Newborn Puppies Question
 

Hi, my female Yorkie just gave birth for the first time ever today to three beautiful babys. I have never seen a mother dog take care of her young so im not sure if her behavior is normal or not, but she keeps turning her back on one or two at a time and laying down, sometimes they get far away from her as she is in about a two foot around welping box i made for her, she does seem to eventually get back to the ones shes turned her back on but i worry that the puppy will get cold alone, should i be putting the puppy back between the moms legs or just leave her be? sometimes she lays on them too. Also its summer so its pretty hot in here but the night air seems to have a chill if i leave the window open will it harm the puppys or will being to hot harm them or the mother, sorry if this question sounds stupid but i really want them and my baby (the mom) to be ok. thanks to anyone who can answer.

Don't have an answer but bumping...

I'll bump for you too. I'm really not qualified to give you an answer about mommy turning her back. But I'm pretty sure that most breeders use a heating pad to keep the babies warm for the first few weeks. I don't think they are able to regulate their own temperature until after that age. Good luck with your little babies!!

It's natural in nature for the mom to select the strongest baby for it to survive over the weak ones...but since this is not out in nature & you're actually in control, you need to make sure the puppy (ies) are kept warm & let them feed from the best flowing teet. If the bigger & stronger pups push them aside, you need to give the weaker ones more time to nurse w/mom alone. Let them feed 1st, then the other bigger pups can nurse.
If the weaker ones don't feed, you need to be supplementing them by tube feeding or using drops to feed them every 2 hrs. Hope breeders w/more knowledge can give their advice. Best of luck to you & your new mommy w/ her pups, Congrats!

I forget what the room temp should be for new borns...I think 80 degrees? She might be separating them from her bc she's too hot maybe? I do know that the pups will huddle together to stay warm when mom is not there & kinda sleep individually when it's too warm. Maybe this link will help: Breeding for Dog Owners - Caring for Newborn Puppies | VCA Animal Hospitals

I am never far from mom & pups for at least the first week of their life and sleep in the same room with the new family for their first few weeks. Yes, definitely step in and keep all the pups close to mom and check often that she did not accidentally lay on top of one. Watch the pups to make sure they are all latching on and eating well. Weigh them daily the first week and at least weekly after that. They should gain weight (or at the very least maintain it). My whelping box is an under the bed storage container with a large bathroom rug in it. Summer or winter a heating pad is kept on and underneath the rug on one side for the pups/mom....and mom will have the other side to rest in between feedings to cool off a bit. Puppies cannot regulate their body heat until they are a few weeks old; room temp should be 80 that first week.
Give mom as much food and water as she wants; she needs lots to keep up with feeding the babies. There is a whelping pudding recipe as a sticky at the top of the Breeders Forum; I use it every time I have a litter!
Congratulations & good luck with your pups & their mommy!

Just popping in to wish your Momma and babies good health and the best of luck to you.

Welcome and congrats on the new arrivals :)

It sounds like mamma is just a bit too cramped. A two foot box is just not enough room for her to manage her motherly duties. She needs room to stretch out and get comfortable since she will be there for a while and several times through out the day and night nursing her pups. I would suggest getting her and the pups into a larger whelping box. An under bed storage box would make a nice space for her and her growing pups. Plus an open window would not hurt the pups as long as they are being kept warm with a heating pad set the low temp.

