How to take care of Newborn Puppies

How to take care of Newborn Puppies

If you have been following my other Blog posts, I have explained everything about getting your dog pregnant, delivery and so on. Now, the big day has come and the newborn puppies are here.

How to take care of Newborn Puppies

Keep the puppies in Mom in a safe place. You want the temperature in the room to be very comfortable, in other words, you would be comfortable in a tank top and shorts. We made a nice crate with plenty of room for Mom and newborn puppies. It has sides on it so puppies stay in and Mom can get out. Scroll through my Blogs, I believe I have a photo)
you can also use an empty round kids pool, it works great for newborn puppies (and delivery!)

How to take care of Newborn Puppies, VERY IMPORTANT

Watch the puppies very good the first day and night. Mom is very tired from being up all night and can easily sleep so hard she lays on and suffocates a puppy. I can not stress this enough.

Make sure to bring Mom in to the vet for a shot (if she delivered naturally) which gets rid of anything left in her that can turn into infection quickly.

I know you have not gotten enough sleep either, but the first night try to watch the puppies carefully, as I mentioned, as days go on the newborn puppies get stronger.

How to take care of Newborn Puppies, Be sure each is gaining weight

Weigh each newborn puppy twice a day. Monitor each puppies weight closely, this way if a puppy is in trouble you can pay special attention to him and make sure he is nursing, you can even give him alone time nursing with Mom.

If you have a big litter of puppies, make "Ba-ba groups" Ok, so that is what we call it. Make two separate feeding groups, make sure you find a way to know for certain which puppies go in each group. We make groups by puppies colors. By making groups you ensure the smallest puppy is not getting pushed away and every puppy is nursing equally.

This is a full time job, every three hours I do puppy groups, and then in between if they wander and nurse, that is fine. I typically get up every three hours the first week to two weeks when the puppies are still newborn. Although puppies Mom feeds them, if you have a big litter of puppies you will find this to be a huge all day and night job of your own. Newborn puppies and as they get older require a clean place to sleep and play and hands on attention as they get older. One of the reasons people come to us for our AKC English Bulldog puppies is how dedicated we are. They can see how well adjusted puppies are, how clean they and their environment are kept and how much we love them.

My next article will be what to do if a puppy is in trouble and not gaining weight. Feel free to read all my blogs here all about taking care of puppies, and even breeding your dog!

The Truth about Breeding English Bulldogs

The Truth about Breeding English Bulldogs
I have included pictures of Jordin and Jake's First litter. They are Akc English Bulldog's and we debated a C-section, just because we read so much about English Bulldog's not being able to deliver puppies on their own.

The Truth about Breeding English Bulldogs
I think there are a few things to take into consideration.

First let me explain we have 4 English Bulldog's 3 females and 1 male. Our youngest female we have, her Mom died during a C-section. When the man we bought her from told us he lost his dog and had to raise the puppies on his own, it was devastating and shocking to us. Debating whether to C-section or deliver Jordin's puppies on her own was a big decision. First and foremost our dogs are like kids to us. We are not a puppy mill, this is our first English Bulldog litter. We did breed our Shih tzu in the past, who is no longer with us, but we do it because we have beautiful dogs and I am proud at the way I take care of puppies. I LOVE dogs. I cry at the "Save the dogs" commercial every time. Our dogs have never even seen a crate. They are part of our family. Each one of them has an amazing personality, like our kids. We ended up having Jordins puppies naturally and all made it! She did awesome at breeding.

-Update, 9/7/2011
I wrote The Truth about Breeding English Bulldogs a couple years ago. Since, we have bred our other two females. Our English Bulldog Madison did need a Csection. She has now had tow litters of English Bulldog babies and because her first litter was just one puppy, we tried to have her delivery naturally but after a hours of nothing happening our gut told us to bring her in for a Csection. The problem was the one puppy was too big and fat to fit through the birth canal. 


I have some new advice. If you have never delivered puppies on your own, do not risk it. It is best to go to a vet and do a Csection. If you have delivered puppies in the past, take one thing into consideration. Is your English Bulldog active or lazy? If she is very active and does not tire quickly you may consider letting her breed naturally, just have the doctor as a back up. If your English Bulldog tires easy, it may be best to go Csection. By the way, Jordin had another litter of 9 AKC English Bulldogs naturally, all perfectly healthy! Our Bella also had her first litter of AKC English Bulldogs naturally- Here is a link to my site with pictures of my girls and their puppies!

When the Jordin's (our English Bulldog) puppies were born, I planned on helping her with them in any way I needed to. We had a nice big box for the puppies and Jordin and they never sat in potty, I cleaned their area many many times a day. They never sat in potty. I spent weeks barely sleeping as we had one puppy not gaining weight properly and I needed to bottle feed him every three hours.

