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Nesting Box

Although I have been involved with Colorado Mountain Dogs since 2008, I am definitely a learner. I learned something which I will pass on. Feel free to add your experiences.

I have had the problem of a female with a new litter squashing pups, and it has happened even with fancy whelping boxes.

Ithilien had her last litter in the house under my constant supervision so she wouldn't squash a pup, and this worked pretty well. We did lose one pup, causes unknown, squashing highly suspected.

This time Ithilien had her litter in a corner of a small shed in the goat pen, in a bowl she had hollowed out in the dirt.

Don and I rushed to build a railing. For those who don't know, whelping boxes have a six inch rail about six inches off the ground, so that the mother doesn't squash pups against a wall.

After Don was done, I noticed Ithilien circling her pups, because she had lost six inches of the bowl, and now it was an uncomfortable fit.

She laid down finally and I had to pull two pups out from under her.

I knew the humans had botched her plan....as we often do when we think we are smarter than nature. I am getting over covid, so I'm okay but things hurt when you move, so I grumblingly went and got the digging bar.

I moved the pups out while Ithilien patiently waited... and I re-dug and reshaped her bowl just like she had it, but 6 inches to the south.

I got to thinking about this. The ground is absorbent... even though I human-ed it up with shavings. So not only does a dog-dug birthing bowl make it a lot easier for Ithilien to keep her pups clean, the shape gently pulls the pups to the center and keeps them together, where they will be warmer, easy to feed, and easy not to lie on. She built it perfectly...she lies around the rim, and can feed her pups easily. I imagine that the bowl will also have balanced biology in the dirt for keeping down bacteria, for the short time the pups will be using it. I noticed the little pup claws digging into the dirt so they had purchase and didn’t splay their hips on a slippery floor. They used their muscles to push up to the milk…. good for hips.

Ithilien and the pups slept in the barn. I didn't have to run down to the bedroom every time I heard Ithilien move. It was 29 degrees outside last night. This morning all 7 pups were fat, warm, and happy.

Humans. I know Ithilien must think we are dense. Of course we have to have rigorous vigilance when we have messed up how the dogs do things.

EDIT: It is now 2023 and every litter since has been born and raised in a mom-dug dirt bowl with no added material. The pups have been safe even in much colder temps. The moms know how to regulate pup temps. I have stopped having mom squished pups.