Your Litter A to Z|

Nov. 18, 2021

Your Litter A to Z, Module 9 - Your Litter's First Week

Birth to Day 7, the first week of the Neonatal Period

Module 9 Documents

Required Reading

Read Your Litter's First Week

What’s In This Module

Topics listed as “New” are new course content. Others are unchanged from past modules.

Basics and Set Up

Bitch Care

Puppy Development

Puppy Care

Additional Resources - New

Week 1 Basics and Set Up - New Content

The first week after birth is when pups are the most fragile. They are completely dependent upon their mom and you for their survival. To give them the best care possible, read this week’s Required Reading FIRST, then get the checklists and reminders so you don’t overlook anything from lack of sleep.

From this point to the end of the course, some of the things we should do for our dam, pups and owners may be repeated from week to week. We include these repeated items in the modules because some students might start at that point. To help you identify new content, if that’s what you want to focus on, we are identifying it in both the What’s in This Module list and in the page content.

Administrative Schedule

Use our Administrative Schedule (Excel format) to track the paperwork, supply ordering and more that you need to do before sending your pups home.

The Whelping Room and Box

1. Temperature. Put a thermometer in the whelping box, say on the pig rail, to monitor its temperature. Even a 1- or 2-degree difference matters to puppies and dams. You want to keep the box at a temperature between 68F and 80F, depending on the size of your dam and pups, as well as their coats. Puppies that are crying constantly, may well be too hot or too cold. Go to the required reading for tips on how to tell.

Puppies cannot tolerate drafts so you need to protect them from fans and air conditioner vents as you manage the room temperature. Drape a sheet over the whelping box, if there are drafts in your whelping room. One of the easiest ways to drape is to put in ex-pen around 3 of the 4 sides of the whelping box, leaving the front free. Then drape a bedsheet over the ex-pen to create a draft-free den.

2. Security. Assess how secure and calm your bitch feels. If she is concerned about your other dogs or noises, then help her feel more secure by using a white-noise machine, keeping the other dogs farther away, and unplugging your doorbell.

3. Safety. Evaluate your box for puppy safety. Are they able to get under the pig rail, if you have one? Is your dam’s water bowl too low?

4. Cleanliness. You should be cleaning and disinfecting at least twice a day, replacing the bedding with clean, dry mats or sheepskin.

5. Traction. Are your puppies slipping? Can they get up on your dam’s abdomen? If not, get some Wonder Fleece or other less slippery bedding.

Equipment and Supplies - New items

Bitch and Puppy Care
Cleaning and Disinfecting
Diarrhea Treatments
Galactagogue (Increasing Milk) Treatments

Caring for Your Bitch

Your pups are here and hopefully, hopefully your bitch is a doting mom after the whelping. Let’s discuss what you should be doing for your dam for the first few days of the pups’ lives. Your bitch’s primary function is to mother, care for, and feed her puppies. Her body is recovering from the whelping, whether it was a natural birth or a Cesarean section. Even in natural whelpings, she might have some pain following the birth and her uterus must heal from each placental site, rid itself of any debris remaining from the birth, and involute or shrink back down to its normal size.

Monitoring Your Bitch’s Health

It is essential to monitor your dam’s health and behavior throughout the day and night. This is a time that she is more at risk for infections and bizarre behaviors that may put your pups at risk.

Continue to take your bitch’s temperature twice a day for the first 3-4 days following the birth of her pups and be sure to record it on the Temperature Chart. Her temp is likely to be slightly elevated for the next few days, typically around 102F. Unless her temperature reaches 103F, you should not be concerned as long as she is acting like a healthy mom.

Healthy dams:

  • Are attentive to their puppies, spending nearly 24 hours a day with them for the first 5 days. After that, she may begin to spend time nearby.
  • Are relaxed and comfortable in the whelping box, licking, nuzzling, and cleaning her pups between naps.
  • Have a slightly higher than normal temperature but not above 103F.
  • Have some vaginal discharge.
  • Eat and drink but may be picky about where she does these activities.
  • Have soft stool, even diarrhea.
  • Are protective of their puppies, especially against other dogs, even housemates, and people.

