, one of my girls who was a real 'prima donna' would pee her puppies, but when it came to the other - no way.  Totally beneath her.  As a result, despite my best efforts really, the poor dears spent much of their early days constipated!  Gravity took care of a lot of it but I resorted to sitting them in warm water in the sink to help move things along.   Obviously very shortly they were able to do this without help.  She only had the one litter but she'd given me a super dog and bitch, so all was good.

I'd try not to interfere overly through the first 3 weeks.  Your real work will begin once you start weaning them.