Last Modified: 6/3/08

Some first time mothers, and possibly seasoned mothers, take it into their heads to ignore one or more of their puppies. Sometimes, first time moms are so disgusted with the whelping process that once they are finished they feel they are really finished. They will refuse to clean them, feed them, touch them, want out of the cage or enclosure, or try to harm the pups. First, if she tries to harm her pups you will need to separate her and take care of the pups all on your own and then you will need to have her spayed; no good will come out of continuing to breed her.

If she does not go this far, you have been blessed. Clean and warm the puppies and then after mom has calmed down give her fresh bedding and see if she will eat. Give her a little love and see if she needs more water also. After you have cleaned up you should try to coax her into caring for her pups. Beware, if coaxing does not work you will have to go to more aggressive (for lack of a better word) measures. Start by putting the pups back in the cage far from her but close enough for her to notice them. Note, if she is absolutely adamant against all the following tips or simply tries to run you will have to skip straight to the more aggressive tactics.

But back to the simple tactics! Give her a minute in the cage with her pups to see if she will walk over to sniff them and give them a little attention. She may very well be ready to be a mom and she may not. How long you wait is up to you but after a few minutes it is time to try something else. The next steps can be done in order or skipped or whatever you think might work for her.

1. Pet the pups a little and see if that does not gain her attention.
   
2. Put one pup closer to her or right up against her nose or belly.
   
3. Rub the mothers belly while putting a pup up to a teat.
   
4. Let the mom out to see if she needs to relieve herself.
   
5. Squeeze a teat to see if it will express milk while holding a pup close to her.
   
6. Gently stroke and hold the mother down and encourage a pup to nurse.

If none of this works you can either take care of the pups yourself or you can try my remedy which, so far, has worked with every female I have tried it on. It may sound cruel, but if you know your dog is capable of nursing her pups and she is refusing for no real reason, except maybe disgust, than I suggest you give it a try. Start by gathering up several good lengths of thick rope, tied rags, wide ribbon, leashes, or if you think you can wrangle it you can try some old long sleeved shirts or pants. You may need another person to help you to hold her down to a corner of the cage, make sure the pups are well out of the way and in a safe and warm enough area to leave them for a little while. Hold her down right into the corner of the cage with her belly facing to the inside of the cage. Using whatever material lengths you could find tie her to the cage on the inside of her front and back legs towards her belly. Keep the ropes, or whatever, from covering her teats or you will cause her pain and deny the pups. Here is the part that will take some time. You will need to let her go and retie a few times to make sure that she is tight enough to not allow her to stand up, turn onto her belly, or wriggle out of the knots. You also do not want it so tight as to keep her from breathing. She will be uncomfortable but that is what teaches her to do her job. She needs to know that now that she has brought these pups into the world she needs to care for them. It may take all day for her to get the point. When you remove the ropes to see if she will care for the pups herself is up to you. I suggest you remove them when the pups are sleeping and she can relieve herself if she needs to or eat or get a drink of water. The next time the pups are hungry see if she will do it herself and if not reapply the ropes. Belle was a very reluctant mother her first litter and I tried this on her and after the second time, I used leashes, she was more than willing to feed and clean them herself. I told three other breeders to try this on their dogs and it worked for all of them.

One word of caution! If your female senses that you do not want, do not like, or cannot handle tying her to the cage she will fight you forever, because she knows you are going to eventually give in. If you are determined and set aside all your worries she will understand that you mean business and she will learn faster. My dogs all know that they are a major part of my life along with my children. But like my children, they understand that rules are rules and eventually they see it my way. If this does not work than you will need to go back to separating the pups and having her spayed. If, however, this trick does work then you will be able to keep breeding her if you choose and you will never have to do this again.

Sometimes there is a sickly pup included in a litter. Some moms will care for that pup with the same gusto as the rest of the litter or they will give that pup additional attention. Other moms will try for a little while and then push it to one side. However she handles the pup does not prove her a good or a bad mother. It just means that she either knows there is no way that pup will survive or she is too determined to give up on it. These pups will have to be separated and put in a warming pan. This does not mean you have to go out and buy one, just that you need a safe place to keep that pup where it will be warm. I use a small plastic basket and a hand towel with a microwavable hot/cold pack wrapped up inside it. Do not use an electric blanket or pad as this will slowly harm your puppies, no matter the setting. I also will use an additional wash rag to place over the pup when it sleeps to help trap the warm air and allow the pup to snuggle up to something. To care for a fading puppy visit Whelping Help. There is no guarantee that these pups will survive but it is worth it to try.

Sometimes mothers die in labor or have severe medical problems where the treatment will make nursing dangerous and toxic for the pups. Certainly, caring for a whole litter can be daunting but it can be done. You will be losing sleep for awhile but if you have given birth to a child then you will find this much easier. If you have not been through the process of getting up every two hours to feed a child know that your body may need a day or so to adjust, which is why I don't recommend you breed and hold a job at the same time (in or out of your home) unless your boss and/or customers are extremely understanding. If this is the case please give them the courtesy of warning them before delivery that this might be a possibility and what this kind of situation will entail.

