Whelping & Puppy Care for Livestock Guardian Dogs
Here are some basic tips for whelping and puppy care, as well as some of our favorite products for whelping and caring for moms and pups after the birth. Click on the photos or hyperlinks to order!
We have four whelping boxes but this is by far our favorite. It's very sturdy and is huge and stands up well to rough use outdoors for LGD's. We have the extra large size, which is 6' x 5' and is perfect for giant breeds with large litters. Unfortunately when we built our Puppy Parlor this box was too big to fit in the stalls so we no longer use it. We now use our MagnaBox or EZ Whelp boxes, because they are smaller and easier to disassemble for storage.
Whelping Pads and Alternative Whelping Box
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Whelping Pads and Alternative Whelping Box
Whelping Kit Supplies
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Calcium Supplementation Before and After Labor
One of the most life changing things we've ever done as far as whelping and puppy rearing goes is to begin supplementing with calcium before and after labor. Our dogs used to take HOURS and even DAYS to deliver their puppies, usually more than 24 hours from the first puppy to the last. What's more they usually got what I call the "Post Partum Crazies" after birth. With PPC the mama dog gets very restless and stressed and keeps trying to move the puppies out of the box. They would even try to dig holes and bury the pups. If was very dangerous and stressful and was a constant battle to try to keep the pups alive until they settled down.
One of our moms was diagnosed with low blood calcium after delivery so the vet put her on a calcium supplement. That made me decide to do some research to see if I should be supplementing all my moms. And that's when I came across a fantastic article by Midwoofery.com that discussed calcium supplementation. Low and behold the article stated that both long, stalled labors and "Post Partum Crazies" are caused by low calcium during labor and after!
The article discussed the pros and cons of all the different calcium supplements out there, as well as how much of each a dog would need by weight. We decided to try the Breeder's Edge Oral Cal Plus Fast Absorbing Gel during delivery. For after delivery we used Bulk Calcium Citrate Powder from Amazon mixed into goat milk twice a day, as per the instructions in the Midwoofery Article. Gianna's December 2020 litter was the first one we used calcium supplementation on and it worked! Her labor went quickly and smoothly and no more PPC's! Now we use both products on every mom and would never go back to not using them. They have truly been a game changer!
To Learn more see the link below to the articles below:
One of our moms was diagnosed with low blood calcium after delivery so the vet put her on a calcium supplement. That made me decide to do some research to see if I should be supplementing all my moms. And that's when I came across a fantastic article by Midwoofery.com that discussed calcium supplementation. Low and behold the article stated that both long, stalled labors and "Post Partum Crazies" are caused by low calcium during labor and after!
The article discussed the pros and cons of all the different calcium supplements out there, as well as how much of each a dog would need by weight. We decided to try the Breeder's Edge Oral Cal Plus Fast Absorbing Gel during delivery. For after delivery we used Bulk Calcium Citrate Powder from Amazon mixed into goat milk twice a day, as per the instructions in the Midwoofery Article. Gianna's December 2020 litter was the first one we used calcium supplementation on and it worked! Her labor went quickly and smoothly and no more PPC's! Now we use both products on every mom and would never go back to not using them. They have truly been a game changer!
To Learn more see the link below to the articles below:
Calcium and Other Supplements for After Birth
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Newborn Puppy Care & Feeding
Hopefully you won't need any of the items below but you should have them on hand just in case. Sometimes we have large litters of ten or more puppies. When this happens we weigh the puppies daily and supplement any that are not gaining. Usually they just need a bottle or two a day for the first few weeks, until they are eating solid food. We start out with The Miracle Nipple from Revival Animal Health (it really is a miracle!) and later switch to a human baby bottle. Fortunately we have never had to completely bottle feed our pups (though we have raised orphaned kittens) but if you find yourself in that position you may find the links below helpful.
Supplemental Puppy Feeding Supplies
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Important Books for Breeding and Puppy Rearing
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