Puppies on Dog Beds

I have just been to see my friend’s puppies. Wow, they are gorgeous in their whelping box. Of course they are not really on dog beds yet, as they are on the standard pet bedding in order to feel all fluffy and warm. They even have a heating pad underneath so that they can climb on that in case it is middle of the night and mum has wandered off. Most people like to keep the new pups on pet bedding (the stuff we use to make the Fluffie covers out of) due to the fact that if a puppy has a pee, the pee runs straight through the polyester pile and down to the underlay, which is usually old newspapers, leaving puppy well and dry on top. Mum seems very well, but she is also demanding food all day AND all night. Apparently she wants out for toileting at 1am and while she has got the humans out of bed, why not have a snack and a little drink of milky water? The humans can go back to bed at 2. I have rarely seen such a well looking bitch with puppies. OK, they always look so “dangly” underneath, but otherwise this one is looking all fat and well despite a fair good size of a litter.

The bitch does have a bit of a digging habit and it is funny how she has decided that when she “needs to dig”, she leaves the perfectly arranged newspaper and pet-bedding as she knows that it would make a total mess of the whelping box. Her choice for digging is, you have guessed it, one of her strong and waterproof dog beds, the Tuffies nest. It really shows how strong they are because she absolutely gives it hell with her big claws. She does manage to topple the Luxury Fleece that covers the cushion somewhat in her attempt, but it never comes off, it just looks a bit disorganised. Once she has had a good old dig, she returns to her pups and lies down all contented. It is a bit of a question why she does all the digging, but it might just be a little sign of stress. She is a tremendous mother and she is seemingly relaxed when there are visitors, but when we for example pick the pups up for worming or toenail clipping, she goes and has a dig. Maybe she is just a little nervous.

Soon the pups will get their more adult dog beds to sleep on as they become really strong and more independent. It is only while they are really little that they can live on newspaper and carpet stuff.