I always keep a small puppy bottle, a plastic medicine syringe, and some powered puppy formula for these times. Don't go out and buy a big supply as you may never need it and you don't want to have to throw that whole thing away as they do have expiration dates. First thing, warm up the puppy by vigorously rubbing it with a towel, especially if it is not moving. Then wrap it in the towel with it's head exposed to help you keep a hold of him while you feed him. Twice a day add a few drops of caro corn sryup to the formula to help keep the puppy's strength up, you may have to add a little extra water to the mixture. I would try with the bottle first but if the pup can't or won't nurse you will need to use the syringe; only giving the pup just a few drops at a time. You will also want to keep a nasal squeegee and a cleaning rag nearby if the pup starts to snort out fluids. Feed the pup every two hours making sure you do not stop until you feel the puppy's tummy is sufficiently full. You will be able to tell just by looking at them. It may take a bit of time with each puppy if you have to care for a whole litter and you may feel as if you are doing nothing but feeding them but after a few feedings you should be pro enough to cut down the time it takes to feed them so you can rest. It pretty much all depends on how many puppies are in the litter and if you have any that need extra attention. Keep your hopes up! I have a friend named Kathy who runs a day care center out of her home and she managed to care for a litter of 6 puppies and still care for the other little ones running around her home as well as caring for the litter mother who had needed medical attention.

If you only had the one sickly pup and you are successful in keeping it alive and fed, where you have it sleep depends on it's progress. You may be able to return it to it's mother between feedings but if she will not help to keep it warm then you will have to find it another place to sleep. You may keep it in the basket I described above, just remember to keep the heat pad warm, or you can use something else. The key is to keep it safe and warm. You can keep trying to return it to the mother as it's strength grows and hopefully she will take to it. The best way to make sure she does is to return the puppy to her at least once a day so that she can bond with it if even by smell. If the puppy does not make it you can at least know that you did everything in your power and the puppy would have died peacefully. If it lives then you will have the satisfaction of returning it to mom for her love and protection. If you get to this point make sure you continue to constantly monitor it's weight and activity compared with the others for a few more days. Better to be safe than sorry. If you notice the pup does not have the energy to nurse but with help is capable of doing so do not hesitate to help the puppy get to and stay onto the teat. Be aware that you may be monitoring this puppy for a few weeks.

If you are taking care of the whole litter you will need to keep them separate from each each other. I suggest several small (open!) containers that you can keep next to each other so the puppies can hear and smell one another. The reason for this is the litter's inherited need to nurse and if their mom is not around you will find they will start to nurse on each other. Let me explain... when puppies are born they do not immediately have the ability to poop and pee by themselves. The mother will lick them many times over on their bottoms not only to keep them clean but to stimulate them to "go". So if the puppies start to nurse on each other you will find they are all soaked in pee and there will be a distinct possibility that the nursing puppy is drinking at least a little urine. Not only is this gross but toxic so stop it before it starts. If you want the litter to be able to spend sometime in their dog piles you can, but wait until after they are all full from a feeding and watch them closely. When they start to become active again you will need to separate them. Do not feel you need to feed them more often; it is just natural for them to suckle, hungry or not. Since you are not allowing the puppies to stimulate each other and the mother is not there to help them you will have to keep an extra rag on hand when you feed your puppies and when they are finished use the rag to rub their bottoms to help them to relieve themselves. If you fail to do this you will have some mighty sick puppies on your hands and it is not very likely for them to survive if they have waited too long.

As I said above, you want to be feeding your new puppies with formula if mother's milk is not available for them. Unfortunately, it is currently not possible to express enough milk from the mother to feed a sickly pup, nor will your mother be willing to allow it. If you are determined and your mother seems willing, by all means, try it and then PLEASE let me know how it goes! But for the rest of us, try to buy a good quality formula and not just the ordinary no name brand. When the puppies reach four weeks of age you will need to think about giving them something more substantial. Usually puppies do not need anything more until they are 5-6 weeks of age but without mother's milk you will have to switch sooner. The best starter is a paste of the puppy food you choose to feed them mixed with the formula they have been eating, a little Nutrical (nutritional product available from many places), and some Gerber baby food stage 2 chicken and gravy. Your puppies will need to eat this about three times a day while supplementing a bottle in between. You may have to start this as early as three weeks if you find that formula alone is not satisfying your puppies and they are constantly whining AND you are sure that you cannot feed them more often and there is no other reason for their discomfort.

Luckily this situation is rare as most mothers survive the delivery healthy and strong enough to care for her pups herself, especially if you are careful with how often you breed your dog and watch her progressing or declining health. If it does happen to you I do not recommend running to your vet as that will stress the puppies to such a degree that you might not be able to encourage them to live. I am not telling you to avoid your vet but, if you can handle them, wait to visit the vet for when they need medical attention or when they are ready for a normal vet visit. If you do decide to see your vet at this stage be sure to let your vet know you have no intentions of leaving your puppies. Any treatment your vet can give can generally be given by you at home. If your vet feels a puppy needs an IV you can opt to use a solution of water, caro syrup and salt in a medicine syringe and slowly give the puppy only one drop of liquid at a time.
** The solution is made, simply, by: Fill 1/2 c hottest tap water
Add 1 tsp clear corn syrup ~ stir to dissolve
Add 1/8 tsp salt~ stir to dissolve
Cool and dropper feed.
The water should have a funny metallic tinge and not taste like sugar. Dropper feed as often as the pup should be nursing until it nurses on its own.**
This is very time consuming, but if you want that puppy to live, its chances are better this way than in a cold room alone at your vet's. When a puppy feels over-loaded they will just shut down and die. Being left alone in an unfamiliar place or with an unfamiliar person is just cause for an over-load. After all your work, so far, it is worth it to continue your efforts. The only danger of caring for a whole litter or one puppy yourself is that you may become attached!

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