What's it like to 'whelp'and raise puppies?
'Whelping' is the term used to describe the process of birthing puppies. It is an
exciting time. And although I have been blessed to rarely run into serious problems
during a whelping, they are not uncommon and I am always nervous as the time
approaches! As with human babies, Labradoodle or Goldendoodle puppies are
usually born in the middle of the night.
The day before whelping the mama-to-be is usually restless and panting, trying to
settle into the area where she will be having the pups. It's important for a
Labradoodle or Goldendoodle breeder to really keep an eye on her at this time. A
fellow breeder I know once had a pregnant dog escape and give birth to the first
couple of pups under a shed!
Once active labor starts there's not much time to be nervous. The mom starts
pushing and usually the first pup appears within a few minutes. It is born in a sac,
which an experienced mom will remove with her teeth. A first-time mom may need
some help until she gets with the program! Left to her own devices, the mom will
also cut the umbilical cord with her teeth. Sometimes the pulling she does on the
cord can cause an umbilical hernia, so I usually cut and tie the cord myself.
But even before that I rub the puppy with a rough washcloth and make sure it's
breathing. Occasionally they won't breathe right away and I will do a maneuver
called 'slinging', where I swing the pup's head gently away from my body so the
centrifugal force pulls any fluid out of the pup's nose. They usually breathe fine after
that.
The next pup may arrive minutes after, or sometimes as long as 2 hours can pass. I
don't worry much about a time lag unless the mom is panting and pushing, which
means there is a pup in the birth canal that is not progressing further. This can be
very serious. Pups can be born normally either head or tail first. But sometimes a
pup can get wedged cross-wise, or sometimes it is just unusually large. Either can be
dangerous to both mom and the pups still inside her.
In Libby's litter of December, 2004, I had a real scare. She had whelped 3 pups in
about 2.5 hours, and all was going well. But after the 3rd pup I just had an inkling
that something wasn't right. She hadn't been pushing for long, so it wasn't that. But
something I saw on her face made me think there was a problem. I put a finger
inside to see if a pup was going to make an appearance soon, and sure enough, a
pup was there. But I couldn't identify what part I was touching.....not a head, and
not a bottom. I closed my eyes and tried to picture what I was feeling. Hard, flat,
with a ridge down the middle.......A SCAPULA! The puppy was a shoulder
presentation, and the pup's shoulder and chest were wedged in the birth canal. I
gently pushed the puppy back and managed to hook my finger over it's head and
pull the head towards the birth canal. Out popped my brindle boy puppy! Libby
looked very relieved. As was I!
Whelping with a first-time mother can be an adventure too. Of course, there has to
be a first time, and dogs can't read up on what to expect, like people do! When
Cider gave birth to her very first pup, it slipped out with a single push, and was
hanging by the umbilical cord, as the placenta hadn't delivered yet. She took one
look behind her at the pup dangling, and bolted from the room. Now, this is a dog
that is not afraid of ANYTHING, but clearly the thought that went through her head
was "WHAT THE HECK IS THAT????" I raced after her, picking up the pup, who
had slipped out onto the floor, placenta and all, as I ran. I brought Cider back to the
whelping area, cleaned up the pup and showed it to her. She growled at it, still
freaked out. But by the time the next pup was born a few minutes later, all the
hormones had kicked in and she took the sac off like a pro. She turned into the best
mother I have ever seen; conscientious, loving and protective. I had to pick her up
and carry her away from the pups for 2 weeks just to get her to go outside to potty
as she did not want to leave them. But boy those first couple minutes were rocky.
And in a funny twist of genetics, Cider's daughter. Emma, reacted almost exactly the
same way to the birth of the first puppy in HER first litter!
One of the most devastating and scary whelpings was in January of 2006. Rouge
was pregnant, and a mid-pregnancy ultrasound showed 3-4 puppies. Her previous
litter was 4 puppies, so this was not entirely unexpected. She went into labor on
time, but the birth progressed slowly, although she was not in any discomfort. After
watching her for 12 hours I saw a small amount of dark discharge from her vulva.
