Whelping

The whelping of all of our dachshunds happens in our upstairs puppy room. We just recently turned one of our bedrooms into a whelping room and installed new flooring, trim and re-painted our whole upstairs. This room is just the right size to keep all of our whelping supplies close by and stored in a safe area, it keeps nice and warm for those newly born puppies who do not regulate their own body temperature, and it is also a place for mom to feel she and her puppies are safe.

We monitor all of our Dams closely before birth and are home 24/7 during the last week before our mothers are due. Before mother is due with her puppies we introduce her to the room and whelping box to make her feel comfortable and safe. Our whelping box is made of vinyl and is easy to clean and maintain and provides the puppies with a safe, clean, and a warm environment to start their lives.

The care of the mother and every puppy is very critical to us. From birth to around 2 1/2 weeks we are in constant sight of all puppies and mother.  

Sleep? What is that?! When labor begins, we never leave our girls alone. Once puppies are born the mother licks and cleans them and we help puppies get latched on to start nursing. We weigh each puppy and give a colored collar if needed for identification so that way we are able to monitor and track each ones growth. We document each puppies growth from birth to 8 weeks. This helps us to ensure that every puppy is healthy and thriving. 

The first 3 days of the puppies life is a very special time for mother and puppies to recuperate and bond. We keep the whelping room warm, comfortable, and quiet. At 3 days if everyone is thriving we start our handling curriculum and scent introduction on all puppies.

Here at Blue Mountain Dachshunds our puppies are handled daily to perform ENS, ESI and introduce new items and surfaces. For the first 16 days we perform ENS and ESI on each puppy. ENS involves holding puppy in a supine position , head pointed down, head held erect, Tactile stimulation, and thermal stimulation.

There are 5 benefits of ENS. These include improved cardio vascular performance,  stronger heart beats, stronger adrenal glands, more tolerance to stress, and greater resistance to disease. Stimulated puppies have been found to be more active and more exploratory than non stimulated litter mates. 

 Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) combined with our other handling and socialization techniques will help our puppies house train easier, learn faster, and have an overall sense of well being.

ESI involves introducing a different scent each day for the first 16 days. ESI is designed to enhance puppies ability to identify and react to specific scents. Performing ESI means that each puppy will potentially be a better sport dog, companion, service or therapy dog. Scents that we expose our puppies to include lemon, oranges, grass, dirt, garlic, red pepper,  ginger, cinnamon,  sugar, oregano, nutmeg, peppercorn, leaves and pinecones.