A phone, and LOTS of coffee :)
A room heater
A heat lamp
Pups are kept in bins when not with the dam. If you do not have a good dam that is 100% trustworthy with the pups, taking into consideration not only her temperament, but her size and the strain of delivery, then the pups should be kept safe and separate, and given to mom every couple hours under supervision. Pups cannot be left alone with some dams.
Two heating pads under the puppy bins, placed at one END of the bins, heating only.
The heating pads should only be around half of the bin, so the pups can move off the source of heat if they are too warm. You do not want it too warm, or you can constipate, dehydrate, or cook the puppies. The heating pad can NEVER EVER be INSIDE the bin.
One hundred percent supervision while the dam has the pups. Stay with them, sleep with them, etc.
Puppies must be weighed daily to mark their progress. For pups that all look basically the same, you must keep track of which is which by color-coding their collars. I can tell the difference in pups, but my helpers cannot, and HELP is vitally important.
Emily is a HUGE help, weighing them all for me and putting the slower gainers on first, then she logs the weight gain in her book, and subtracts the birth weight. This is an AWESOME educational activity for the kids, and gets them involved, PLUS exercises their minds on the math skills.
Emily logging the puppies’ weights; each puppy has its own page.
Kayden's job is to keep Sassy in treats and assist Emily. Sassy thinks Kayden's job is very important, more important than whatever Emily is doing (grin).
Kayden also provides Sassy with that all-important Love and Attention! YES! Sassy definitely loves Kayden’s job.
Oh no, I don't think Sassy the English Mastiff is lacking in the love department!
And when all is done, everyone kisses and hugs goodbye.
That took over an hour.... WE will be BACK to repeat very, very soon.
Courtesy of MistyTrails Mastiffs
