Strange Behavior?

My brother's dog had 8 puppies, three died. She is part GSD and so is the father. They seem to be having a problem:


Our bitch has been whelping successfully for a week. However now she has
started to show more aggressive actions toward the puppies. Very difficult
to describe, she will quickly grab them with her mouth and move them away
but while others are nursing. She sometimes growls or barks when she does
this. It is a random puppy not one in particular. She doesn't seem to be
particularly sore from nursing and if you take away the puppy she acted on
she gets very upset and when we immediately put it back she seems to protect
it. We are concerned that she may get rough to the point of hurting a pup.
Any insight would be appreciated.


Has anyone had this problem? Any ideas? Thanks!

A couple of things to check out. First how many tits does the bitch have? Usually bigger dogs such as GSD's have more than 5. Since mom is only nursing five it could be that they are constantly going to the same tits. You need to make sure all of them are getting used. The lower tits around the abdomen usually produce the most milk while the ones closer to the chest produce less.

Second, check mamma for Mastitis. This is a hardening of milk around the tits. You will feel the hardness when you touch the tits. It is kind of like lumpy hard cottage cheese. If any of the tits have this feeling then she has Mastitis in that tit. Put a bandage or something over it when the pups nurse so they can't get to it. You do not want them nursing from this tit until it is cleared up. This usually happens in the first week or so after the whelp because the bitch is producing too much milk and the babies don't have the sucking power to drain her dry or they are not sucking off that tit.

This condition is very painful to the bitch and needs immediate attention in two ways. First, you need to get her to the vet for antibiotics. Second, you need to work the hardening to break it loose. To do this apply warm compresses and massage the lump to break it free. This may take hours depending on the seriousness. You need to make sure to keep the compresses warm and keep massaging. It helps to have someone else around to help in this process since it does take a while and you will need to keep applying warm compresses. While this is time consuming it is much better than having to hand feed 5 nursing pups for weeks. They should not nurse off an infected tit.

Let me know if this information helped. In any case though you should let the vet know what is going on. This is your definite source of information and they can see first hand what is going on.

The most likely reason for the bitch's behaviour is that you are too close and are threatening to her. The fact that the bitch is very quick to get your scent off puppies that you have handled, is agressive to others in a random, to you, pattern and seems generally uneasy says to me, "Back off!"
Leave her alone. She knows what she should be doing and you are confusing her. She has deep maternal instincts that are in conflict with her submission to you. Give her a two to three day respite where you only look in, not touch any puppy, to see that all is well and let her out to toilet. Then start to go into the whelping space only to fuss her for one day. The next day you only need to put your hand on the pups, not pick them up, take your cues from the bitch. If you respect her instincts in this it should not be an issue and by the time the serious socialisation time for the pups is here you won't have a problem. Do not force yourself on her, she will be confused and the only way to deal with this for a bitch is to kill the pups herself and get the protein rather than let the pups feed some other threatening animal.

Update:

Thanks for the replies, so now I know the scope of whelping, lol. We are having some luck here, the aggressiveness has diminished greatly. Couple things we think we may have corrected: I don't think we were feeding her enough and maybe she was having problems producing enough milk. We've padded the pen more to make it more comfortable for her. We've bumped the heat up another 2 degrees. You can kinda tell when she is getting a bit crabby and we separate her from the puppies for a little time. So far we've only had some quick nose pushes so maybe we're on the right track. Thanks for all the help, I'll keep you posted.

A nursing bitch should be feed as much as she wants to eat. My Dixie went from 2 to 6 cups of food a day! How funny.... I thought she was producing too much milk and here it was she wasn't producing enough!!! Glad you got it figured out. :)

Another question from the new parents:

Another question to post please.
We're going on 13 days and the none of the puppies eyes have opened yet, should we be concerned? Everything else is normal, they are big and move around very nicely with some starting to get their paws under them also. Ethel has been great again, it must have been the amount of food.

We're going on 13 days and the none of the puppies eyes have opened yet, should we be concerned? ....

In my vet manuel, it mentions that
eyes and ears, which are sealed at birth
start to open at 10-16 days. Hope that makes
you feel better. :)

Thanks for the help!! They "don't know nothin' about birthin' no puppies!!!" LOL They want me to take a pup, though. No, no, no!!!

Heeee, heeee heeee! :D I can just picture them with their little squinty eyes :) I'm craving a puppy fix!

OOH! Me TOO! I need a puppy fix BADLY! So until I can get another....Sue..How about some photos???? Lil itty bitty, balls of fur!PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ!!!!!!! :D

The puppies eyes will open up by day 16. You will start to see slits and then by the third week the eyes will be wide open. The ears will open following the eyes. Eyes come first. By three weeks both eyes and ears are open.

The most important thing the new parents of the puppies need to do is socialize the little ones properly before they go to their new homes. This is of course understanding that their eating and cleanliness are taken care of.

Introduce the little ones to as many stimulating things as possible. Sounds, lights, toys, etc... Don't let other dogs around them yet though since they are not vacinated and can easily come down with many life threatening diseases. Limit the people who come to see them too until they get their first set of shot at 6 weeks. Make sure their environment is kept clean and sanitary. This becomes even more critical once the pups start weening around 4 or 5 weeks. By week 7 they should be weened from mom completely. By week 8 they should be ready to go to their new home.

   The puppies:

http://PetoftheDay.com/online/puppies.jpg

Awwwww I am having puppy cravings too! Kiss every single one of them for me!

I am so glad that they live 1 1/2 hours away from me because I fear I wouldn't be able to resist one of those puppers!! I really do prefer older rescued dogs. Look at that cutie in the middle with the GSD markings!!!! :eek: What am I thinking????? LOL

Those puppies are so cute, it does make one long for another.
Jackie

They are adorable! Are their eyes open yet?

Yes!! Their eyes are open now!!! Such little cuties!!

Sue, are you weakening yet?

My brother just e-mailed me that question, too.
No, no. no!
LOL