My Black Lab

Question
My black lab kept jumping our fence and getting out until we finally found a way to keep her contained...over the last 2 weeks we noticed she has gotten huge and so have her nipples. She just lays around and doesn't chew anything anymore. She has dug 2 big holes in our yard an lays in them constantly. She acts like she has to pee non stop and only drinks her water...she wont eat. We bought a kennel and keep her inside now except to go to the bathroom. What are the signs of labor for a dog and could she be close? I keep reading about taking her temp...where do I take it and what should be her temp when she is in labor? I have never helped a dog give birth, only my cats so I am very unprepared for this and I am afraid to leave her in the house too long while I am gone cause she doesn't have a lot of room to move in the kennel..any advice? Thank you in advance!

Answer
So first of all she was running off because she was in heat I am guessing. It is good that she is now confined, but she is paying for her freedom with an unwanted litter of puppies.
You don't mention her age so I am hoping she is in the one-two year range.

A dog's pregnancy is 9 weeks long. When they get close to whelping they will act very uncomfortable, pant a lot, and not eat. Their temperature will drop to 99 degrees when labor is imminent in the next 24 hours.

You take her temperature rectally. Use a regular thermometer if you have one but a digital will work as well.

You cannot leave her alone in the kennel to have these pups. She will accidentally squish and kill them. She needs a larger area in which to have them, preferably a large walled off pen with lots of newspapers and a few blankets for her. Use nothing that unravels, such as towels or cloth that has been ripped. These catch on the newborns legs and feet and will cut them off.

Make sure you have a small supply of puppy milk replacer on hand to feed any extra pups that won't have access to a nipple or weak, runty pups.

Get her on a high quality puppy food such as Science Diet puppy Growth LARGE BREED so she will have a good milk supply and the puppies can start on it when it is weaning time. Do NOT use Purina puppy chow. It is coated with milk which gives dogs diarrhea. Dogs are lactose intolerant after they are weaned and should never be on any cows milk. She was hopefully fed puppy food throughout this pregnancy. It is recommended that they start on it in the second week of pregnancy.

If not she might have some issues with the calcium in her own bloodstream.

When these pups are 5 weeks old you can get her spayed. I am hoping your cats are already spayed now also.

Another thing to be aware of is your dog's vaccination history. If she has been vaccinated for parvo more than once then it won't be as much of an issue but if she hasn't then she and the puppies are in danger of contracting parvo virus which can be carried home on clothes and shoes. It would behoove your family to leave shoes outside and change clothes before handling the pups for at least three months past birth.

Good luck with your new babies! Let me know if you have any other questions.
One site you might want to look over is this one:

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/whelping.htm

And please, once this litter is weaned, please get your dog spayed to prevent more unwanted puppies in this world. With the economy so bad now people are abandoning dogs, cats and horses all over the place. The shelters are full to overflowing and the last thing we need is more animals being born. So all of us appreciate spayed and neutered pets!!Thank you!

Let me know how the whelping goes and how many she has.I hope she does really well.