Lab had litter of six puppies and now only three

Question
We live in the country and stray dogs often claim our home as theirs. We have five dogs and three of them have ended up at our house. About 3 months ago, a beautiful chocolate lab showed up at our house. I feed her and treat her as my own. We noticed a couple of weeks ago she looked pregnant. Last Wednesday Oct. 31, she had a litter of six puppies under our house. The next day she brought them out and was laying on an old bean bag with all her pups. The next day she took them back under the house. From what I could tell, she seemed to be a doting mother. Cleaning, feeding and not leaving their side. I was gone for a couple of days and when I returned (Wednesday, November 7) my daughter looked under the house and noticed there were only three pups. I haven't seen any dead pups anywhere. I'm perplexed as to what happened. She is taking very good care of the 3 pups. In fact, I don't hear as much wimpering as I did before. What could have possibly happened to the other pups? Would the other dogs make her feel like the puppies weren't in a safe place?

Any ideas?
Pam

Answer
Hi Pam. Well, there are many different things that can go wrong with newborns. I'd say what happened was that the puppies passed away. Mom probably either ate them, or simply moved them away from her nest. Or maybe another animal got a hold of them. It's really untelling. Something may have been wrong with the puppies, and they simply died. Or, they may not have been as strong as the others. Mom may not have had enough milk for them all. She may have a milk infection. There's so many different things that could've happened, it's really hard to pin point one certain thing without my being there and seeing for myself. Mom may have also accidentally killed them by moving them around so much. Yes, mom may not feel that her pups are safe with other dogs running around. If you can, try to keep them separated from the others for a few weeks and see if that won't help her from moving them. I don't know what part of the country you live in, but if it's cold where you are, that may have killed the puppies also. Newborns have to stay pretty warm to survive. I hope everything goes well for the remaining puppies!