The Truth about Breeding English Bulldogs, it is hard work

Having puppies is a full time job, it really is, but looking at them grow, watching their first walk, their first run. It is simply amazing.

If you love dogs breeding may be for you, if you are in it just for the money, it is not for you. That is just the bonus at the end for us.

Back to my story, to C-section your dog, your dog must be in labor, her temperature must be at 98 degrees. So you can not plan it in advance. It just so happened that Jordins temperature bottomed out at 98 on Thanksgiving, so our options were slim and we decided to deliver her puppies naturally.

It was a good decision, she delivered each perfectly, and with absolutely no problems. She had 7 puppies (4 boys and 3 girls) and she did not even grunt, the puppies practically dropped out of her, a few honestly did. There was almost no pushing.

When we had our Shih tzu, she did push hard and moan and groan, the truth is our English Bulldog made it seem effortless.

The Truth about Breeding English Bulldogs, Talk with your vet
Ask your veterinarian his opinion on if you should C-section or not.
I will tell you, and I hope I do not get any hate comments from this, no one will tell you to breed your English Bulldog naturally. In fact, breeders for the most part, do not want others breeding in the first place. WHY? Well, they say they are too many dogs without homes already-true, BUT. Then I must ask why are they breeding? Well, the more people that breed the more it takes from them. The more puppies out there, the harder it is for them to sell their puppies. The more puppies of their breed out there drives the price of their puppies down. Again, no hate comments please, this is just my opinion. I am not saying everyone should breed dogs, but if you have been following my blog or even down this far in this blog, you are serious and responsible and trying to find out as much information as you can, as a good breeder should. The reason I share my opinion on this is because we thought about breeding for years and did not because everyone said how hard it was, everyone talked you into NOT BREEDING. There was no one that shared real information and there was no Internet then. Even with the Internet it is pretty much the same story. If you have a great dog that is perfectly healthy, and you can dedicate your time to helping with the puppies completely, and you are eager to learn everything you can, you can breed your dog.

The Truth about Breeding English Bulldogs
Not only should you talk with your vet, but go with your gut. You know your English Bulldog better than anyone. Is she short, stocky and lazy? Maybe you should not consider breeding her. Our English Bulldog, Jordin, is very active, completely healthy, and does not have any breathing problems at all.

My next blog will include English Bulldogs and C-section or no C-section, my theory.

Delivering Puppies

Delivering Puppies

You have decided to deliver your dogs puppies on your own, it is best to either have experience in delivering puppies or atleast bring a friend or relative in that does have experience.

When delivering Puppies many unforseen problems can occur. I will share the basics of delivering puppies, but please consult your veternarian first. Read as much as you can on delivering puppies. I find two people are necessary to have in case of problems.

Make sure to have your veternarian on back up.
Hard contraction should last maybe ten minutes, they should not last more than 20 minutes. Your dog should be able to push the puppy in it's sack out by herself with no help from you. You may notice the puppies head still in the birth canal and may need to gently help. You can help by pushing back her vulva. When you see a contraction you can gently grab the puppy by the body and help pull gently.

Delivering Puppies, what to expect

She will most likely have the clear sac over her and she may take that off or you can. The sack is slippery, so get it open and immediately wipe the puppies face nose and mouth with a towel, aspirate the nose and then the mouth and then then continue wiping the puppy with a towel to get him breathing. Wiping him nicely gets him breathing. If he is gasping for air, aspirate him again. If he is breathing nicely with his mouth closed you are good. When delivering puppies the key is to get any liquid out of his mouth and nose quickly. Dry him or her off with a small towel, the gentle rubbing gets them breathing!

This whole process is very serious, you do not want fluid in his lungs so wiping his face quickly and getting any liquid out of his lungs quickly is important.

If you feel he is not breathing right, you can take a blow dryer on low and blow him. BE CAREFUL you do not want to burn him or hold the air in one spot on him, move the blow dryer around.

Now that the puppy looks good and is breathing good, you can cut his umbilical cord, about an inch long and put squeeze the end that is furthest from the puppy and put corn starch on it, you do not want blood coming out.

Now give your beautiful puppy to Mom! Delivering Puppies is a beautiful thing. If you have an opportunity to watch puppies being born, do so. Perhaps a friend or family member will in the future be delivering puppies of their own.

How to Tell if your Dog is in Labor, The Signs

Above is one of Our English Bulldogs Puppies!


