Last Modified: 6/3/08

More Praise for the Crate

If you have not decided to keep your bitch confined for delivery, you will need to confine her now. There are many reasons for doing so, but the most important is for the health of the pups. If you have not already read my whelping page, let me say again, that puppies gain their antibodies against disease and infection from the mother's colustrom. It is critical that these puppies be allowed to nurse as much and as often as possible to assure their receiving all the necessary protection that will see them through the next 6 weeks. If you have a restless mother, allowed to leave and return, the puppies will not nurse as often as they could and should.

The next important reason is for the puppies' warmth and state of mind. A puppy that is constantly close to it's mother will be stronger and better adjusted once they leave your home. Puppies that are not allowed constant access to mom are more likely to suffer sickness and loneliness. Puppies are incapable of providing their own warmth. This is gained from the dam. Without her, they are not able to retain a proper body temperature for good health. They need mom's interaction to develop healthy minds and a good sense of security. Please do not take this away from your puppies because you felt sorry for your dog. If you are going to react this way, you should not be breeding! Since your dam is healthy and doing well, your attention should be on the pups. Mom should not be leaving the crate for any other reason, but to relieve herself and for short periods of exersize.

The next reason, is for the puppies' safety. Many mother's are unhappy with where you have been currently keeping the puppies and they are apt to move them to another spot. In this process, the rest of the litter is left alone while the mother moves them, one pup at a time. The unsupervised pups will lose body temperature or crawl out of their safe place and into harm. If they are not kept where you can keep an eye on them, you are more likely to lose puppies to problems that can be prevented, most likely hypoglycemia. If caught soon enough the puppy will survive, but if not you will lose that puppy. Again, I must recommend a cage. A determined mother will try to get past any barrier, but a cage is rather difficult to get past. I recommend keeping mom and pups confined to a cage until the pups naturally go about four hours between feedings. This usually happens about age 4 weeks. Once they have reached this point you can let mom out more often, keeping her close when the pups start to whine. At about 5 weeks you can allow the pups to come out of the crate for play time in a pen or around the room under strict supervision, but for no more than an hour or two and not more often then twice a day until they are 7 weeks. Puppies at this age still sleep 90 % of their day and will not get as good a rest when they are allowed to roam. They will, instead, play until they pass out, when a cage will encourage them to rest before they reach the point of exhaustion.

Another reason I suggest putting all in a cage is to keep you from giving your new owners a harder time training their puppy than they are naturally alloted. You may have been able to successfully train your dog without a cage but most of the rest of us will not be as successful and an owner who cannot train their puppy will not keep that puppy. You will end up finding that they have taken it to the pound, sold it to someone else or will try to give it back to you and you will need to find another home. The last is always the most desirable, as then you have a say in the next owner, but not every breeder is this lucky. I spend a fair amount of time on the phone and answering emails from new owners whose puppies refuse to be in a cage and it has caused these people an untold amount of grief that their sweet puppy has become such a nightmare. I am always able to help them to teach their puppy to accept the cage and train properly, but my point is that they should never have had to endure such heartache in the first place. To ensure solid homes for your pups, please consider making sure they know what the inside of a cage is like and can be comfortable.

Caring For Your Dam

Keeping her coat cleaned, without bathing and without removing her, if you can, is necessary to keeping her coat and skin in good condition. Do not freak out if in combing you pull out large chunks. This is normal for many dogs, not all, and it is not a cause for worry. The hair will grow back in time and will even be thick again! Comb her as often as you like as long as you can reach her without removing her from her pups. If she gets upset at you or fights with you, you may want to rethink your grooming routine. It is not worth it to harm her pups trying to teach her to behave and follow instructions. If you have not taught her to obey you before getting her pregnant, now is not really the time to remedy that. As I explain in Orphaned and Ignored Pups, you can train your dam, safely, to care for her pups if she rejects them, but you do not want to force her in any way that would harm her puppies. It is just not worth it.

