Bitch moving pups constantly

Question
I am writing this letter for my parents as they do not have any internet and desperately need advise. My parents have a 3 year old Lab who whelped her first litter (8 pups)2 days ago. She had her first pup on the couch and we were able to comfortably move her and the pup to her whelping box right away. She was so shocked by the first pup that we had to assist with breaking open the sack and clamping and cutting the umbilical cord. She did clean this pup, but she did not eat the placenta. She had no problems with any of the other puppies. What she did do though, was continuously try to move a puppy to the couch. She tried several times during labor and continues to do so three days later. We thought she might be doing this because she did not like the location of her whelping box, (the sun room off of the living room) so we moved them all to a far corner of the house where she has a dark closet to keep the pups and a room to walk around in. But she still moves them. She keeps my parents up with worry all night with their screaming as she tries to hide the puppies throughout the room. They put up a baby gate to keep her in there (she was still taking one [random pups] to the couch before the gate) and they spent a lot of time in the room with her during the day, taking her outside every 2 hours for a short walk around the yard. They did allow family to come and see the puppies the first afternoon and evening but have since stopped everyone from coming into the house in hopes of stopping this behavior. She is very attentive to her litter, feeding and cleaning them well. Do you know what could be causing this? Is she just nervous? Will the behavior stop on it's own. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Answer
Hi Amanda

New momma's can be very anxious, as what appears to be the case with your parent's female.

Every time she picks up and moves a pup, she must be told in a stern voice NO! and the pup goes back in the box.  The whelping should be completely closed off so she can't get out. If she gets worked up and starts moving the pups, remove her completely from the box for 15 minutes or more putting her in a crate.  You would only need to do this once or twice for her to get the picture and she will want to be with her pups.  

Her food can be supplemented with Vitamin B Complex or Bach's Rescue Remedy to calm her nerves.

As the pups age and her hormones settle back down, she should calm down.

Good luck