RetrieverTraining.Net - the RTF banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

* Whelping Best Practices *

Jump to Latest
1 - 14 of 14 Posts
K

Kirkd

· Registered
Joined
·
292 Posts
Discussion starter · #1 ·
So I have only had one litter in the past and to say the least it was a great learning experience. I am looking for some advice around several areas and anything else that you could add. It looks like I am going to have two litters drop within 1 week of each other. So I am trying to stay in front of the potential issues. This experience might just cause me to not have any other litters.

1) The last litter my dog lost a lot of her hair. What kind of supplements or options are out their to help with hair loss.

2) I have two 4*6 pens that are indoors to whelp in. I have guard rails to put inside to keep pups from squeezing through are getting pushed. I am planning on building a platform that sits under the pen that has a fiberglass top for easy clean up. Clean up consumed most of my time last litter. What have you used as a pen floor surface to help keep it clean.

3) Any good videos, books or your personal thoughts that you would recommend on whelping. I really want to make sure that I cover all the bases the couple of weeks.

Thanks for your advice.
 
#2 · (Edited)
To address point number one, 3 words

Get the Furmidor!!!



Last litter, my dog lost so much hair I asked the vet if my dog was sick.
This time around I'm brushing several times a day to stay ahead of the hair problem.

Good luck with your 2 litters at one time, I can't even image.
 
#4 ·
I put my girls on a supplement called PLATINUM PERFORMANCE once theyve weaned. Its great stuff- has signifigantly reduced the shedding after a litter and helps them bounce back very quick. Theres a website- and good customer service,they'll have it out to you immediately. Get the canine stuff of course.
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#5 ·
Kirkd said:
I here you. I was hoping there was something that could help with the hair loss. She looked really rough last time.
Click to expand...
Cram as much food into her as you possibly can.
I cook hamburger, chicken with skin, anything with fat, and mix with dry food, along with plain yogurt.
Have dry food always available if they want it..
 
#6 ·
IMHO hair loss relates to the individual bitch's frame of health before, after and during the pregnancy. If your bitch is in tip top health before the pregnancy you may have little hair loss after nursing. The only exception is if the end of nursing coincides with the spring and normal shedding. Most of my females don't drop coat much with the pregnancy but they are fed well supplemented with omega fatty acids year round; therefore, you start by building them up months before they are bred.
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#8 ·
the book Whelping and Rearing of Puppies a complete and practical guide by Mariel Lee. Was mentioned to me on here and I recomend it.
I put down cheap vinyl flooring down on top of my carpet with a pen on top After they got old enough to climb out of the whelping box. Easy clean up. You can mop it and through away when done
 
#9 · (Edited)
We have two puppy rooms, climate controled, with dog doors to small exercise areas covered with 6 inches of washed gravel. The two rooms have linolium floor wall to wall. Whelping box has puppy rail 4 1/2 inches off the floor, extending out 4 1/2 from box wall. The whelping box has 2 2'X4' rubber backed rugs that are covered with artifical fleece that extends 6" beyond edge of whelping box. This is changed every 3 to 4 days or as needed to maintain sanitary conditions.

By the 5th week the pups are going outside, thru the dog door to the washed gravel to eliminate. Room mopped as needed prior to that, and even so TWO LITTERS AT THE SAME TIME IS ONE BIG PITA,especially if you happen to be old.

The exercise area have 6 ft chain link (with 2X4 welded wire covering the pens if needed to keep hawks and owls away from puppies). Have fun!!! Bill
________
RufousSexyGrl
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#10 ·
Like Chris said the hair lose is from hormonal changes. Last time I bred my girl, as soon as the pups were weaned I started giving her Inflight. You can find it at http://inflightcoatformula.com/ . I didn't use it the first time I bred her an the difference was remarkable.! Her coat still got thin but came back really quickly. I started feeding it to the other dogs in the house when I noticed that she was hardly shedding at all and walah, the sheding went down significantly on all my dogs.

The book that I use most while whelping and raising puppies is, Puppy Intensive Care by Myra Savant Harris. It is a great book on caring for the litter as a whole and addresses many problems that you can run into while whelping and raising a litter.

I too use the cheap vinyl flooring that I picked up at Home Depot. I put it under the 4 x 4 whelping box and when the puppies were ready for a bigger space I put 2 sheets together by duct taping the underside and put a double exercise pen on top of it. A little news paper at one end and the puppies for the most part started paper training themselves while I was at work. Clean up was easy, just throw away the old paper and mop and put down new.
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#11 · (Edited)
Chris S. said:
Nancy, I will let my vet know your opinion. Silly him, he thought the hair loss was due to the drastic hormonal changes taking place in the bitch during the weaning process.
Click to expand...
Look, I'm not going to say your vet is incorrect that it has to do with hormones, but I can't imagine that my females don't have changes in hormones the same as other females, and yet they retain full coats except in the spring, but I have seen females that look terrible and have bald tails and sides probably from a stressful pregnancy.
I looked up the supplements mentioned on this thread and they contain omega fatty acids, and I feed my Canine Shine to everyone year round.
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
Discussion starter · #14 ·
Do you have some pictures that you could share?

Thanks sounds like a great set up.

Bill Watson said:
We have two puppy rooms, climate controled, with dog doors to small exercise areas covered with 6 inches of washed gravel. The two rooms have linolium floor wall to wall. Whelping box has puppy rail 4 1/2 inches off the floor, extending out 4 1/2 from box wall. The whelping box has 2 2'X4' rubber backed rugs that are covered with artifical fleece that extends 6" beyond edge of whelping box. This is changed every 3 to 4 days or as needed to maintain sanitary conditions.

By the 5th week the pups are going outside, thru the dog door to the washed gravel to eliminate. Room mopped as needed prior to that, and even so TWO LITTERS AT THE SAME TIME IS ONE BIG PITA,especially if you happen to be old.

The exercise area have 6 ft chain link (with 2X4 welded wire covering the pens if needed to keep hawks and owls away from puppies). Have fun!!! Bill
Click to expand...
 
1 - 14 of 14 Posts
About this Discussion
13 Replies
9 Participants
Last post:
Kirkd
RetrieverTraining.Net - the RTF
posts
1.5M
members
36K
Since
2003
A forum community dedicated to retriever owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about breeding, training, health, behavior, housing, adopting, care, classifieds, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
General Retriever Training Forum Event Information AKC Field Trials Equipment, Gear & Miscellaneous Classifieds Training