Hi, I have a wonderfull Border Collie who is now at 56 days. This is her first time and mine also. I had her x-rayed and she's expecting 4 if none were missed. I have bred horses for many years and was curious if dogs are the same in the fact that as soon as milk is coming down this is a great sign she will birth within a couple days. Yesterday her milk was in and she is not as interested in her food.Eats it just not real into it. Up till yesterday she ate like a hog.She has just started digging a little in her box. She is glued to my side also, when not working on her box. I had been told by a Border Collie breeder I know, the average is 63 days for this breed. Understanding this is just an average hoping people can give me thier opinions on how soon. Temp is still normal. Can't hardly wait!!!

Hi guest, first of all why don't you join and you will be able to get lots more help and advice.

As to your question, peronally I don't think that a bitches milk coming down is a reliabled source of telling when a bitch will whelp as my bitch had small amounts of milk around day 46!!! Also even if a bitch is swimming with milk up untill the time she whelps, always be prepared and have some puppy milk powder on standby as the stress of labour can sometimes cause the milk to dry up for a while and if your bitch whelps in the middle of the night then you will be prepared.

Bitches can whelp as early as 57 days but my bitch whelped 63 days after the first mating and she went off her food for a few days before, only eating the best bits!! 12 hours prior to whelping she stopped eating all together and was sick a few times, she had also been digging in her bed for a few days but this increased 10 fold when she went into labour and a sure sign is constant panting.

My bitches temp was around 100.2 from day 55 and started to drop on day 61 and stayed below 100.00 and day 62 stayed below 98.5 the lowest point was 98.3 and she whelp 12 hrs later.

If you can try and get a couple of books on whelping and rearing puppies, although it may be a bit late on the whelping bit!!! Try your local pets at home store.

Sorry to go on but there is so much you can say, this is just my experience and others are bound to have lots more advice as every bitch is different. Please join and let us know how it all goes.

Good Luck:)

Kerry