# Whelping boxes/other ideas



## Ashley Campbell (Jun 21, 2009)

I did a search and went back 2 years, I didn't really find much of an answer to this. I see some folks like Jeff O used a wire crate (at least from pics of Soda's last pups), Don has said his pups are outside in a dog house, but for those of us that it isn't feasible, where do you put your pups?

At my place, pups are going to have to be inside the house, since she'd be due mid-November. Kinda probably ****ed my plans for Thanksgiving, but oh well. It's too damn cold here in the winter to keep puppies outside - I don't even like going outside in the winter here if I can avoid it. 
While I have an extra guest room I can situate for this, without carpet even, I'm looking at options for what to keep puppies in? 

Plastic swimming pools seem to be a good choice, except I missed out during the summer season and you can't find them to buy them anymore, unless I'm missing something?

Building a box - not very likely, I am not a carpenter by any means and I have a small car, not ideal for bringing home lumber and such. Not that I "can't" - I have no problem being a ******* and bungee cording down my trunk with stuff sticking out of it and flagging the end of it. But if I go that route, the plans better be pretty simple - measuring is not my strong point - neither is playing with power tools, it's a hospital trip waiting to happen.

I see you can buy them online, but they're pretty pricey. My crates are too small for the most part even if I take the top off. 

So, any other ideas? I'm trying to get a feel for it so I can arrange the expenses part - now I wish I'd bought one of those hard plastic pools this summer. But I'd certainly rather not have to spend over $200 for a commercially made one, even though they are tempting since they break down for storage, which means I could move it easily.


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## Mike Ritland (Apr 11, 2009)

I have whelped a few litters in an XL Dogloo before. It works just fine, baby pools work to but if you can't find one, you can't find one. I would post a wanted ad on craigslist for one, you could probably find one for 10 bucks on there. I've seen people use bathtubs in harsh winter environments too. I would just use whatever you have with a little imagination, there is really no reason to spend a bunch of money for it.


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

Soda insisted on having them there, and keeping them in a 500 vari kennel look alike. There were only two that lived, so it was not bad. 

There are pre made whelping boxes, and some people just slap boards together with rails. The bottom needs to be easily cleaned. Other than that, you have to make it tall enough for when they are older.


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## Anna Kasho (Jan 16, 2008)

So you are sure she's preggo at this point? 100% sure?
Kinda ironic that the unwanted neutered guy got his shot at procreation after all.


I used an iguana cage.... But it is a nice big built-in deal with 8ft x 4ft floor space, makes a good puppy kennel, too.

I am sure you can figure out something. Cardboard box in a closet? An area separated by an X-pen, bolted into the wall? It just needs to contain mom and pups in relative peace and quiet?


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## Ashley Campbell (Jun 21, 2009)

Jeff Oehlsen said:


> Soda insisted on having them there, and keeping them in a 500 vari kennel look alike. There were only two that lived, so it was not bad.
> 
> There are pre made whelping boxes, and some people just slap boards together with rails. The bottom needs to be easily cleaned. Other than that, you have to make it tall enough for when they are older.


Ahh, didn't know that, just remember seeing she'd had them in the wire crate.

I'm not 100% sure, but she went out of heat awfully fast, that's either a great sign or a really bad sign lol. Even if she isn't, it won't kill me to have it on hand for future use - it won't go wasted and I have plenty of room to store something like that in my garage. I thought about a box but I don't want anything that's going to leak, even though my extra room has a cement floor, I'm not a huge fan of mopping - I'm debating on tiling the floor in the next month to make it easier to clean too. 

As my friend said "just because you didn't want them, you'll for sure have puppies from the neutered dog - that's how it works" - I"m starting to think the same thing.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

For temporary flooring, you can go to Lowes/Home Depot/Mennards/etc and get a sheet of linoleum flooring for pretty cheap and just lay it down wherever after you cut it if needed. In fact, if you go to one of those flooring outlet places, you may even be able to get it cheaper if they have remnants. Then you can toss it if you like.