Problem behaviors. If your dam is exhibiting any of the following signs, take action immediately:

  • strange, erratic, or aggressive behaviors
  • lethargy
  • smelly, pussy discharge
  • vomiting
  • showing signs of physical incoordination, mental dullness, or seizures

If you see any of these, your first step should be to take your bitch’s temperature. If it is above 103F, start cooling her and call your vet. Next, give her oral calcium. Then, watch the Monitoring Dams Video below to determine next your steps.

Feeding Your Bitch

Your bitch should still be on a reproductive diet: high protein, moderate fat and some carbohydrates. See What to Feed This Week for specifics but to help prevent mastitis you can add add non-GMO sunflower lecithin granules or powder to her food. (Liquid lecithin does not prevent mastitis so get the dry form.) You can also reduce the amount of folic acid you are feeding to 800 mcg, if you want to for milk production. Otherwise, you can eliminate it completely.

How much you should feed depends upon the number of surviving pups and her physical condition. Your bitch doesn’t need to eat more than you have been feeding her in the 3rd trimester unless she is underweight. The pups will not place a big demand on her body this week and overfeeding dams is one of the primary causes of dam and puppy diarrhea. See the chart below to determine if she has a small, average or large litter.

  • Small litter – feed her 10% more per pup of her maintenance amount
  • Average litter – increase her food to 200% of maintenance or twice as much as her maintenance amount
  • Large litter – increase her food to 250% of maintenance or 2 ½ times as much as her maintenance amount

It isn’t unusual for bitches to be reluctant to eat or drink in these first days. Water is essential for health and milk production so add low-sodium chicken or beef stock to her water to encourage her to drink. She may need to have you hold the water bowl or the bowl outside the whelping box for her to drink willingly. (Be very careful leaving a water bowl in the whelping box since pups may crawl into it and be unable to get out.)

If she isn’t eating, try:

Using Oral Calcium

In the last 5 years, breeders have realized that oral calcium supplementation can dramatically, if not completely, alleviate strange behaviors in bitches, from simple anxiety to overt aggression toward dogs, people, and her pups. A similar type of hypocalcia that does not show on bloodwork has been found in cows, too. However, calcium supplementation in bitches has not been studied yet so our guidance is based on anecdotal results from thousands of breeders. Unlike injectable calcium, oral forms do not cause heart or skin issues and can be given in large doses for short periods without any known problems.

The behaviors that oral calcium has successfully resolved include:

  • Poor mothering
  • Anxiety
  • Digging in or out of the whelping box
  • Restlessness
  • Trying to hide
  • Leaving whelping box and puppies
  • Ignoring puppies
  • Refusing to clean puppies
  • Moving puppies
  • Burying puppies
  • Growling at puppies
  • Biting her puppies
  • Growling at familiar people

If you see any of these behaviors in your bitch, first take her body temperature to be sure she doesn’t have a fever or eclampsia. (Remember it will likely be higher than normal, up to 102.9F.)

If her temp is normal, try giving her oral calcium. The Calcium Report covers the details about calcium: which products are best when, how to use it, and more. Use the Calcium Calculator for Whelping & Afterwards to get a starting dose for your bitch. You can go much higher than this dose for a while without harm. At the same time, calcium isn’t essential so if your bitch is calm and settled without it, there is no reason for you to give it.

Increasing Milk Supply – New Content

If by Day 4 your pups are nursing most of the time but not gaining weight daily, take steps to increase your dam’s milk supply. Don’t start these steps before Day 4 or you may overstimulate milk production and cause mastitis. For more on increasing milk supply, read Increasing Your Dam’s Milk Supply and watch Inadequate Milk Supply and Galactagogues in Monitoring Dams Video.

First, assess your bitch’s diet. Is she getting enough of a quality reproductive diet that includes starchy carbohydrates?