Watch her temperature. If it gets above 104 degrees take to her the vet for a cleanout shot. I once gave this advice to a new breeder who then tried to take her to her vet only to have him say her temperature was not high enough to be a problem. A few hours later her temperature rose to 106 degrees and she was in real danger. Do not let your vet tell you they are okay. The cleanout shot will not hurt her, in fact many vets will give it to your dam anyway if she wehlps in their office. Do not take the chance, get the shot. If her temperature never rises and she acts healthy, you have nothing to worry about. Make sure she eats and and gets plenty to drink. As with pregnancy, it is not a good idea to control her food intake. Give her plenty to eat and more than enough to drink. She will need all her body can get to counteract all the puppies are taking from her. Make sure she has ample opportunity to go to the bathroom. If you do not take her out often she will section out a part of her area and then lay in it to keep her pups out of it. Not a fun situation to find yourself in. If you keep a good eye on her you will be able to keep her as healthy and happy as her puppies.

Puppy Growth and Development

Although very uncommon in the Shih Tzu and more likely to happen in an over-bred or unhealthy bitch, you will still want to keep an eye out for Swimmers. Do not over- worry as this problem is fixable! These puppies tend to only use their front legs to move, will continue to wobble terribly when all other puppies are running, or in the worst cases of full swimmers not walk at all. The trick is to keep them off slick surfaces and standing as much as possible. Using a Hobble Brace (Picture) helps puppies into a more secure standing and walk. Those who are weak in the front will also only need a hobble brace on their back legs as getting them standing on their back legs will make the front follow. Make sure your knots are not too tight and cutting off circulation and there is enough space between the legs for the puppy to walk, but not spread out flat. You can take the gauze off after a week to check the puppy's progress or leave it on for a few weeks. If you do take it off to check how your puppy walks, be sure to put it back on if your puppy slips into old habits. The longer the rope is on the quicker your puppy will heal. Now, before I forget, be sure to check the gauze daily for fraying. The other puppies may or may not take an interest in it as a chew toy and they could make themselves sick so keep an eye on them.

Pinched nostrils are a common problem among flat faced breeds. It is normal to an extent. If you notice that one puppy is snoring, wheezing, sneezing, or sniffling, but their energy is normal and their breath does not seem labored you have nothing to worry about. However if you notice they are having to work very hard to get a breath and when you look at their tongue it is faded in color than you have one of those special puppies. They are not very common but they can happen. Even more uncommon is a puppy that cannot get enough breath and their loss of strength is scary. These puppies will need a surgery that clips the separating skin between the nostrils to open their airways. The chances of this happening are about one million to one so I would not be so quick to jump to conclusions. More likely, they start out playing or rough housing and when they calm down they have to work harder to catch their breath. Going to a vet will show that there is no fluid in the lungs and the noise is only in the nose. Many vets will try to give you antibiotics, but unnecessary antibiotics will hurt your puppy; don't accept them. The exception is if your puppy, in conjunction with the pinched nostrils, has colored or cloudy discharge coming from it's nose or green from the eyes or throwing up. This is, indeed, an infection and will require antibiotics. All, but the most rare of these puppies, will grow out of this problem by the time they are a year old. If you are not keeping this puppy be sure to find it a quiet home where the owners will be less rambunctious with him and will allow him ample time to relax after short play.

Hernias are a common problem in puppies. The most common type is the umbilical hernia and is caused by trauma to the umbilical cord during delivery. It is not hereditary, and cannot be passed to future pups. There seems to be debate on this hernia since many pet sites state the exact opposite of what I have said, but I have watched my pups be born and hernias have rarely occured and only in pups when the dam has pulled in trying to cut the cord or has cut the cord way too close to the pup. Since there is a debate on this subject it is best you know both sides so you may make the best decision for your dog. The chance of your dog having a problem with an umbilical hernia is 50%. Hernias are caused by an opening in the stomach muscles that allows organs to pass through. The danger a hernia poses is the possibility of organs getting caught in the opening and being kinked. If this happens it could kill your dog. It may not happen for years, regardless of activity level, or it may never happen at all. Puppies are under no danger while they wait to become old enough for spay and neuter surgeries when the hernias are repaired. It does make altering surgery more expensive because your vet is doing two surgeries in one visit. Floating hernias are not uncommon. As odd as it is, some hernias seem to heal themselves. Many puppies will have a hernia for awhile, but then it disappears. It may come and go for a time to then completely heal and never return. Nothing is wrong in this case, consider yourself lucky.