This is never good, a dark discharge usually means the placenta has separated from
the wall of the uterus. From the moment that happens the puppy has no oxygen. I
rushed Rouge to the vet where they did an emergency c-section. The only puppy
was dead from lack of oxygen. It had been high up in her uterus, and it took a long
time for the discharge from the placenta to flow out where I could see it. The puppy
never had a chance. Apparently the other puppies had been resorbed long before,
and this puppy grew far too large for her to birth. I then had the unenviable task of
contacting the people waiting for puppies from this litter to tell them there were
none. Luckily Rouge was OK, and recovered from her surgery fine.
Sometimes, despite the best preparations and plans, things do not go as expected.
One morning in September of 2007 I got up at 4 AM to make the 5 hour round trip
to the veterinarian that does the hip testing on my dogs. One of my F1
Labradoodles was due with F2 puppies in 5 days, just within the range that it was
possible she might deliver. She had already whelped 4 litters, and this was her last
one before retirement. Her other whelpings always followed the typical pattern: her
body temperature drops a couple degrees, she stops eating, has loose stools, all
12-18 hours before she whelps. This particular morning her temperature was
normal, stools normal, she ate a great breakfast, so I left packed up the dogs to be
tested and left. After being gone all day for the hip testing, I headed home. I was
nearly an hour away when I got a phone call that my partner arrived at the house
after work to find the dog in labor, with one live puppy and one dead puppy. I
made it home in a half hour and got the mom and her surviving puppy to the
whelping area when my partner came running in. "I hear another puppy but I can't
find it!" Yep, there was a puppy UNDER the dining room rug, luckily under the table,
so no one stepped on it. There was blood and meconium and placenta in nearly
every room, it looked like someone had been murdered in my house.
It's amazing. Even when you're up for 48 straight hours....yes, there are usually full
days of life on either side of a whelping all-nighter....the magic of the event is all that
colors the feelings. It really is a wonder, and I feel honored and blessed to be able
to be present, and sometimes even contribute, to the miracle.
Raising puppies is as much fun and as exciting as you imagine it to be. What you
may not imagine are the other emotions and experiences that are just as much a part
of breeding.
The exhilaration of the whelping is often matched in intensity by the exhaustion and
anxiety that follows. While mom is really responsible for the pups for the first few
weeks, many, many things can go wrong.
A pup can be born smaller than the others, weak, or with a birth defect that is not
immediately obvious. It is not unusual to supplement a pup via bottle or
tube-feeding, every 2 hours, for a week or more, only to have it die anyway. Pups
can also die if mom rolls over on them, so most breeders sleep in the room with the
mom and pups for at least 2 weeks.
A mother dog is vulnerable after whelping as well. Pyometra, a uterine infection,
can appear and progress quickly. If not caught early it can be fatal. Eclampsia is
also not uncommon, and can also be fatal. So breeders are not only monitoring the
newborn pups, they are monitoring the mother dog too. You cannot imagine the
grief at losing a companion due to an event associated with breeding.
Especially devastating are the losses that occur after the pups are older, and are
starting to develop personalities. Yes, breeders do get attached to puppies! Losses
at this point can be due to infectious agents, like parvo, in which whole litters can be
lost. Or they may be catastrophic. I lost a pup once when an adult dog learned,
unbeknown to me, how to open the door to the whelping area by turning a
doorknob. He went in and picked up a 3 pound, 6 week old pup, intending to play
with it. He brought it to me as it was dying, it's neck broken. Covered with blood, I
held that puppy and cried for a long time. And I cried more when I called the family
who had chosen that puppy to tell them it was dead.
Breeding is a roller coaster of gigantic proportions. The highs are incredibly exciting
and fulfilling, the lows are just as intense. It is not for the faint of heart. But
breeders do it because we love what we do!
Here is a link to a video of one of my dogs whelping puppies (birth is messy, so be
prepared!):
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