Questionmy female should be about a week to 10 days from her due date and i
wanted to know if there will be any umbilical cords i will have to cut before
she can start cleaning them? If i see she is having trouble with one do i help
by gently pulling the puppy out for her? will she still want to go outside to
potty when she's trying to take care of the puppies? How long before i can
expose the new puppies to the outdoors? Will my male try to bother the
puppies and will my female be aggressive if he come near them?
sorry for the gaggle of questions but these are all the ones i have not been
able to find answers for.
thank you
Natalie
AnswerNatalie,
I can answer all of your questions but the answers are quite lengthy. I have provided a word document that covers the complete breeding experience on my website. The address is www.petremembrances.com/Yorkie%20Advise.html and if you cut and paste the url into your browser it will take you directly to the page.
The questions it doesn't address I will attempt to answer now.
Will she still want to go outside to potty - yes but she will let you know when and you must let her out and right back in because leaving her puppies is very stressful for her. For at least the first three days after having the puppies she will not leave them for any other reason except to quickly go outside and go to the bathroom. After three days she will become less vigilant and will leave the puppies for short periods of time. During the first few days you will need to keep water and food within easy reach so she does not have to leave her puppies to eat or drink or she may not eat or drink which would be very bad for obvious reasons.
Yorkie mothers are very vigilant and while she and her mate may get along well normally when puppies are involved things could change. If she feels at all threatened she could attack the male and seriously hurt him. I believe that there is more danger of that than of him hurting the puppies. You should keep the male away from the female and her puppies for at least 4 weeks to be sure that nothing bad happens. When a female has just had puppies there is a lot emotionally and physically going on. If she is over stressed for any reason ie, noise, to many people, other dogs, (each dog is different) she may even kill her own puppies. So it is best to keep the male and female separate to allow her hormones time to adjust and to regulate the activity that goes on around her until she is past the stress danger.
It is not necessary to expose the puppies to the outdoors until they are eight weeks old. Their immune systems are very fragile when they are young and many diseases that kill young dogs can be found in the dirt in your backyard. Since they do not begin getting vaccinations until they are eight weeks old it is best to keep them in a germ free environment. The only reason to take them outside would be to potty train them but you usually can't begin to do that until they are weaned at about eight weeks and usually by eight weeks you should already have them sold. I always kept mine in a large crate (cage) with several layers of newspaper and a box that had a towel in it. The box provides a sense of security for them because it has walls and they feel safer in the beginning in smaller spaces. The front of the box should have a small opening cut out of it with a short lip so that when they start to get around they can get to the papers. Also you will need extra towels so that when they mess on one you will have a towel to replace it with when you are washing the other one. Doing it this way teaches them to pee on the newspaper and not in their box (bed). At first they will pee and poop in the box and on the papers but you just keep washing the towel and soon they will decide they don't want to sleep in their own poop and will learn to go only on the papers. Of course you will also need to replace the box as it gets soiled or feces gets on it. If you put a lot of layers of newspaper in the cage then each time they mess on it you can simply take up a layer or two and you will have clean papers again. When puppies are small they do not like large open spaces because they do not feel secure. Providing them with a cage helps them learn to potty on papers and also makes them feel secure. As they get older you will have to place a piece of cardboard in front of the door so they cannot get out of the cage but low enough so that the mother can get over in order to take care of the puppies.
The mother will lick their butts when they are young to stimulate them to go poop and pee. Do not be alarmed if she eats their poop this is not uncommon for the mother to do. She will continue this even after they no longer need to be stimulated to go and that is the reason for the newspapers. If they poop and you can get the paper up right away it will prevent the mother from eating the poop. Contrary to popular belief there is no medical or emotional reason for her to continue eating their feces after the puppies no longer need being stimulated to go to the bathroom. She will continue to do it to keep the cage clean for her puppies but if you get the poop up then she does not have to do this. Their instinct is so strong in this area that they will continue to do this even when the puppies become adults. I had a mother/daughter in my home and she tried to eat her daughters poop even into adulthood.
Remember, the first time is a learning experience and do not beat yourself up if you make mistakes. Learn from them and the next time you will do better. Your questions are excellent and you seem to be preparing well so good luck and I hope it all turns out well for you.
The rest of the questions you asked will be in the word document that I provided on my website. If you have more questions after reading the document please feel free to ask me again. If you like you can contact me directly through my website.