An inguinal hernia will be located in the back leg. They can be extremely large and look really terrible. There may be one on each side of the groin or only on one side. The good news is that most of these hernias shrink as the puppy grows. They can happen in male and female puppies. t Should you wish to have it repaired the surgery would take place during spay or neuter surgery, but it is mostly recommended waiting to see if it heals itself. It can threaten the health of your puppy if the opening is big enough to allow the intestines or the uterus to be caught. It is hereditary and if a bitch produces pups with these hernias she should be retired from breeding.

A diaphragmatic hernia forms from accidents when the diaphragm tears and the abdominal muscles and organs become caught. Puppies may vomit, have labored breathing and decreased activity. This can be harmful for your dog and needs to be corrected when found.

The next problem may not manifest itself until after your puppies have gone home. While it is very rare, it can happen that a puppy's rectal muscles may stop developing as fast as the rest of it's body making it very difficult for the puppy to have a bowl movement. This is not related to the newborn deformity found on the Whelping page. Your new owners will notice that the puppy has not had a bowl movement in a few days and the puppy may be bloated. Should this happen there is a diet that the puppy can be put on that is mostly liquid and loosens the stool to a runny consistency which must be maintained until the puppy improves; this may take a week or more. If your vet has no idea what I am talking about, try giving the puppy a gruel made with canned puppy food mixed with plenty of milk to a very thin consistency or dry puppy soaked in milk, mashed and more milk added to thin out the solution. Feed this to your puppy and he/she should have pretty bad diarrhea that will give the rectal muscle time to develop. This may take from a week to a month to correct. The one time I heard of this, the owner was told by their vet the puppy would die. They called me and then decided to seek a second opinion. The second vet suggested the diet I just mentioned and the puppy improved and is very healthy and will continue to be so. Just so you are aware, I have also heard of this problem in children. I am going to try to find out more about what this vet did so that you will know what to tell your vet should this happen, but know it is treatable and your puppy will be perfectly healthy and live a long life.

I personally feel that small defects make a dog more special and they usually have the best personalities. However, as breeders we have to remember two things. First, that buyers have a different view and may not feel the same way. It is best to make sure that their new home will love them properly and do not be discouraged if that perfect home takes awhile to find. Second, that breeding a less than perfect dog is not responsible breeding nor is continuing to breed the parents should you have proof the problem comes from the parents and is not merely a normal defect that can happen in any litter. The goal is to breed the healthiest dogs possible and continuing to breed problem parents or breeding a defect dog can lead to other serious problems.

Weening

As your puppies get closer to weaning time, usually about 5-6 weeks they will normally become very interested in the mother's food bowl. They will start to lick at the sides or even try to chew on a mouth full. When you notice this behavior, first, check to see if they have enough teeth coming in to handle the food, if they do not then take the food you are feeding the mother and heavily soak it in water until very soft. You may give it to the puppies after you have removed the mother, as she will eat it before the puppies will have a chance. Also be sure to only make a very little at a time and do not leave extra amounts in the cage to grow mold. Remove the bowl when the puppies lose interest and either store it, if untouched covered in the fridge, or throw it away. Now you can slowly start weaning away mom. Try having her out of the cage half of the day or at longer and more frequent intervals while leaving her with them all night. You can then move to having her out all day and in all night and then later not have her in a night with an hour or two in each day. The goal is to teach them to get along without her. Be aware that some mothers may not want to wean their pups. If your puppies are going to be with you another few weeks, there is no harm in allowing her to nurse until the pups are closer to leaving, she loses interest or the pups lose interest. Otherwise, a cage becomes a necessity if you are not currently using one. You will have to train her to understand that it is okay for her pups to grow and not need her. Just be sure to give her extra attention and love so that she does not feel lost or alone.

Should one or more of your puppies not grow teeth as fast as the others or refuse all but mom's milk try a special mixture that no puppy will turn down unless it is sick. While you are feeding the mixture, if possible, allow the puppy to continue to nurse. You will need: