just a quick question
 

Hi tink is 60 days today, my question is when she had her last set of puppies she didn't know how to break the sac i did that for her ,well my question is what happens if she has them in the night how long can a baby survive untill the sac is split. last time she went to 61 days.

You stay up all night with her when she is this close. That is what I do anyway and I know alot of breeders here do this also.

As long as the cord is still attached, a pup can live some time in the sac...not the ideal situation, but some mom's can take their time tearing it open.
The problem arises if the entire puppy, sac and cord are delivered and laying on the whelping bed..then it must be opened asap.

I used to set my alarm every 2 hrs while waiting for a litter...once I checked the mom who was no more then 5 ft away in her bed...she was sound asleep, a puppy was born, still in the sac and the cord was attached inside...I quickly opened the sac, puppy was wiggling and screaming...the bitch woke up and looked surprised as I was...

I do a lot of couch time with my expectant mom in a pen right beside me
where i can touch her and i know everytime she moves or takes a drink of water :D

Yes I do that too. I am scared to fall asleep for to long so I set the alarm also but usually up anyway because I get so nervous I can't sleep.

The last week or so of pregnancy, I have my girls sleep in their whelping box in an x-pen right next to my bed. I turn into a very light sleeper at this point, and I pretty much wake up with every move she makes. If I have any idea by either her temperature being really low, or any other signs and symptoms of impending labor, I just leave the light on all night. That way I make sure that if I should fall asleep, it is just a "cat nap" (one eye and both ears still functioning) so I can leap into action, if I have to. If my girl has had any contractions during the day, I just stay up all night with her. I have been fooled into two nights without sleep, but usually I can tell ahead of time what night I actually have to keep awake all night. I just never trust my girls to open the sack themselves, some girls have a lot of good instincts, some of them are just clueless about what to do. I have also found that most girls are so fixated about getting rid of the placenta that they forget about the pup. If the mom looks like she is so inclined as to open the sack and sever the cord, I do let her do that but with supervision. If I let the mom take care of the cord, I always keep my fingers between her teeth and the pup. (too many horror stories about moms getting a little carried away with this process and actually removing the pups intestines). Lots of luck with your upcoming whelp, hope it is quick and goes well.

When my females are close to their due dates I usually lug out the DVD's and watch movies while they are right beside me. With one of my girls I got through the first Harry Potter movie and about 20 minutes into the 2nd one when her labor started. This was the middle of the night. With Friday she had them in the middle of the afternoon.

Yep. :thumbup: If you are monitoring her closely, even periodically throughout the night, then you should have some pretty good indicators that she is starting labor by the changes in her behavior.

Stay up or have someone to take turns with you. It is worth it. I would never forgive myself if a pup died because I was asleep. You never know when she might need immediate help.