I would like to write a series on some breeding and whelping techniques I’ve used. I’ve known too many people in my life who throw two dogs in the back yard, let them do their thing and then one day when they check on their dog – surprise, puppies are here. This is not what I call breeding responsibly. There are already enough unwanted dogs and puppies in the world. On the other hand, there are some breeds of dogs that are actually needed or wanted for specific purposes which are beneficial to humans.

My own experience led me to breed German Shepherds because it was so very hard to find good puppies. I wanted to do everything I could to guarantee their physical, mental and emotional health. Much of this comes through genetics but that’s even a role of a die no matter how much researching you do because you cannot pick and choose which chromosomes your pup will get. You’ll want the sire and bitch to have backgrounds that match your breeding goals. I will go into this in other articles. For now, I am just saying this to stress the fact that you need to do the research and make a moral and ethical commitment to your dog and her puppies. If you aren’t willing to do that, it would be better if you didn’t breed your dog.

Picking the right parents is half of the physical equation; the second half is where will they be whelped and spend the first 7 to 8 weeks of their lives?

I’m not sure which comes first in the thought process; "I am going to breed dogs." Or "Where am I going to breed the dogs and whelp the puppies?" I do know that by the time you’ve made a decision to breed, it must come because you have found a breed worthy of your admiration. There are qualities that you feel are satisfied in that breed from intelligence, loyalty, calmness, trainability to physical attributes such as size, grooming needs and what you perceive to be attractive. As a breeder, you should be choosing your stud and bitch to satisfy the highest breed standard.

You should never breed for the wrong reasons; one of which is to make money. If you think you are going to make a lot of money breeding, you are going to be sadly surprised. Some breeds such as the German Shepherd are improperly bred when the breeder is breeding for size. Many breeds have been almost ruined due to improper breeding. Proper breeding and whelping involves a thought process and a planning stage and once you’ve begun, it involves a lot of work.

The point is, once you’ve decided to breed and the deed has been accomplished and a litter is on its way, decisions must be made. Do you have a kennel? Will the pups be born in your home? Are you one of these people who believe that dogs have been doing this for hundreds of years and they don’t need your help? If that is your train of thought, you are wrong. Wolves have been breeding on their own for hundreds of years and they’ll be just fine. Dogs, on the other hand, have been domesticated so they can be house pets and working dogs. They retain many of their natural instincts but they might not always understand what they mean. You as a responsible breeder must make sure your dog is healthily maintained so she can have a healthy litter. It is you who needs to understand your dog’s wolf instincts so you can help her give birth to a healthy litter.

Whether you breed in your home or in your kennel, some things always remain the same and that is what I’ll address in this first article. Simply put, you need some kind of a whelping bed. Many people elect to make theirs out of wood and plans of all kinds can be found on the internet. Though my husband is a carpenter, I did not go that route for many reasons such as cleanliness, ease in moving and so on.

Please, never assume your dog knows what it is doing; instincts will take over and start to make sense to your dog, but she needs you there to help her understand. I don’t even want to estimate how many new pups are accidentally stomped or bitten to death by panicky mothers. I have yet to see one female act calm when that first pup arrives. Emotions range from fear to total happiness. Voodoo arched her back and a pup fell to the floor (inside the sac of course). Horrified, she spun to look at it as I held it up and started to pull the sack off. Voodoo began to quiver with joy. She licked the pup, looked at me as if to say "Look what I did!"

As a breeder, you need to have a safe place for your dog to give birth. Some dogs will cling to their instincts and literally den. They’ll dig a hole in the ground and have their pups outdoors. This is something you want to avoid because your dog does not have the benefit of a pack to guard the pups and to keep them warm. You are your dog’s pack so you need to take that role.

The largest factor in puppy death rates is dying from the cold. In our kennel, the floors were hydronically heated; the whelping rooms were on an individual thermostat. In the house, the heat is maintained by heating pads or careful placement of heat lamps. Puppies need to be at about 80 degrees Fahrenheit for the first 3 days and that can gradually move down until you see them begin to pant. Panting means they are gaining the ability to control their own body temperatures.

Both inside the house and inside the kennel whelping rooms, I used children’s plastic swimming pools. They are rounded so it is harder for a puppy to get squished in a corner. There is plenty of "give" in the material so if a mom accidentally rolls over on one, the material will give enough the unfortunate pup can scream its heart out (and it will). It may take the new mom a few precious seconds to realize which pup is yelling and where it is so it’s important to do what you can to keep that pup from getting crushed.

I kept old sheets and towels which covered the bottom of the plastic swimming pool. I marked the date of breeding on the calendar so I would know when the pups were coming. It is usually between 59 and 65 days; every one of my German Shepherds gave birth on the 63rd day. A few days before the birth you want to get your dog used to the whelping bed. I would take my dog in and lay down snuggling her till she fell asleep. Then when labor began, off we would go to the whelping bed. This might mean I was lying on the floor, lying on a cot or inside the pool area as we waited. There is a lot you can do to help your dog give healthy birth.

With each pup comes a placenta; each has a sac to be broken. The mother eats the afterbirth – let her – it has vital vitamins and nutrients in it she needs. Though she’ll clean up the mess and lick the puppy, you will be pulling out wet towels and replacing them and making trips to the washer and dryer. You don’t need to work against nature. The mom isn’t just drying them; she is stimulating their bodies to warm them up. If the pup is then allowed to lie on a damp towel, it can easily become chilled.

I keep two heating pads inside the whelping bed – inside the pool but under the towels. We don’t want pups lying directly on the heating pad. You will be helping the pups to nurse; the mother sometimes does not want them to do so but not only do they need the colostrums from their mother, but their nursing and pushing with their feet causes her labor to intensify and therefore helps her with the labor process.

The mom will start to take the births in stride, but you need to be there to move the newborns out of her way if she decides to stand and turn or get out of the whelping bed as she is experiencing her contractions. The process needs your full attention. If you do not have some type of whelping bed, there will be nowhere to contain the new mom and new litter.

You should tie a different color ribbon around each neck, check the sex and weigh the new pup in a permanent log. I will go more into the other supplies you need to whelp your litter in the next article. I cannot stress too much the importance of some type of whelping bed with a heat source.