[Sandy]

Just had a long day with Isaly started looking like pups were imminant at 9.00am, so I dressed extra quick and did not shower, she had the first Black Lab boy weighing 500Grms at just gone midday and the last pup at 7.45 pm, just in time for us to eat and watch them!! 1 Yellow Male and 4 Black ones and 3 Black Females, 7 in total, Islay looks comfy and happy, so do we, not too sure about Rhum, Rohan and Ben, think they have missed attention today so I shall have to give them extra cuddles now!!!!!!

[little blue]

congratulations to you and Islay!

[silver swan]

FAB! New life. Congrats. Lots of love, post piccies ASAP please.

Warmest wishes. XXX

[JulieS]

Congratulations 

[chickenfeed]

congratulations. enjoy them they soon grow up, our first 2 went on to their new homes at the weekend and the last will go this weekend.

[Sandy]

This is Islays second litter, we kept one from the last, we love having them but boy am I tierd!!!! I slept next to them and we also had a baby monitor on them and a camera so my Husband could here them too!!!!!! I know it gets better!!! chickenfeed, what colour our yours?

[knightquest]

congratulations 

Ian

[shrekfeet]

Tell me Sandy, why do you need to sleep next to them/monitir them so closely? What are you watching for?

[doganjo]

Tell me Sandy, why do you need to sleep next to them/monitir them so closely? What are you watching for?

A good breeder sleeps next to their pups in case any of them get into difficulties - only the first few nights needed, after that they are usually of a size that they can get out of trouble.  You wouldn't hear any distress sounds from the pups in another room.

[Rosemary]

Congratulations, all.

[Sandy]

I have a baby mo nitor next to them also so I could go to my bedroom but, being in a bed next to them until they are bigger, I can look in on them to make sure none are being crushed. Last time our Lab sat on one and I was devastated as I could hear it but then it went quiet so I thought it was OK, so now, as long as I wake up when I hear one in distress, I can check. ANother thing is the bitch, Isaly will move away from them when they are older, and when she gets back into feed them, again, she can jump ontop of them so if I am around, I can move them out of her way. In the wild I suppose, the fittest survive but I want all of our pups to get a good chance, what I cannot prevent happens but, a few hours loss sleep is fine by me, and they are so cute!! 

[shrekfeet]

They really are cute!
Do you not have a rail around the edge of your whelping box?
New to this breeding lark and want to be sure I do things on the right way

[doganjo]

They really are cute!
Do you not have a rail around the edge of your whelping box?
New to this breeding lark and want to be sure I do things on the right way

The rail helps, certainly, and the box Sandy has now is much better than the ones I have used in the past.  It has a sort of shelf all the way round, whereas mine had round roll bars that were a bit close to the ground.  My pups got wedged underneath, and if I hadn't been sleeping in the same room I wouldn't have known.  Bitches can be a bit clumsy in the early days so you need to be alert.  Sandy is doing it as it should be done.

If you rear pups correctly and have fed the bitch properly you don't make much money breeding dogs. What it is really is forced saving more than anything else.  I have calculated my time as being worth 5p an hour!

[Sandy]

THis box has a shelf as a rail I found worse as the pups get stuck behind it. Pups naturaly go behind mum and they now go under the shelf, I still move them if I can but Islay rests her head on the top of the box and the shelf acts as a great safe place for the pups, brilliant box and relitavly cheap but we bought a huge 8x4 one as we wanted the extra space for later!! Best buy for us, found it on E Bay and its made of marine ply and comes apart easily, I shall try to find the link as on E bay it was difficult, they had an add with Boxers as a p hoto and said that another company is arguing over registering copywrite etc!!

[shrekfeet]

any info on the whelping box would be appreciated.

Fail to see how you can't make a reasonable profit providing all goes to plan. Let's face it, how much extra food and puppy food do you need? Depends on the breed and size of litter of course but if there was no money to be made then people wouldn't be breeding them. Perhaps you could convince me by illustrating costs?