So once your dog has given birth and you make sure that mom's healthy and the puppies are healthy, the biggest thing you're going to want to do is make sure mom has plenty of puppy food available because she's going to be producing a lot of milk for a lot of puppies. And that will take a lot of energy. And you'll want to take each of the puppies and weigh them on a little kitchen scale so that you know how they're gaining weight. So at least once a day, preferably twice a day, you can keep track of which puppy and how they're gaining weight so that if there's a problem, or if you suspect a problem, we can track it that way.

It depends on the dog and her experience level, but many of them will take care of everything themselves. They'll open the sack; they’ll lick the puppy and stimulate it and tear the umbilical cord. So they'll do all the work for you. Some newer moms or nervous moms may need a little bit of extra help. And so that's when you want to ride the line between being helpful but also giving her space so that you're not all up in her space at the time. But, if you're concerned that she might not know what she's doing, that's when you keep a close eye, and you might have to intervene.

So ultrasound is only about 30% accurate for determining the number of puppies that she'll have. So when you ultrasound, it's more to determine if she's pregnant and if you need to start changing plans. And if you only see a couple, it might put on your radar that there may be fewer, and that can cause problems down the road. But the proper way to count puppies is to do an x-ray around the last week of her pregnancy when all the puppies’ bones have formed so they'll show up on the x-ray. And that's the best way to count all the tiny skeletons and see how many puppies to expect.

With smaller litters, the signal for the body to go and start delivering puppies depends on something produced by the puppies. And so, when there aren't as many puppies, they may not produce enough. And so, the mom might not start labor on her own. So that's more something to watch out for. But, it's something we just keep on our radar. It's not guaranteed there'll be issues.

It depends. So dogs do very well on their own, and that's fine. And that's plan A. But, some dogs, some breeds, especially our little smooshed-face or brachycephalic breeds, tend to need a C-section. And so we can plan for that. And then, as complications arrive, they might need some intervention there, whether it's medical management or if we need to go to surgery. Those are things that we can discuss based on the case.

During labor. The big four categories. If it's been more than two hours between a puppy. So she's had one, and it's been more than two hours; you need to put it on your radar that there might be a complication. If she's actively been pushing and it's been more than 30 minutes and a puppy hasn't come out. So that's not just laying there and hanging out—that's actively pushing. She should produce a puppy within 30 minutes of that; otherwise, again, it could be a complication. Black discharge at any point is concerning. Green discharge before the first puppy, or if it's excessive, can be concerning. And then blood. Birthing in dogs is actually not a bloody process. So if you see just straight blood, then that should be something you're watching out for.

Yeah. So if you set up a whelping box, then it's best to do it about a week or so before so they can start getting used to it. You can put food in there and make it a happy place so that they take advantage of your efforts instead of setting up their own shop.

So things you would look out for would be nesting behavior—the mama dog trying to find a quiet corner and make an area for her to have puppies. You'll also start to know you're toward the end when she balloons out and the puppies are taking up space in her abdomen. And then another way to check is to have a thermometer and check her temperature twice a day, starting about a week before you expect her to be due. It's not foolproof, but if there's a drop in temperature, usually about one degree, it'll go to 97 or 98, then 24 hours after that is about when you would expect her to start whelping.

So usually, they don't start showing until the last trimester, so that's the last two to three weeks. So if you're at that point and she's ballooning out a bit, then you should be on alert that they may be coming soon. Bring her to a vet, so we know how many to expect.

Also, at about a week before the due date, if you start taking the temperature twice a day, you can look for a drop in temperature, usually about one degree from her baseline, and it will get you around 97 or 98. It doesn't always happen. But if it does happen, usually about 24 hours later is when you'd expect her to start having the puppies.