  • Is she eating enough? If not, go to the My Bitch Won’t Eat section of the Required Reading
  • Is her diet adequate for lactation? If not, tweak it according to the What to Feed This Week
  • Is she drinking enough? Liquids are essential for milk production so be sure to get a lot into her by adding more water to her meals, making “soup” for her, and/or adding broth or stock to her water. Since we are no longer worried about over-supplementing with calcium, bone, beef, chicken or other meat stocks/broths are fine.
  • Can you add some more good calories to her diet? Adding cooked non-instant oatmeal and/or liver water to her meals or feeding her Mother’s Pudding or Chicken soup often works well. See recipes below.

Try these appetite stimulants to get your girl eating.

Mother’s Pudding

Liver Water

Chicken Soup

  • Breeders have used this “soup” for years because many bitches love it and it gets water, calcium, and protein into them.
    Ingredients
    ❑ 1 broiler chicken
    ❑ water to cover
    Put the chicken in a large pot and cover it with water. Boil on low heat until the bones in the chicken are totally soft. This can take several hours. Skim any foam off the soup, cool slightly, and use a blender to grind a little of the soup at a time. Add more water or stock to make a soupy consistency. Feed it to your girl or mix it with her food as a treat.

Exercise – New Content

Should you exercise your bitch this week? In a word, No! The last thing a bitch with neonates needs is exercise. Limit her activities to short on-leash or in-yard walks for the first week. Do not do any skill training and no flexibility, balance, proprioception, or strength exercises. You want her to put all of her energy, focus, and time into her puppies and her own body.

As the pups reach 5 to 7 days, you may find your bitch getting bored with hours in the whelping box. Hold off on exercise but you can let her hang out in the whelping room near the expen. 

For more on Week 1 Exercise and Fitness, go to Lesson 8 in Fit To Be Tied.

Post C-Section Care

Bitches are remarkable in their ability to withstand a c-section. Pain meds these days are quite safe for puppies so she should get an injection before she leaves the clinic and will likely be on a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID), Gabapentin, Tramadol or some combination for a few days. You can also ask your vet to give a shot of oxytocin (0.25-1 unit total dose, SubQ every 2 hours) to trigger mothering and one of metoclopramide HCL (0.1-0,2 mg/kg, subQ, every 12 hours) to promote milk production (Baker and Davidson, 2009).

C-section incisions are made down the centerline of the abdomen and then stitched. Her breasts will fold over the incision so the pups will not bother it. Incisions rarely get infected and usually heal quickly, though obviously, you have to monitor it for heat, redness, or seepage of pus or blood. In addition, take your bitch’s temperature twice daily. It is likely to be higher than normal but it should not be at or above 103°F. If you see any of these signs, head back to the vet’s office.

Your biggest post-c-section challenges are likely to be your bitch’s response to the pups and poor milk production. When she wakes up, she will have no idea those are her puppies. This is usually a bigger problem with maiden bitches than experienced mothers. She has no idea what has happened to her, does not recognize the puppies as hers, and does not yet have the hormone levels needed to help her make sense of the situation.

Your girl may ignore or even hate her puppies. She may be terrified by them. She may attack or run away from them. Plan to have someone’s hands on her for 24 hours after the surgery. You may not need to do it that long but it is worth the extra measure of safety.

During this c-section recovery period, give her lots of calcium and intranasal oxytocin to help settle her and bond her to her pups. Dr Stuart Mason has effectively used a compounded intranasal oxytocin spray for many years to improve maiden bitch behavior and mothering after c-sections. His article is in the Appendix but here are a few details. To use this, have your vet order an oxytocin solution from a compounding pharmacist to a dilution rate of 10 IU oxytocin/0.1 mL and administered via a human nasal spray bottle (0.1 mL/spray). Dose your bitch every 2 hours (Lopate C, personal communication) until the bitch is mothering well, usually within 12-24 hours.

