1. Keep calm
Giving birth to puppies can sometimes be easy, so don’t panic. Large breeds are particularly easy.
2. Confine the pregnant dog to a good spot.
The first concern when your dog is giving birth to puppies is the location of the mother. A cold, drafty area out of arms reach is the worst place for a dog to have puppies. If your dog is currently in labor, confine her to a place that is draft-free, warm, and easily accessible to you.
3. Get the phone number of your veterinarian or local emergency (after hours) veterinarian.
See the end of the article for the national directory of emergency vets.
4. Gather supplies
Items needed include scissors, dental floss (or hemostat), heating pad, petroleum jelly, hand towel, calcium (tumors, vanilla ice cream, or dog supplement) {FYI, calcium helps with labor contractions in dogs. dogs}
5. Keep calm mother
Limit the number of people and animals around the giving birth mother. The stress of a crowd can put your dog out of work for hours. Threatened mothers have been known to kill their cubs.
6. Once the mother begins to push or the pups begin to emerge, give her calcium.
Calcium will help strengthen contractions; thus, making the delivery faster. Crush one of the breasts and put it in the mother’s mouth or use a calcium paste supplement (recommended). or offer vanilla ice cream. If the mother gives birth to several puppies and then stables her, she can give her more calcium later.
7. Help delivery
If the puppy comes out of the birth canal midway and then gets stuck there for more than a few minutes, you may need to apply the petroleum jelly as high up the birth canal as you can reach your finger. (if possible, use a syringe to push the jelly into the birth canal). Using the hand towel, gently tug on the puppy to aid delivery. If the pup does not fully emerge within 10 to 15 minutes call your vet for advice, you may need to go to the vet.
Tip: If two pup bags appear in the birth canal at the same time and you can’t push one in, then you need to go to the vet, your dog may need a c-section.
8. Cut and fasten the cord.
Tie the floss as close to the puppy’s body as possible or secure it with hemostats. Cut the cord a half inch from the floss with scissors. If the floss comes loose, simply re-tie it. If you can’t tie the floss, don’t panic, the bleeding should stop on its own.
9. Keep puppies warm and dry.
Turn on your heating pad and place puppies on it. Keep the area as dry and draft-free as possible after delivery is complete.
10. Supervise the puppies and the mother.
Make sure all puppies have started suckling within a few hours of birth. Maintain a warm, dry, stress-free environment. If the mother begins to tremble and shake uncontrollably, it is possible that she has pre-eclampsia, an extreme lack of calcium, she should contact her veterinarian.