My dog sleeps on her puppies. How can I keep them safe?

Your bitch may not act like the typical mother because she is way too young to have a litter, and her mothering instincts may not have kicked in yet. Have a box, lined with warm, soft twels ready. As each pup is born, the mom should cut the cord by "scissoring" it with her teeth. If she does not, tie dental floss about four inches from the pup, and at five inches from the pup. Scrape the section in between the ties with a butter knife (you can go back and forth) until the piece of cord is shredded (shredding instead of cutting "seals" the cord better)As soon aa the cord is cut (or before, if you have to do it yourself), clear the pup's airway with a baby bulb syringe--mouth first, then nose. Finally, rub the pup vigorously with a thick towel to get it mostly dry. Put it in the towel-lined box, Have a low-watt light clipped to one side of the box so the puppy can move into and out of the warm spot on the floor of the box. Watch to be sure a placenta is delivered for each puppy. Finally, between births you can give the pup or puppies to the mom to nurse, but remove them if another pup starts to come so she doesn't hurt them accidently. call the vet for breech (feet first) birth, retained placentas, excessive bleeding, or other concerns.

I would move Misty and her puppies to the whelping box today. Typically mother dogs are pretty good at not laying on their puppies and smothering them, it's their natural instinct to not do it. You don't have to do anything unless of course you see her laying on them.

Get a baby gate to confine her to them or place them in a room. She wants to be included and if she is used to sleeping in your bed, this her solution to keep things normal and still take care of the babies. You will have to find a way to keep the puppies off the bed and restrict the mom's activity to do this for their safety.

I would make sure she has a large enough space that they aren’t cramped. If the space is large and she has still suffocated them then yes you can separate her if she will tolerate this. Some dams will not tolerate being away from their young. I would let her be with the puppies supervised every hour to allow them to nurse if they want and to allow her to clean them. Make sure the puppies have a towel to keep them warm when she isn’t there. I hope this helps!

That is a concern. Newborn puppies are fragile and can be harmed easily. You may try keeping Bella and the puppy on some sort of mattress pad with a railing to eliminate any areas where the puppy could be trapped. You may need to build a bed with the railing to prevent the puppy from getting under the mattress. If you cannot find a solution to keep the puppy safe, you may need to remove it from Bella and meet all of its needs. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Sometimes the behavior of the mother is hard to understand and honestly, I can’t explain what Soska is doing. But what’s important is that she will still feed and care for this pup. I would advise you continue to keep putting her back in the box with Soska as much as you can. Hang in there and in about a week, it will be time to start offering canned puppy food anyways and they will be better able to regulate their own temperature. Best of luck to you, Soska, and the pups!

Monitoring throughout the 8 week period until the puppies are weaned is recommended, yes, although it may be difficult while you are sleeping. Having the mom and pups in your room and setting an alarm to check on them a few times a night is reasonable. If you are able to get someone to watch them that's great. Otherwise minimize the amount of time they are left alone as much as possible, and try to get a dog sitter if you will be gone more than an hour. Breeding dogs is a lot of work, and it is important to keep track of the mom and pups' progress by checking on them frequently. Here is some more information on birthing puppies https://www.vin.com/veterinarypartner/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951546