You should also limit exercise to short, on-leash potty walks for 10 days after the c-section to allow the incision to heal. Even after that, it can take many weeks for the internal wounds to heal and internal stitches to dissolve. Go very slowly recovering your bitch’s fitness, adding at least a week to each period, from Early Lactation to Recovery.

Mastitis – New Content

Mastitis is an inflammation of breast tissue, often caused by an infection but can also be the result of a blocked duct. The severity of mastitis ranges from mild to fatal but most often falls in the mid-range, where the bitch doesn’t feel well but recovers quickly with at-home treatment and antibiotics. Regular checks and prompt action are invaluable. For details and treatments, go here.

Eclampsia – New Content

Eclampsia or hypocalcemia is a life-threatening condition that develops when a bitch’s calcium levels in her blood drop precipitously. This sets up an avalanche of physiological events that trigger high body temperature, seizures, weakness, and in the most serious cases, death. It most often occurs two to four weeks after whelping when nursing demands are highest but it can also occur before the pups are born and any time during lactation.

Despite how dangerous it sounds, eclampsia is rare in bitches. When it does occur, it strikes primarily toy breeds with large litters and maiden bitches. However, breeders should not fear eclampsia and should instead focus on feeding proper nutrition and simply being aware of the symptoms of this problem. For details and treatments, go here.

Metritis

Metritis is a very serious, potentially fatal, inflammation of the lining of the uterus from a serious bacterial infection that usually shows up in the first week after whelping. It is a rare condition but dystocia and placental retention may be involved. Although breeders often call this post-whelp infection pyometra, it is not the same disease.

Bitches with metritis will usually:

  • feel very bad and be apparently ill
  • vaginal discharge that has pus (pink or pus yellow) in it, is green, and/or smells badly
  • have a swollen abdomen
  • be dehydrated (the skin stays tented for a few seconds when pinched)
  • have dark red gums

Bitches with metritis must be seen by a veterinarian ASAP. With a quick response, there are successful treatments. For more info on treatments, go here.

Colostrum

The first milk that dams produce may not appear very substantial but it provides newborns everything they need. Puppies are born with almost no antibodies in their blood so colostrum provides them with systemic immune protection (IgG, IgM, IgA antibodies), to protect them not only from global diseases like parvo and distemper, but also from local pathogens. Colostrum also plays a major role in local digestive protection, due to IgA, lysozyme, lactoferrin, white blood cells and various cytokines. Finally, colostrum provides energy to baby puppies to get them started.

Colostrum provides the pups with digestive protection and energy until the next milk comes in but a pup’s gut only allows for the passing of antibody cells through the gut wall for a short period after its birth. The intestinal barrier begins closing off to some larger cells like antibodies (IgG and IgM) as soon as 4 hours after birth. By 12 hours, few antibodies are getting through so nursing in the first 4 hours after birth improves a pup’s chance of survival significantly. Proteins, fats, and other nutrients continue to pass so the pup receives important nutrition but not the initial immune boost that colostrum provides.

Pups That Did Not Get Colostrum

Pups may not get colostrum because their mom is too sick to nurse or perhaps has even died. Other pups may not receive it because they are too weak to nurse or have a birth defect that makes nursing impossible. If you have a pup that did not receive colostrum from its dam, either collect colostrum from your dam to tube or bottle feed it, or make artificial colostrum to give to it. Pages 14-15 of Your Puppies’ First 48 Hours covers how to do this.

Neonatal Puppies

Neonatal puppies differ dramatically from older pups and adults. As a result, many of our go-to solutions aren’t appropriate for these baby pups. They have different body temperatures, different responses to drugs, and different needs. In addition, many of the methods of the past, such as keeping whelping room temperatures very high and removing mothers from the box, are not beneficial to pups.

Read How Do Neonate Puppies Differ From Adult Dogs and watch the video below.

The Importance of Mothers

Dog moms provide nearly everything puppies need right after birth, from colostrum to warmth to cleanliness. Assuming your dam is good with her pups, your job is to support her. If she is not doing well with her pups, showing aggression or ignoring them, watch Monitoring Your Dam and Puppies for the next steps.

