Whelping Schedule for Agitated Mother

Q: I have a litter of 9 standard Poodle puppies, and I would like to know how much time the mom should stay in her whelping box. Should they be locked in all the time except to go out for potty, food and water and then there after 3 times a day for 15 minutes so that they do not dry up or can they come and go as they please with the gate open. My girl starts to pant and bark quite a lot when she has been in there for quite a while and so I feel sorry for her and let her out for a while. It would be nice to know if there is a time schedule that works.

A: I have a few rules that I use to monitor situations like this. Are the puppies gaining weight? Are the puppies mostly quiet and content? Is the whelping box clean? If the answer to these questions are yes, then you girl is doing her job! I have 2 kinds of Mom’s here, the first is obsessive and I almost have to drag them out of the whelping box with a lead. Then once they have eaten and done their business outside, they literally run back to the box and stay there until I leash them to go out again. And then there are what I call my “teen moms.” The teen mom jumps in the box, nurses, cleans, and pops out to make sure that they don’t miss the party in the kitchen. Heaven forbid a piece of food drops, and they miss it! I used to stress about this, thinking they were bad mothers, but they aren’t. However, the teen mom’s puppies gain well, are quiet and clean too. Therefore, three items - are they gaining, are they clean and are they quiet,  are what I use as a litmus test, and they work well.  Teen mom just is not obsessed with parenting. So once the criteria above are met, I let my girls decide how they are going to mother their puppies, and I give them the ability to get in and out of the box as they see fit. This seems to make happier moms and certainly reduces my stress too.