Hi all

I have been watching my girl with her puppies and think everytime I see a bitch with a litter how amazing it is to see the bitch know exactly which puppy has been cleaned and toileted and which hasn't. I also love the fact that she'll go in and give them all a good clean to wake them up and encourage them to feed.

Please tell me I'm not the only soppy person on this board who could watch it all day long :D

No, babe I've do it too. i take 8 weeks off with my puppies and spend possibly the first 3-4 on the floor beside the whelping box
Daft or what!

No Alli you are not :D  I have seen it all before and will see it again, and every time it gets to me. With Emma's last litter, I think she knew she would have no milk though.  Within a couple of hours of being born she carried all her pups to me on the couch and dropped them on me, I was lounging with my eyes closed and the first one got dropped on my face, gave me a bit off a shock lol. I held them for her to top and tail and while I bottle fed she kept nudging to make sure they kept suckling. once fed and topped and tailed again, I placed them back into their puppy pen and Emma climbed in, checked each one in turn and snuggled them. When they started to look for food again, she brought them all back to me.  I simply find the whole ritual amazing :)

Oh Kay thats is a lovely story, what a fantastic Mum Emma was knowing exactly what to do when she knew she couldn't feed them. I think it is truely amazing how much trust they put in us to help them look after their babies. Maddie stands by patiently as I put each puppy in the box we have for them so I can get into the whelping box and clean it out, change bedding and newspapers and such, she has never once shown any major concern when I have been handling her babes. Like I said I could watch her all day long, I'm so proud of her for being such a wonderful Mum.

I am afraid that I fall into the exact same category! What I love right now with my 3 week old babies (now that their eyes and ears are open) is sitting in the middle of the whelping box as they all crawl into my lap for comfort and pets:-) It is hard to rip me away!

Such a miracle and joy!!

From one dog lover in Idaho to another,

Megan, Sammie, and babies:-)

P.S. Don't you just love that puppy breath!

Hi Alli,

I'm with everyone else on this :)  it's quite simply awesome and no matter how well it is explained in books, videos and by others from first hand knowledge until we've experienced it personally it's impossible to comprehend.  You're certainly NOT the only soppy person on this board :D

Enjoy - they are such little miracles.
Good luck, Teri :)

I envy you breeders sometimes........  To build such a bond with your bitches that they trust you like that.  I knew Bonnie from the day she was born, and spent a lot of time at her breeders house socialising her and her litter brothers and sisters, I couldn't tear myself away.  If I had a litter myself, I don't think ANYTHING would get done -I'd just sit and puppy watch!

I have found that a special extra bond is built up with a bitch that has a litteer, as they are totally dependant on you, even the independant breed I own, it is quite humbling. :D

"I have found that a special extra bond is built up with a bitch that has a litteer, as they are totally dependant on you, even the independant breed I own, it is quite humbling. :-D"

100% agree , I had a bitch I bought in for showing, she took a little bit of time to settle in as she had been with her breeder for 2 years.  After she had a litter of puppies the difference in her was just amazing. She trusts me 100% to do anything to her or at the time her puppies.  She is so confident now. I am not saying she was suspect or anything but she is just that more confident and happier to let me poke and prod her ;-)

Nothing gerts done when I have pups, and you wonder where the time has flown just watching them sleep.

I also think that it's amazing!!  My parents used to "breed" (the odd litter very occassionally) when I was young, it amazed me then and still does now.

I am so glad you said that, My puppies are almost 5 weeks old now and I looked at the house today and thought it needed a good bottoming although I do a quick flick with the vac and duster most days and it was done thoroughly before the pups were born.  Where has the last 5 weeks gone?

same here Alli, I was sitting at the computer the other night and turned round and found mum with a pup in her mouth, she had somehow got out(from another room) and brought the pup for me to give it a cuddle, gave them both a cuddle and put them back into the  cage/puppy pen, pups eyes are now open so they are starting to come to you ahhhh!!!!! I could watch them all day as well. Its funny watching them trying to walk or should I say waddle about, the next few weeks are the best when you watch them playing and getting to know you, love when they come to you with the tails wagging.

I know exactly how you feel, i never tired of looking at mum with pups, and she got used to me peering over the whelping box, hubby didnt need to shout where are you, he just knew.
House ended up a pigsty though !!

Hi there,
Me too!! First litter, and they are all so adorable, lovely little time-wasters, my friend said, if I could waste all my time like this I'd be grinning from ear to ear.
Mum seems even closer to me now as well, sees me as her little helper.
Happy puppy watching all
x

I could watch them 24/7 from day one to going to their new homes - and each litter seems different!

Amazing, miraculous and sooo natural.

When my father used to very occasionally breed GSD's I had a very special bond with one bitch who I had known since the day she was born. When she had her one and only litter at 3yrs old she bought all 9 pups to me, 3 hours after they were born and I cried.

She was in her whelping box, did all of the hard work herself without any assistance, cleaned them up, fed them, settled them and then I crept in. The look on her face was one of absolute pride and I'm sure she was saying to me "look what I've done, aren't I clever?" After I very quitely ooohed and aaahed over each pup, she took it back to the box and presented me with another until I had seen all 9 of them.

She was such a brilliant, natural mother and although very protective when the rest of the family was around, she was very placid with my dad and I :)

I enjoyed the 2 months watching their progress, we used to call them the gremlins when they reached 4 weeks old :D But what a mother she was.....................Used to make me laugh, my dad had 1 dog (not the sire) and the pups used to try and suckle from him when he was around (they were 5 weeks) and he was so panicky that he used to jump on the table so as not to tread on them or let them near his undercarriage :P

I loved every minute of having a litter.
I slept with mum and pups for weeks and then when they were trotting round finally went to bed with baby monitors!
The best bit for me was once they were running round and they would try and follow me everywhere. I'd go in to the kitchen and all you could hear was pitter patter of teeny feet running.
And I could watch puppies asleep in a heap all day!

And what about when you wake up ( about 2 hrs earlier than the rest of the humans) let them out and they hang off your pj's,
You follow them round with a mop and they bark at you in aticipation for breckie, all this while you are still half dead !!

I really miss them all, im going to go and look at some puppy pics !!

X

One night when they were all fully weaned Hollie had gone asleep upstairs (needed a rest from playing I think!) so I had locked the pups in their room as normal.
Around 3am I could hear squeaking but it sounded really loud.
I went downstairs and Hollie had set them all free!
Pups everywhere downstairs.
One in the hall who was attemting to climb the stairs but obviously couldn't!
Took what seemed like forever to round them all up again and clean up the puddles and poo's!
I think I did it with just one eye open!