Healthy Puppies

It is essential to monitor your puppies’ health at least twice a day, if not more frequently, this week. In fact, if it’s possible, monitor the litter throughout the day and night because neonate puppies can slip away very quickly.

Healthy puppies:

  • Feel heavier than they look.
  • Are stronger than they appear
  • Gain weight every day, even a small amount! Even the first day, regardless of what old breeder’s tales say. Weigh your pups every day and expect a daily gain. If a pup isn’t gaining on a daily basis, take some action. First, give it more opportunity to nurse. If that doesn’t help, check its vitals and respond accordingly. If all seems fine, supplement the pup.

Monitoring puppies includes:

  • Weighing. Weigh each pup twice a day and record its weight on the Puppy Weight Worksheets below. If a pup isn’t gaining weight each day, go to the Supplementing section.
  • Observing. Observe each pup’s behavior and movements. They should twitch when they sleep, move toward their mom unless lost, and nurse the whole time they aren’t sleeping.
  • Listening. Listen for crying. Pups emit a mewing sound when looking for a nipple and can scream their heads off when not happy but they should not cry constantly. If yours are, take action. Start by checking the temperature in the box to see if they are too cold or hot. If that isn’t the cause, go to Do You Have A Sick Puppy?
  • Feeling. Pups should feel plump and heavier than they appear. Their muscles are firm. They should not be limp or flaccid. If they are, go to Do You Have A Sick Puppy?

Weigh Your Pups Twice a Day

The most important thing for you to monitor in your puppies is their weight. Weight gains are the best indicator of a puppy’s vigor and health. Weigh your pups at least twice a day and record each weighing. Puppies should NOT lose weight in the first 24 hours after birth so be prepared to take action if they do. At the same time, a bitch’s milk usually doesn’t come in for 2-3 days post-whelping so don’t worry if she isn’t bagging up. The pups are getting all-important colostrum during this period.

The spreadsheet has two worksheets–Puppy Weights and Instructions. Put your puppies’s weights in the row for the correct day on the first sheet. You can use grams, ounces, or pounds for weights. As you add more weights for each pup, the spreadsheet will calculate % gained and cell will turn green if the pup gained, yellow if it held steady, and red if the pup loses. If a pup isn’t gaining consistently, go to When and How to Supplement Newborn Puppies below.

 

Puppy Weight Trackers

Sick, Fading and Weak Puppies

Regular (if not continuous) monitoring of your pups is critical in these first few days. Anytime you have a pup that is not thriving, your first steps should be to check them over for problems.

Pups that aren’t thriving:

  • are not gaining weight
  • are not moving around
  • are not nursing nearly continuously
  • often cry a lot or continuously
  • have rattling in their chest
  • have a bloated or distended belly
  • are limp or flacid
  • have red-currant-jelly poop
  • have a purple abdomen and pads
  • have a blue cast, tongue and nose

Evaluating and Treating Weak or Sick Puppies

When a pup isn’t doing well, immediately evaluate it using these steps. Don’t delay! Puppies that are in trouble this week can die very quickly. Read Monitoring Vitals in Neonate Puppies to find out more and what to do. Use the Tracking form if you have a pup that is struggling.

1. Check the pup’s breathing. Noisy, labored, open-mouthed, rapid or dramatic gut breathing are indicators of problems. If the pup is not breathing well, give it oxygen to pups with medial oxygen or . If you don’t have oxygen on hand, hold the pup with its tilted down at a 45-degree angle or less. Rub its back and sides vigorously with a soft towel and suction the pup with a Delee catheter or bulb syringe. If your vet has given you antibiotics for the litter, start the pup on them or get it evaluated by your vet.

2. Check for dehydration by tapping on the pup’s gums. Puppy gums should be smooth and moist not tacky, sticky, or dry. Tenting the skin on the back of their necks is NOT a valid measure since all pups will tent this week. If you suspect dehydration, give warmed subQ fluids.

