What are the precautions before and after a dog gives birth?

Pregnant dogs mostly give birth between the middle of the night and dawn. The time from delivering the first puppy to delivering the last one is sometimes quite long. Usually, after the first puppy is born, the second is born 15-20 minutes later, and the third 20 minutes after that... From the first puppy to the last one often takes half a day, and sometimes even longer. Therefore, the bedding cloth and sleeping straw should be replaced only after delivery is complete.

The pregnant dog tosses and turns in her sleeping spot, arching her back with her abdomen enlarged. She also begins to strain, and this is labor pain. So-called labor pain means pain for a few minutes, then a pause for a few minutes. Before long the mother dog will lick her genital area, and this is called the water breaking. When the water breaks, the amniotic fluid wrapped in a white-yellow membrane (amnion) will flow out of the vagina like a balloon. At this point, quickly break the amnion at the puppy's head and wipe the moisture from its nose and mouth with gauze,

so that the puppy can breathe. At this time, note that the puppy may be born in a state of apparent death; if you leave it alone, it will become a stillborn.

The so-called state of apparent death is when the dog is born with extremely weak breathing and pulse, looking as if it were dead. The puppy in a state of apparent death should be quickly moved next to a heater, and the mucus blocking the puppy's nostrils should be carefully wiped away with absorbent cotton dipped in alcohol, then its body gently rubbed and artificial respiration performed. Before long the puppy will recover its breath, and after waking it should be taken to the mother dog to suckle colostrum (at this point the mother dog's mammary glands are already swollen).

When a puppy is born, it comes out together with the afterbirth, and the mother dog will immediately eat the afterbirth; the afterbirth is the mother dog's own tissue, so it does not matter if she eats it. The mother dog gives birth one puppy at a time and eats the afterbirth again and again, biting through the umbilical cord and letting the puppies suckle. When a dog gives birth, human assistance is hardly needed at all. The mother dog will also eat the excretions from giving birth, but eating too much is not good either, so in the later stages of delivery, the remaining parts should be taken away.

After the mother dog has finished giving birth to the puppies, she will slowly get up by herself after 4-5 hours and go outside to urinate and defecate; at this time, the sleeping straw should be replaced anew to keep the birthing room clean. After a short walk outside, the mother dog's condition will improve, a large amount of milk will flow out, and her strength will quickly recover from fatigue.