WHELPING BOXES VS WHELPING POOLS

I personally like to use a plastic baby pool to whelp our medium breed puppies because their easy to move around,  clean and the plastic material moves with my Dams which seems to help because we’ve never had any issues with Mom laying on her puppies and smothering them. Yes,  puppies still do get stuck behind Mom’s in the pools sometimes so keeping an eye and ear tuned on them is still important. I do not need to use pig rails with the pools. 

I also like that I can easily keep a baby pool in my living room without worrying about a huge wooden box taking up a lot of space in my house. 

WHELPING BABY POOL SOLUTION

 The pools are also cheap so you can just toss them when you’re done and buy a new one next time OR you can wash them out and let the puppies play in them on a hot summer day.  

PUPPY WHELPING POOL COVERS AND PADS

I buy these wonderful handmade whelping pool covers on Etsy and Facebook and then I buy the EZWhelp pool pads on Amazon to make my life easier and Mama and puppies life more comfortable and clean. Plus no lost puppies in the folds of blankets and towels! Huge plus! 

PUPPY POOL MUST HAVES! 

My Whelping Pools,  Pool covers and Pads are definitely in my Top 3 absolutely cannot live with out breeding supplies.

Check out my “Whelping Supplies” page to see what else I use and recommend! 

I get my whelping pool covers from different designers online… 

• Kirsten Fulk on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/KirstenFulk
• Hugs and Stitches on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hugsxstitches

I have a much more extensive list of pool cover designers on my Breeders Whelping Supplies page. 

These handmade pool covers are a little spendy buy WELL worth the investment. They range between $55-$75 for the large ones. Depending on who you get them from.  My favorite’s so far have been from Kirsten Fulk on Etsy…  but they’re also the most expensive and to be honest there’s not a huge difference between her’s and Hugs and Stitches for example.  I just like that Kirsten uses a thicker elastic band around the top. 

Whelping Pool Pads

I get the EZWhelp brand whelping pool pads on Amazon and I put them over the fleece whelping pool covers but you can also put them under. I own several of them so I can easily switch them out and wash them daily.

I recommend owning at least 2 to 4 of each so that way you always have a clean cover and a clean pad while your other set are in the wash. Change out the pad daily,  you can usually go every couple of days with the cover especially with newborns but how often you need to swap them out will depend on a few factors like age of the puppies and litter size.. but that’s what makes plastic baby pools and pool covers & pads so great! 

Super easy to keep everything really clean and sanitary with minimal effort. Make sure you order the right size pads and covers to fit your whelping pool. 

EZWHELP WHELPING PADS ON AMAZON

EZwhelp Washable Whelping & Puppy Pad 36″ (Round).  Free Shipping with Amazon Prime. 

EZWhelp whelping Box Liner Mat, Washable and Reusable Puppy Pads – Square pad on Amazon Prime!

KEEPING NEWBORN PUPPIES WARM IN THE POOL/BOXES

 

You can also use the Snuggle safe heating pads in your whelping pools.  

SnuggleSafe is an awesome hard plastic disk that holds heat for several hours after warmed in the microwave for a couple minutes.  Works very well. I suggest two. The directions reccomend that the disk completely cools before re-warming..

 

WHELPING BOXES FOR OLDER PUPPIES – 5-8 WEEK OLDS

While I don’t personally prefer the wooden boxes for whelping my litters… a lot of breeders do love them!  I don’t use boxes for whelping but I actually do use them with my older puppies once they’ve learned to jump out of the whelping pools, usually  around 4-5 wks. We use the boxes when the puppies are sleeping at night and also when we can not supervise them in the house.  We use them for short periods and they work great!  They still need lots of play time outside of the boxes.

I have also used these huge pools that we got at the tractor supply store that are actually meant as cow watering troughs.   620 gallon pools. They work well but their huge so you need to have a full garage to keep them in. 

BUY THEM ONLINE HERE

MAGNABOX WHELPING BOXES

You can buy a premade Whelping box and the best one’s I’ve found are the Magnabox Whelping Boxes on Amazon Prime with Free 2 Day Shipping – they will run you between about $400 and $600 depending on the size you order.

BUY THE MAGNABOX WHELPING BOXES ON AMAZON!

DURA-WHELP PRE-MADE BOXES

There are also the DuraWhelp Whelping boxes you can get on Breedeebase.com

The Dura-Whelp® whelping-box is made of top quality, extruded, 100% polypropylene plastic. The puppy rails are made out of vinyl with a wooden core and they cost about $150-$300 depending on the size.

While the Durawhelp boxes are nice I personally think the Magnabox whelping boxes are the best “pre-made” wehlping boxes currently on the market

BUT… with a little extra work you can easily make your own whelping box for about $100-150.

HOW TO BUILD A WHELPING BOX OUT OF WOOD – DIY VIDEO BY AWESOMEDOODLE

This is the Best “How to Build Your Own Whelping Box” Video on YouTube and it was actually done by a good friend of mine over at AwesomeDoodles.com! ❤ Easy to follow and the whelping boxes look great too!  I really like how he adds the Puppy Mom’s name to the inside of her box.  Nice Touch! 

My husband makes mine….  Thank you hunny! 

Click below for more of my blog post specifically  for Dog Breeders… 

Books For Dog Breeders

These are some of the best books I recommend for Dog Breeders.  Some of them are pretty expensive but still worth it.. especially if you’re a newer dog breeder. 

Canine Reproduction and Neonatology

Winner of Dog Writers Association of America’s Dogwise Best Book Award

Canine Reproduction is a practical guide for veterinarians and an information source for breeders, kennel operators and others with a financial or humane interest in the breeding and maintenance of dogs.

Advanced Canine Reproduction and Puppy Care: The Seminar 

 Answers to common questions and unusual problems encountered even by experienced breeders: Use sunlight to improve breeding results; avoiding C-sections; make AI more successful and much more from a breeder and lecturer who has “been there.”

Canine Reproduction the Breeders Guide

Canine Reproduction: The Breeder’s Guide has been the ultimate reference on dog breeding, whelping and puppy care for more than 30 years. This new third edition features color photographs, the latest veterinary research on reproduction, and an affordable softcover binding. Canine Reproduction covers selection of breeding stock, the science of reproduction, timing the breeding for a successful result, prenatal and postnatal care, whelping, dealing with reproductive problems, illnesses, and more. A complete reference that is a must for any serious dog breeder.

Puppy Intensive Care: A Breeder’s Guide to Care of Newborn Puppies

Get life-saving instructions in text and video on simple measures breeders and canine midwives can take to help newborn puppies in distress. Learn about tube feeding, administering oxygen, hydration and re-warming. Attention shelters and rescue groups: works with orphaned pups

Whelping Calculators & Sample Contracts Online

I could not live without these whelping calculators….

• Gun Dog Central Whelping Calculator
• Lowchensaustralia.com Whelping Calculator
• Sample Contracts for Dog Breeders
• Puppy Sale Contract with PDF Filler

More Dog Breeding Links

I have found a lot of great info on the following websites over the years.

• BreedingBusiness.com – Info on everything under the sun about being a dog breeder and managing your breeding program. Very well done website.
• Arpeggio Poodles – Color Breeding In Poodles, the Bible of color!
• Dogbreedinfo.com – Whelping and Raising Puppies
• Youtube!!!
• Doodle Breeding Resource Group on Facebook

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