3. Check the pup’s temperature with a rectal thermometer. This week, it should be 96-97 F (35.6 to 36.1 C). If the pup’s temperature is lower, start warming it immediately on a heating pad or in a warming box/incubator. This is known as hypothermia and will shut down all of the pup’s systems, including digestion. NEVER TUBE FEED A CHILLED PUPPY! If the pup’s temperature is above 98 F, the pup has been kept in too warm a location. Carefully cool the pup off and/or put the pup on antibiotics. Be cautious how you choose to cool the pup because pups can’t maintain their body temperature. Overcooling is possible.

4. Evaluate or treat for low blood sugar. If the pup is weak, either give it glucose or check its blood sugar with a glucose monitor but know it can be tough to get enough blood from a neonate pup. It may take cutting two or more nails too short and quickly getting the drops of blood on the test strip. If you succeed, if your pup is below 90 it is in trouble. Let it suck a little white corn syrup (light Karo syrup) off your finger or better yet, dose it with homemade or medical glucose solution (recipe below).5. Treating abdominal bloating. If your pup’s belly is bloated, it may have gas or constipation.

  • Give the pup several baby gas drops (simethicone). Depending upon the size of your pup, give just a drop to .1 or even .2 ml.
  • Try to stimulate it to defecate by massaging its anus with a cotton ball dampened with warm water. The poop might be yellow or brown but should not be red, white or black.
  • If the pup does not poop, insert a lubricated thermometer or end of syringe gently into the rectum to stimulate the pup to defecate.
  • If none of this helps, take the pup to vet for an exam and possible enema.

Give a Weak Pup a Kickstart

Sometimes smaller or weaker pups in the first few days just need a kickstart to energize them so they can nurse. Formula is not a kickstart because digestion takes too much energy. Thus, kickstarts give pups energy without high digestion demands.

Coffee – Brewed caffeinated coffee can stimulate weak or fading puppies. Put a drop of warmed, not hot, coffee on the pup’s tongue. Repeat only 2 or 3 times.

Karo Syrup/Frosting – The sugar in these products can revive neonatal pups that are struggling. Put a drop of
Karo syrup or a small dab of colored frosting on the pup’s tongue.

Homemade 5% Glucose Solution (Karo Syrup-Pedialyte recipe, from The Joy of Breeding Your Own Show Dog by Anne Serrano)

  • Mix one teaspoon of white corn syrup (light Karo syrup) in four tablespoons unflavored Pedialyte, ideally warmed.
  • Weigh the weak or ill pup.
  • Using an eyedropper, give ONE DROP AT A TIME until you have given the pup 5-6 drops per 100 grams or 3.5 ounces of body weight. Place each drop on the puppy’s tongue, making sure it has swallowed the drop before giving the next.
  • Repeat this every four hours until the pup perks up and starts nursing. Be sure to weigh the puppy each time to use the correct amount of glucose solution.

Fading Pups

Fading puppy syndrome is a frustrating phenomenon when a seemingly healthy puppy starts to fade. Turning this around can be tough. More than in the past, we now know that canine herpes virus (CHV) is the cause of many fading puppies. If your pups might have CHV, get to your vet and use the CHV Treatment worksheet.

This video by Dr Susan Whitakerhill gives some good insights and a case study of a fading pup that was saved. There is no sound in this video so read closely.

Supplementing Newborn Puppies

If a pup is not gaining weight daily, you need to do something to change the situation. Smaller pups that are nursing vigorously and gaining regularly might need only some private time on mom but pups who lose 4% from birthweight have a much lower chance of survival.

You have a few safe options to supplement pups. Before doing any supplementation, go through Supplementing Newborn Puppies. It includes the supplies and steps you need to feed neonates, as well as recipes for formula, liver water, and more.

