over due????

Question
QUESTION: Hi,
I have a quick question, can a dog be over due and still go on to have health babies?  And how long over due should I let her go before seeing a vet?? (unfortunately we are a ways from a vet by a couple of hours so I don't want to make an unnecessary trip)  Anyways, we often house dogs for the Malamute rescue association until permanent homes are found. (we currently have 3 siberians of our own) anyways, we rescued a female siberian and we were informed that she was breed on December 23rd or December 24th with a male siberian.  That being said, she should be due yesterday I believe, anyways, she hasn't really been nesting (though she does have an established nest already) and her teets are not massive or anything, they are more noticeable then usual (especially the two at the rear) and the fur has fallen out around them, but they are not like over pregnant females I have seen....maybe each breed is drifferent.  I know she is pregnant as she is quite large (though not as large looking as a couple of days ago, I assumed that perhaps they dropped as she isn't as wide but rather lower) and the babies are VERY VERY active....her belly is constantly rolling and waving around....it's cool!  Now I know that she could NOT have been bred past dec 25 as she has been in our possession since then and we do NOT have an unaltered male....any thoughts, maybe this is normal and I am just jumping the gun...:-)  Oh this is also her first litter!

ANSWER: Hi Dianne

The thing is if she was bred on the 23rd (or 24th) and see didn't ovulated until the 26th, you could be off.

Females can go to 75 days depending on ovulation... timing is everything.

So with the 24 as a date of conception, she would be due the 29th, or shortly thereafter.

Good luck!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much for the information and insight, I really appreciate it.  Also I really appreciate the quick response as I have been pacing the floors worried about her! LOL  I was wondering if the fact that she doesn't seem as wide as she did should be concerning or is it just normal as the babies reposition?  Her belly does seem lower though.
Thanks again,
Dianne

ANSWER: All normal -- the pups are just moving down into position.

The best thing to do is get a good book and boil water (consider a nice relaxing tea)... because the waiting will make you crazy!


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: OK, Now I am trying not to worry but, she's been so weird!  Yesterday I thought that for sure it was the day, she hasn't eaten since  Wednesday noon, then yesterday morning, she started digging in her doghouse and she kept turning in circles (as though she was going to lay down in a ball), then she would stop lick herself and few times and eventually lay down for a few minutes before starting the whole process again.  So we decided it was a good time to bring her in (oh and she was panting in -3 temperatures).  When we did, she immediately ran to her whelping box and started digging around in her blankets and rearranging it over and over, then she would lay for a few minutes before whining and digging around more.  I could not leave her side for a minute, she would just follow me around and howl (she never does normally) and try to lead me back to the whelping box, as soon as I would come, she'd lay down immediately and rest.  Then I'd try to "escape" and she would not have it at all....not letting me out of her sight even to pee. Now today she is very unsettled but has NO interest in her whelping box or nesting, she is not licking herself at all anymore, she just is insistent on wanting out, we've let her out to pee and had to fight to get her back in, it's weird.  But when we leave her out to see if she had a BM she just runs around and around and then will just lay in the snow.  I know she is an outside dog and probably more comfortable there, but over the past couple of weeks she has been wanting to stay in more and more and more, in fact we were having to fight to get her to go out to pee.  Even yesterday when I seemed as though she was in Labor she wanted to only be in her whelping box, today it's just different behavior, I can't really explain.  It is not possible to her to whelp outside, it is cold and her doghouse would never accommodate it at all.  But today, she can't seem to move past the thought that she must be outside....she will go to the whelping box if I go with her, but when she lays there, she is not nesting or really content to be there.  I am not sure what to do, do I let her stay out until I actually see birthing going on, or do I force her to stay in and sit beside her non stop.  I just don't want to stress her out.
thanks again

Answer
Try inserting your clean fingers inside, she may have a pup stuck.

If she's usually and outside dog and you're just bringing her in to get use to her whelping box, it may be causing her some confusion and anxiety.   It's best to introduce the whelping box at least a month before she is due to whelp.

Comfort her by staying in the box with her today it will ease her stress.

Good luck.