HELP... Advice on whelping VERY high energy female - Page 1

My pregnant 3 year old import female shepherd is a VERY high drive dog, she is just extremely fast ruff and hard about everything she does, she is suppose to whelp around Dec 1st and Im really worried she is going to hurt or kill her pups because she is so ripping ruff, Ive even heard of very rare situations with extremely high energy female working line dogs that have killed and eaten there pups ! Im not really worried about that but I am definitely concerned that she will step on her pups and kill them, its almost mostly when she see's me that she gets so excited and bouncing off the walls, and if her maternal instinct doesn't kick in to where she pays attention and is careful theres no way one pup could ever survive, Ive always had strong male working dogs and have NEVER had a female whelp pups, Im wanting to do this the best I can.

Id really appreciate any advice from someone who has dealt with this before.

Isnt it a little late to be thinking this now? If she really is that high energy and rough, pray that she has a good genetic maternal instinct, otherwise, I predict the next 2 months will involve mostly sleepless nights for you as you spend them sleeping next to her whelping box, spending your time rescuing puppies.
I hope for your sake, you are wrong, best of luck to you.

the eating puppies has nothing to do with type dog.

what type whelping box do you have?

I didn't say that it did have anything to do with the type dog ? Just that she is extreme... Im not concerned about the eating pups thing, probably shouldn't have even mentioned Id heard that had happened before, but I am worried about her accidentally injuring the pups. The whelping box is a wooded box with rails around the edge 4" off the bottom to keep from crushing the pups, I will try to attach pic.

was just going to suggest that one with rails offers a little more protection. looks like you have that covered.

good luck.

Now might be a good time to teach her to down when she sees you or stay down

She might slow down some as she gets farther along, too, especially if it's a large litter. Many years ago, I had a nutty girl that two days before whelping suddenly started acting like an old lady --tired, worn out, miserable, panting, not interested in food, not wanting to walk except for absolutely necessary, dragging when she did walk, and drinking smaller amounts of water more often. It started about the time we could the see the puppies seriously moving around incessantly, and the dog was clearly not happy.

Is there a toy or object that she'll spend time with calmly at all? My current high-drive GSD plays keep-away with the ball and if she lays down with one particular one, she'll lay quietly chewing on it for some time. Some dogs will calm down and concentrate on some of the puzzles out there, too. Or maybe a "loaded" Kong/similar or whatever recreational chew toy she likes if she'll spend time with it not playing/chasing.

Teach her no rough-housing, jumping, running, etc. in the whelping box now (and probably the room the whelping box is in), and practice and reward it over and over until.

Spend lots more time with her, especially doing calm things together and separately in the same room. Try to do at least some of the calm things together in the room with the whelping box, and no rowdy stuff allowed in that room.

Does she like music? Mine current dog really likes listening to quiet classical stuff like violin practicing without any accompaniment, string quartets, etc. Woodwinds, brass, and percussion amp her up, as does modern music. If you can teach her to associate calm behavior with a particular calm/quiet piece(s), you might have some luck calming her down by playing it. If you're not into string chamber music, maybe some relaxing, quiet, acoustical classical guitar (lots of it online).

Prayers for an uneventful and easy delivery and afterwards.

You’ll need a positive attitude for the challenge ahead. My Malinois makes most GSDs look sluggish. She did her morning workout/swim the day before whelping (thought she was still a week out) and the day after, and basically wanted to be worked every day thereafter - yet never acted worse for the wear, nor ignored her pups - just took breaks from nursing to burn some energy. Pups eventually got rough on her and I had to limit nursing to avert a possible injury. Lol even had to separate the pups periodically for chewing on each other. Sire and my other male (both strange dog aggressive) posed no problem to the pups, nor an old never-bred female who is an experienced rodent and cat hunter. So I had multiple concerns, maybe more than you. But I was home every day and night until the pups sold. Life with high drive dogs.

I don’t know anything about mom eating pups but sounds like either a genetic miscode or a result of maltreatment by humans.

You can and should read and gain any and all knowledge possible before having a litter...but you will still find new things...
One thing for sure is you can NEVER tell how a female will react or be as she's giving birth or afterwards...Just watch and keep an eye on her and her litter...

~Bob~

Hi drive does not mean bad mother.

I had a female in the past who was very high drive and super athletic. CC had nice DDR lineage. She was small in stature, just a tad under the norm and the day after she whelped, you could not even tell she had a litter (I was jelly about that :-)) My dogs are house pets, so she had a strong bond to the pack and me. She whelped OK, but didn't want to stay with the pups, except for feeding them. Sometimes, I'd have to stay with her. She was fine when I was at work, with or without pups, but if I was there and all the dogs were uncrated she wanted to be part of it.

Her last litter wore on her. I could tell she was stressed, even to the point of mild hair loss. I found her a country home with a retired widow, border collie and goats. She was in her glory. After acclimating her over months, it was painfully clear that this was the life for her.

The eating puppy thing must be something non related and I'm sure there's a much more sinister reason that a dog would do that and I'm not qualified to speak on it.

GSCat has given you the right advice in my opinion.

What I will advise, if she exhibits non interest behavior, do not continue to breed her. It's not for everyone, dog or human.

Just my .02