  • Kickstarts Give Kickstarts if pups need more energy before they are 12 hours old. Unless a pup cannot nurse at all, giving formula or milk replacer within 12 hours after birth may negatively effect its immune systems and the dam’s milk production. Kickstarts provide needed energy to help the pup without interfering with these processes. Once a pup is 12 hours old, you can supplement with formula and/or use Kickstarts if it is not gaining weight or nursing normally.
  • Private nursing sessions, which is when you put larger pups in the warming box and give the smallest or smaller pups time to nurse without the big guys.
  • Bottle-feeding, which is great for “topping off” strong puppies that just aren’t gaining enough weight but since nursing takes a lot of energy and calories, it is not the best option for newborns that are really struggling..
  • Tube feeding. Tube feeding is best for very weak pups that don’t have the strength to nurse, as well as orphaned pups or those whose mom is very sick. It is the most efficient means of getting nutrition into pups without them having to expend calories.

Calculating How Much to Tube or Bottle Feed a Pup

If a pup is getting all of its nutrition from tube or bottle feeding, you will need to weigh it twice a day and use this calculator to determine how much to feed. In these first few days, you should be feeding four times a day around the clock.

If a pup is getting some of its nutrition from nursing, do not tube or bottle feed more than this calculator indicates.

Use the spreadsheet below to calculate how much to supplement your pup.  Click the link for ounces or grams, then make a copy of the spreadsheet.  The copy will be saved to your google drive for future use.

Making Formula (Milk Replacers)

There are commercial milk replacers specifically made for puppies available, but many longtime breeders use a Myra Savant Harris’s puppy formula with good success. Do not use cow’s or goat’s milk to supplement your puppies! These do not provide adequate nutrition for pups.

Bottle Feeding Your Pups

Some pups take to bottle feeding immediately while others resist it vigorously. Pups can also be very picky about the nipples you use so be prepared to adapt to your pups’ preferences. Once the pups figure the bottle out, they are usually eager to feed but initially, it can be frustrating. Here are a few hints:

  • Find bottles the puppies like and don’t give them gas.
  • Squeeze a few drops of mom’s milk on the nipple before offering it to the pup.
  • When you bottle-feed pups, do not cradle them as you would a human child on their backs in your arms. Try to replicate the position they would be in while nursing.
  • Pups often want to press their front legs against something while nursing so use a towel (and keep those toenails short).
  • Play with the angle of the bottle to find the right spot.

Here are the steps to bottle feeding:

1. Warm the formula to your body temperature.

2. Sit in a chair with your thigh parallel to the ground.

3. Lay the puppy on its stomach on your leg facing away from you.

4. Put the nipple in the pup’s mouth and then angle the bottle slightly upwards with the bottom pointing away from you.

5. Do NOT hold puppies upright or on their backs to nurse!

6. Once done, put the pup over your shoulder and pat its back until it burps.

7. Watch the video and read Bottle Feeding Puppies for more.

8. Log how much you feed each pup.

Tube Feeding Your Pups

Every breeder should know how to tube feed puppies because it is often the only way to save a weak or ill puppy. During tube feeding you insert a tube down your puppy’s throat into its stomach to give it formula. For most of us, tube feeding for the first time is a terrifying prospect but I know you can do it if you read these documents and follow these videos carefully. The absolute most important step is to measure and mark your tube. Never skip that step!

Begin by reading the Tube Feeding Puppies Report then watch the videos below and follow the steps in the report, one by one. To enlarge the videos below to full screen, click play, then click the box in the bottom right corner.

Developing Your Puppies This Week – New Content

Although our focus this week is to keep our pups alive, fed, warm, and healthy, there are some things we should do to help them develop well. This entails stimulating our pups’ senses, which in turn develops their brains and the rest of their bodies.

