# How can you tell when dog will have puppies??



## Jackie

UGH! I have seen this stray pregnant dog wandering around for a while now. Today I saw her outside my house and I convinced her to come in! Now this is a big dog and I have no plan. She honestly looks like she is about to have puppies any minute. Is there a way to tell when a dog is close?? 

Now I have no where to really keep this dog. My dogs are outside in a large kennel and she obviously can't go in with them. 

I just can't stand the thought of her having puppies under some abandon building when i could potentially help her. 

Gah. I guess she is going to go in the bathroom for tonight. :S 

Tomorrow I think I will call and see if a rescue about 45 min away will take her. I rescue dogs myself but I am not set up for a dog like this.  I have never had a dog have puppies......


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## KSALguy

is she acting like she wants to make a nest? scratching and diging? is she real restless? is her back end swolen and loose in appearance? 

give her a quite place with some old towls and blankets if she is close, what breed is she?


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## Jackie

My best guess on breed would be husky/yellow lab. She isn't restless, just hungry. I would say she is 'bagged up' but no milk yet if that makes any difference with dogs.... She is having trouble breathing due to the size of her belly and definitely having trouble walking. Doesn't want me touching her belly and gets very concerned if I even touch her sides. Right now she is just laying on my kitchen floor with no intentions of getting up. I just went and took a couple pictures of her. Excuse the mess. I wasn't planning on having company. :S 


















And no. She obviously isn't starving. But that doesn't mean anything around here. Most dogs don't belong to anyone, but just about everyone feeds the stray dogs. Skinny dogs are a rare sight even with the hundreds of loose dogs around. If she belongs to someone then why is she wandering the streets in the snow in the dark looking for food?


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## Old Mission

You can check her temp but you have to do it a few times a day, 24 hours before they go into labor it will drop to 97-98 degrees then go back up to normal. So you gotta take it a few times a day in order to catch the drop and establish a baseline. If you can feel puppies moving she is no more then 2 weeks away from delivering but could be any day, they usually move less a couple days before they are born. Their vulva gets noticeably more swollen a couple days before and could have clear discharge. They will start nesting in earnest when they are going into labor,(could start nesting/scoping out places a couple days before) will be panting, restless and that will last 4-6 hours before they start pushing. you can find more info here. debbiejensen.com

Stephanie


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## Jackie

Thanks guys! I appreciate it. I have only ever had spayed dogs and when I worked with the last rescue I was with we had the money to spay dogs no matter how far along they were in pregnancy. We never had a rescue dog have puppies. I dont think I have ever even actually seen newborn puppies other than in pictures. I have had stray cats have kittens before I could do something with them, but thats about it for that sort of thing. 

I work full time and I have NO idea what to do with her while I am at work tomorrow. I can't very well just tie her up outside. It would be one thing if I had her puppies somewhere safe and warm...but I don't know. If only someone I knew had a warm stall in a barn or something. 

If she really isn't close (which I am thinking now that she isn't). I am tempted to just let her go and hope she has the sense to come back. She should. I fed her handfuls of raw moose meat. :grin: Or maybe I will just keep her in for the night and keep an eye on her. Show her this place is really wonderful.


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## KSALguy

aaww she looks like a decent dog, i would keep her around and let her know your a good place to be, do you have an enclosed garage? could you set her up in the garage while your gone?


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## Jackie

KSALguy said:


> aaww she looks like a decent dog, i would keep her around and let her know your a good place to be, do you have an enclosed garage? could you set her up in the garage while your gone?


Nothing. We just have a shed that is packed full of stuff. We moved a trailer onto this lot this past summer and havn't gotten really established yet. I really really like the dog. She keeps putting her paw on me and talking to me like a husky does. Right now she is flat out passed out on my kitchen floor. 

I have a large wire kennel but the last stray dog I stuck in a wire kennel smashed it to pieces. I can't afford to have this one smashed up. I need it for my own dogs.  If I KNEW she wouldn't smash it, I would stick her in the kennel while I was at work and check on her at noon. 

Too bad I can't keep them all. We already took in a stray last christmas that we are keeping and I have a rescue dog looking for a home. Plus the old dog I have had for years.


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## CaliannG

She's heavily pregnant, so she will not want to move very much. Put her in your kitchen with some old blankets and close it off with baby gates while you are at work.


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## cathleenc

oh, she looks so sweet.....

wishing the both of you the best of luck with this ordeal.


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## pastelsummer

i would use the bathroom if you have 2 and let her have one with blankets and such but honestly she looks like she could go a nother week or two at least. when they spray a good bit of colostrum they are roughly a week away give or take a day or two.


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## Our Little Farm

I would put down newspaper in the bathroom, and leave her in the kitchen with a blanket and towels, fresh water and food and let her stay.

If you let her go now, she probably would not come back. She is looking for somewhere safe.


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## Ruby

If you keep her so she can have her puppies in a safe place then you are in for a treat. Once you see the babies you will melt. There's nothing like little pink nosed squerming puppies.


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## Jackie

She wanted out real bad this morning so I let her out. She didn't come back so far.  

I just CANT keep her in my house when I am not home. THe last time I tried keeping a stray dog in my bathroom it busted up the place real bad and chewed up the bathroom door and trashed my house. THere is no way I could have blocked her into the kitchen. Never underestimate the power of a dog that wants OUT. My old dog suffers from separation anxiety to the extreme. She has literally destroyed more things than I ever care to remember. Recently I had her in a wire kennel (which she had been spending the night in for years) and she had a panic attack and nearly killed herself trying to get out when I was at work. I came home to a dog still in the kennel but it was busted up so bad and my dog was covered in blood. I had to break the door to get it open. 

I am sure most dogs are not like my dog. But after almost 14 years of dealing with a powerful panicky dog, I don't take any more chances. My dog is just berserk. She will be totally fine for months and months. Routine doesn't change and suddenly she snaps and destroys everything and herself. 

So no. I am not about to leave a dog even bigger than her unattended in my house.  

Now if I had a proper chain link kennel set up with a big house and a heat lamp that would be perfect. 

I really don't know what my plan would be if she had puppies in my house. I guess I just hope that she wouldn't want out so bad if her puppies were with her.


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## Our Little Farm

Hope she comes back, or finds somewhere safe to go.


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## Honorine

Signs of imminent labor are clear discharge from the vulva(which can begin a day or more prior) digging/nesting behavior, panting and shivering, milk production, and of course clinginess, they stick to you like glue. She looks ready to pop, she may have gone off to find a nest. Keep an eye out for her. I understand your dilemma, its one thing to take in a dog, another to end up with 8 or 9 dogs out of the deal. She may come back for food once she whelps her litter. I'd keep trying to get in touch with the rescue, if she does whelp and the litter can be found perhaps they would come out and get them all?


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