Thanks everyone for ur answers and bumping my post, I have been spending my nights out in the front room with Kenzi my dog while shes with her babies. I cant bare to leave her alone at night time she use to sleeping in my bed and i don't want her to feel alone. She seems to be feeding them all equally, she will feed one, then it falls asleep and she will tend to another if it wakes up and so on, sometimes 1 or 2 wake me up crying and i get up and place them by her teats and they quite down eat and go back to sleep. They spend most there time sleeping not crying so im guessing that means they are getting fed enough, they are all sleeping individually like someone said on a response so that means they are all warm enough, id rather see them sleeping alone then huddling I guess because I now know they are warm enough, is there a such thing as to warm? for new borns tho? i try to close the window around 9 sometimes 8 if the draft is cooling down and it gets quite warm at night but i cannot open the window because it would be to cold. For her first time having puppies I have to say she amazes me as to how attentive to them and there squeaks she is, she leaves for a while when they sleep then as soon as one stirs shes back in there with them. I do have one more question just so I can make sure everything stays okay I hope u guys don't mind but i was wondering, is there any thing I should be watching for that would let me know somethings not okay with them? right now im just going by there sleeping and squeaking that they are doing and like i said there sleep is alot and the squeaking only lasts for a few mins until they find a teat, sometimes they make a little noise while drinking too. i don't think ill ever breed her again or any dog for that matter this is way to much worrying for me, i love them all dearly but my gosh its stressful lol I will defiantly be checking out that whelping pudding recipe for them. thank you for the responses once again, and byes for now :)

I am glad momma and babies are doing well. How big is the mom and the pups? Are you giving the mom a calcium supplement? Just make sure the mom is eating well. She will need about 4 meals a day. Keep a close eye on the mommas teats. Sometime their teats will get hard and engorged and that can lead to mastitis (infection in the teats). Giving the mom some amoxicillin will fix that problem if it happens. You would need to take her to the vet for that.

The pups will need their tails docked and dewclaws removed when they are 3 to 4 days old.

The whelping pudding would be for the mom. If she is eating well and has plenty of milk then she would not need it.

I don't own a scale but I can tell by lifting them that they are putting on weight, I was doing a lot of reading and I got really confused as far as the calcium supplement went, some people were saying giving her calcium would decrease the amount in her body causing her to have Eclampsia, others were saying to give her things like yogurt and cottage cheese, which way is the right way? I read the whelping pudding after i posted my response on here and realized my mistake lol my bad. To be honest ive been trying to feed her healthy things I read sardines and beef and chicken were all good, so any ideas as to what I can give her please any are welcome, I will def be getting the ingredients for that pudding for her, I find since shes had the puppies shes thinner, she was never really big but shes smaller now so I will be feeding her the pudding. i also picked up this milk replacer for puppies would it be okay if I gave some of it to mommy, like would it also add calcium to her diet? I cant thank you enough for ur help I really appreciate it :D

have you thought about investing in a scale? I have a cheap $10 digital postal scale that I use. I love it because it reads ounces. It's just that because they're so young & small, every single ounce makes a huge difference right now.

Yes, weighing them using a scale would be best, even just a small food scale will work; they're not very expensive. Really, mom doesn't need any special foods, though while she is nursing feeding her a quality puppy food is best. If you use a kibble, have it available to her 24/7 so she can eat at will. Her appetite will increase a lot as the pups nurse more and more. I also give my girls "Doc Roy's Healthy Bones" every day while nursing; you can buy it from the Revival Animal Health website.
I think the "no extra calcium" you are reading about is the rule for pre-whelping. To much extra calcium before she has pups could cause the body to think it doesn't need to make as much, and after the pups are born that could mean trouble/eclampsia. After the pups are born added calcium is a good thing......the Healthy Bones' tablets are a good supplement.

I use the Doc Roy's Healthy Bones too from Revival. I think a half a pill twice a day would be good for her. Adding a little dry milk replacement to her food would probably be okay. It is really not good to change up their diet to much or they can get diarrhea. I always feed my mommas some dry Chicken Soup For the Puppy Lover's Soul mixed with canned Pedigree Healthy Digestion and canned Pedigree Beef and Chicken Puppy food.

Im not sure about the milk replacer, one of my girl got into the puppy gruel once and had a violent reaction to it. She started throwing up all over the place, it was not good. Be sure to read the label carefully. Plus, as long as you give her several small meals a day (3-4 / 4-5) of puppy food (dry & can) mixed she should do very well raising her milk production in order to provide what is necessary for the pups. Both have enough calcium in them.