Challenges for Puppies

As the week goes on, you can introduce easy physical challenges to your pups if they and their dam are doing well. Starting around Day 5, add one or more of the following to the whelping box, while still ensuring the box is safe:
• Rolled towels beneath the bedding to add “hills” and “valleys” to the terrain. Pups should be up on all fours some of the time now so these changes in elevation push their brains and bodies to develop
even further.
• Large, soft dog and children’s toys to stimulate puppies. These can be stuffed or soft latex/plastic but be sure there are no hard edges or things that can catch puppies. In our opinion, there is minimal risk in using children’s toys as long as the toy’s stuffing is not accessible to the puppies (and of course there are no removable eyes, ribbons, belts, etc.). Snopes investigated this issue and found that the stuffing in some children’s toys is treated with antimicrobial chemicals to reduce the growth of bacteria, fungi, and the like. This could cause problems if puppies or dogs ingest it so throw away any torn children’s toys. However, for very young puppies, those younger than four weeks of age, children’s toys are often quite safe and very useful for introducing obstacles, textures and smells into the whelping box. We would recommend you avoid toys made in China and wash all toys before using them with your puppies.

Stimulating Puppy Senses

This week we need to:

  • handle our pups daily, gently manipulating all parts of their bodies
  • trim toenails every 3 days. Not only does this stimulate the pups’ bodies but it reduces the risk of mastitis in our bitch.
  • possibly, allow other human visitors but only if your dam welcomes them
  • do Early Neurological Stimulation, if you would like. Some Avidog breeders have stopped doing ENS while continuing to handle the pups throughout each day.

Early Scent Introduction – New Content

Scenting is our dogs’ primary sense and definitely the most important and satisfying to them. It is also one of the senses that is present in a highly developed form from birth. Early Scent Introduction (ESI) enables us to use this sense to exaand our pups brains.

Neonatal puppies, from 3 to 16 days of age, are ready and able to smell their world. You can take advantage of this to improve their adult scenting ability by doing Early Scent Introduction with your litter. It’s easy! All you need 13 unique scents and 5 seconds per puppy per day. It’s fun! Watching your pups fall in love or out of love with a smell is a hoot.

We have been doing and teaching Early Scent Introduction for fifteen years with tremendous results!

ESI has contributed to our dogs’ successes in hunt tests and field trials, nosework, search and rescue work, obedience, tracking and more. One of our dogs holds the record for the youngest golden retriever to pass the Variable Surface Tracking test at only 16 months of age. Most recently, we were selected as the AKC Breeder of the Year for Tracking.

Other breeders are having equally good results with their pups, resulting in excellent performance as Search and Rescue and detection dogs, as well as speed and confidence in every sport involving scenting, from nosework to barn hunt. Pet puppies also benefit from this simple stimulation and many breeders said they have seen improvements in confidence and stability in their pet and service dogs.

Research in dogs shows that scent work has an additional benefit for our dogs. Dogs that are taught and engage in scenting have a more optimistic attitude toward life and with that, fewer behavior problems. 

We have created a FREE handout that gives you the step-by-step instructions and a chart for logging your litter’s reactions. Don’t judge your pups by their reactions, just enjoy the response from these littlest dogs.

Have a great time introducing your puppies to the world of exciting scents!

ESI/ENS Tracking Form

Early Neurological Stimulation – New Content

In addition to informal handling and grooming, many breeders also do the formal exercises in Early Neurological Stimulation or Biosensor. There is no research supporting the benefits of these exercises but they do encourage us to gently make our pups uncomfortable, possibly improving their stress responses.

Additional Resources - includes new resources

We have collected these additional resources for quick access and in case you are interested in finding out more about topics discussed in this module.

Supplies and Equipment

Disinfecting and Cleanliness

Diarrhea Treatments

Galactagogue (Increasing Milk) Treatments

Research and Studies

Neonate Puppies

Maternal Behavior

Maternal Behavior: Sensory, Hormonal and Neural Determinants

Psychoendocrinology, F. Robert Brush,Seymour Levine, Oct 22, 2013

Maternal Care

Lactation

Beneficial Stress

Stimulation and Interactions

Your Litter A to Z Table of Contents

Section 1: Pre-Breeding

Section 2: Pregnancy & Whelping

Section 3: Litter Management: Month 1

Section 4: Litter Management: Month 2

Past Coaching Call Recordings