How to Tell if your Dog is in Labor, The Signs

The most important sign on how to tell your dog is in labor:
Temperature drops:
*Her temperature will drop to 98 degrees or so- This is our sure tail sign your dog is in labor. (PS when due date begins to approach, take her temp and record it twice a day- once you see it drop to 98, You will see the first Puppy within 24 hours- So call work, You surprisingly will have a tummy ache tomorrow- :)
The rest of these are signs- you may see some or all-
*Her eyes will dilate
*she will not want to eat
*She will want you near
*She will hide under your bed or in a closet
*She can't get comfortable
*You may see a Mucus Discharge


How to Tell if your Dog is in Labor, The Signs: Labor progresses (more signs)-

So the temp was at 98- Now she will progress to Digging, Panting
Staring at her butt. She will lick her vulva, and you may see
mild contractions!

How to Tell if your Dog is in Labor, The Signs: Heavy labor

She is in heavy labor: You will see
*Hard Contractions
*Extreme Shivering
Followed by:
*moaning and pushing (she arches her back, as if she is pushing potty out)
*Visible sign of the First pup

Again, the biggest sign she is about to start labor is the temperature drop. Your dog may pant and nest days before she is actually ready. This is normal.

How to Tell if your Dog is in Labor, The Signs was written to help anyone breeding their dog. If you ever have questions, always consult with your veterinarian.

How to tell 24 hours before your dog gives birth

How to tell 24 hours before your dog gives birth

So your dog is pregnant, congrats!

Starting on the first day your dog bred, count to day 58.

On Day 58, you will start taking your dogs temperature two times a day. Typically a dog's due date will be at day 63, but she can deliver puppies as soon as day 58. She can also go after day 63, if she did not actually get pregnant the first day you bred her.

How to tell 24 hours before your dog gives birth, Take her temperature twice a day

How to do this.
You can use vaseline and gently inset the thermometor into your dogs rectum. Have someone hold the dog still from the front. I have found a thermometor that is not glass, and beeps when it is done taking the temperature.

How to tell 24 hours before your dog gives birth, what is a normal temperature?

Your dogs temperature will flucuate between 99 degrees and up to 101.4 degrees. When your dogs temperature reaches 98 degrees or below, it is time. She will deliever her first puppy within 24 hours. This method has been proven to be accurate for all of my females, although as you know, nothing is never 100% accurate. As a breeder this is how I tell that our dog is about to give birth within 12 to 24 hours of the temp drop.

This method seems to be about 99.8% accurate, it has always worked for us.

You may notice she is already panting, and at the first stages of labor.

My next article will explain the stages of labor.

Artificially Inseminating Your Dog

One of our English Bulldog Puppies and My daughter Above!

Artificially Inseminating Your Dog

I thought I would spend a moment explaining the basics of artificially inseminating your dog.

The big question seems to be, explain the process.
You simply bring your dog to the veterinarian (PS, all vet's do not do this, so call and ask first.) Bring your male dog in as well, at the same time.

The veterinarian simply takes the sperm from the male (trying to say this as nicely and cleanly as possible) pretty much as a man would masturbate.

Then he inserts it into the female dog.
The entire artificially insemination process takes just minutes. Both Dog's are awake and it is not painful at all for either dog. Fees to artificially inseminate are about $30 to $75 from the vet, that is assuming you have the Male dog as well. If you are using a male dog that is not yours, they will let you know their fees for his sperm.

Artificially Inseminating Your Dog, Extra info
We have three English Bulldogs we breed we started out having them artificially inseminated at the vet. The first time we brought our one female English Bulldog in and Jake our male, Madison did not get pregnant. We did have success Artificially Inseminating our dog Jordin there. We soon realized we could do this at home.

We now do the Artificially Inseminating here and have great success. You can buy artificial inseminating kits online. We read as much as we could and my husband actually had our veterinarian show him how to do this at home.

Dog's Due Date

Dog's Due Date

So you have read my other posts and have successfully bred your dog!
When is your dog's due date?

Just like a women there is no "Set Date, however there are some rules to follow. Typically you will say the first day the dogs bred is day one, count 63 days from that. That will be your dog's due date.

Does this mean she will have puppies exactly on this day, no. But you will have a good idea atleast.

She can have puppies as early as day 58 and in one of my next blog posts I will explain how to know 24 hours before you see the first puppy, so you know when to mark off of work!

Back to your dog's due date, the other thing to take into consideration, is she may have not gotten pregnant the first day of breeding, so she can go after day 63, as well. Say you breed her on January 3, 5th and 8th. Maybe she only took on the 8th, and now the sperm can actually live two days inside of her.

Again, to find her due date though, count from the first day she bred- this is the true way to find the due date. If she goes past day 63, you also understand why.