[bjh]

I am glad everyone is doing better. Did you dock the tails yourself. Honestly you should have done the dewclaws at the same time. I would recommend having the dewclaws removed but I would not wait past tomorrow to have it done.

It is not unusually for the mom to make a nest for the babies. For my whelping box I use a bottomless wooden box that my husband made and I sit the box on top of the bedding so the mom can't dig and accidentally bury a pup in the bedding. I put a small fleece blanket in the whelping box so the mom can cover them with that if she chooses to.

As the pups get older they will eat less often and the mom will spend more time away from them. When the pups are old enough to start walking you will need to make it where the mom can come and go from the pen the pups are in. I use a board to divide the x-pen so mom can just jump over the board to get to her pups when she wants to.