Milk/Labor

Question
So what do you think was causing her to act like she did last night? It seemed to us that she was experiancing pain. Could this be pre contractions? Oh and we just took her temperature and it is back to normal? Why is it that it dropped around the time of her acting weird and now has risen? Today we were expecting puppies but her temp is normal so it may not happen for a few days. We are taking her the vet monday to get ultra sound to make sure its not a false pregnancy but we are pretty sure it isn't and to make sure everything is going ok. Do you think that restless attitude and the weird behavior the other night could of been a problem with birth?
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Ok so my first question is, How do you know, for sure, your dog is producing milk? We are pretty sure but want to be sure. We are like 95% sure she is pregnant and today is her due date. Well last night she started to pant and breath heavy alot (even though she has no prior exercise) so we took her to the room where the whelping box was and let her sit with us until that moment came. It was weird she would sit down for like a minute and then she was up and walking around and would sit down, and as time went on it got worse, towards like 45 min. later when she did get up she was jumping on us and scratching us and wimpering and running around, and we thought for sure that it was getting closer to that time. But then like after an hour she settled down for the rest of the night, we thought it could start up again maybe during the night but nothing happened, like right before we went to bed she jumped on my a wimpered a little, but not as bad as before. And our dog is like the most mellow dog I have EVER seen. She hardly ever acts this way. Is this normal to happen before pregnancy, does it mean something, should she of had her puppies that night, did we do someting wrong? Oh yeah and I forgot to tell you, she is a Chocolate Lab. She is about 2 1/2 years old and at noon yesterday her temp dropped and remains drop at least 3 degrees, toward night it dropped about 2 more, but we think it could be the thermomoter, but we have been using the same one everyday and where the temps are true or not it did drop.
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Hi Rick,

You can tell if your female is producing milk, if you can see it.  

A female's due date is 63 days AFTER the EGG becomes impregnated.

If this is your females first litter, she could be a bit nervous. The best thing for her is nice walks, to get things started and some vanilla ice cream.  

The vanilla ice cream and walking has everything in it to get the pups and her pregnancy moving. Calcium, glucose and fluids (it will also bring her milk in) and walking stimulates releases oxytocin is a naturally occurring hormone manufactured in the hypothalamus gland and is stored in the pituitary gland.  

Now you just have to sit back and let nature takes it course.

Good luck!

Answer
"Listen" to what she's telling you.  If she's in distress and seems to be in pain, get her into a vet.  

Remember gestation is 63 days from OVULATION and NOT when you bred her... so it can go a few days either way.

It's always advisable to have an x-ray done when you think you're expecting pups.  It eliminates the guess work and you have an idea what to expect. Also it will let you know if your female is experiencing a false pregnancy which is very common and can happen to even a seasoned breeder.

Before your female whelps you should prepare yourself for an emergency (the "just in case"). Read resources that give you an understanding of the whelping process, get your supplies together,and ask your vet about having oxytocin on hand.

If your female has pushed without a puppy for for two hours you may be looking at uterine inertia.  If your female is panting, she's having contractions.

Good luck.