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## Adam Swilling (Feb 12, 2009)

I used a child's plastic wading pool. I velcroed some of those foam "pool noodles" to the inside for rails. EASY clean up, plenty of room for Mom. Put a couple of welping mats in it along with old sheets, blankets, and towels. Got the idea from a breeder I know. Inexpensive, easy to clean, and my bitch loved it. So did the dog.


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## Rochele Smit (Feb 3, 2010)

Ashley,

I'm up in Littleton, and I have a large plastic kiddie pool that the dogs like to use in the summer. If she is pregnant, you can feel free to use it if you can't find anything close to you. 

Just know that at 3 weeks, they can climb out. And that is when you wish you had something bigger/sturdier!!!

My hubby helped me build a whelping box for Zonya's current litter... and its almost as expensive as buying one. Cost for all materials at Home depot was $80 and spent probably 6-8 hours building it. Of course, a hippo (small hippo) could easily give birth in it it's so sturdy. 

Of course, keep your fingers crossed that she's not pregnant!!!


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

So the neutered dog ****ed the unspayed bitch, and you are expecting pups ??

How do you think that is going to work ?


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## Ashley Campbell (Jun 21, 2009)

Jeff Oehlsen said:


> So the neutered dog ****ed the unspayed bitch, and you are expecting pups ??
> 
> How do you think that is going to work ?


Neutered dog was neutered on the 3rd, banged the bitch on the 13th...apparently, neutered bastard still can be viable for up to 3 weeks - this was 10 days later.

If he had been neutered months ago, I'd have no concern, but this was still "fresh"...make more sense now? lol. Does it help that I admit I'm a dumbass and didn't think a thing of letting them out together to move their crates and vacuum the living room?


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

Yet another reason to never keep a shitter.


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## Ashley Campbell (Jun 21, 2009)

I can't argue with you there. I figured cutting his nuts off would do the trick in preventing this? PFFTTT.

I'm not exactly "expecting" puppies - but I have some shitty luck, and it would be my luck that the recently neutered dog knocked up the bitch. I think me and Murphy are cousins in that manner, as I have that kind of luck. So I'm preparing for the possibility, and if I don't need it, awesome, I can save it for a planned litter of my choosing. If I do need it, uhm, good I guess, at least I have it.


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

You going to cull the litter, or are you expecting some bright shiny light to give you a working dog out of that.


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## Ashley Campbell (Jun 21, 2009)

> or are you expecting some bright shiny light to give you a working dog out of that.


Yeah right, I don't expect anything at all, nor am I even considering keeping anything out of it, jeez Jeff, give me some credit for being realistic. I agree the male is a shitter (actually, my term was "worthless" but same difference), why would I consider keeping anything that he produced? 

Define "cull the litter" - do you mean in a literal, old school sense?


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

Although with the current economic crisis, and the fact that there is a huge market for dogs that look like working dogs, but are pets, maybe you could just sell them.


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## Jenna Lea (Jul 25, 2010)

I used a baby pool for my first litter, which was only 1 puppy so it worked, I think the baby pool is a bit small for larger litters.

I built a box for my last litter, it's really very easy.

I did a 4ft x 4ft, don't remember the height, somewhere around 18 inches. Got 4 pieces of decent ply wood cut at Lowe's, for the opening I had them take one of the 4ft pieces and cut 2 pieces about 18 in so there would be an opening about a foot wide. Get some L brackets, 2 L brackets each corner to screw the sides together. Find a pre-cut piece of wood like a 1 x 6 screw or wood glue it where the opening is to make a lip so little puppies can't crawl out. No bottom, I put a tarp under it and then blankets on top of the tarp. I didn't even fool with rails, but mom was experienced so I wasn't worried about her squashing a baby. I put an X-pen around it.

It ain't pretty but it did the job, when I was done with it, unscrewed the L brackets for easy storage in the attic.


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## shawn murace (Feb 20, 2007)

Someone had mentioned going to Lowes or any home improvement store to get linoleum for the floor. You can also have them cut the wood for you and all you would have to do is screw it together at home to make a box. Just buy two pieces of 2x12" lumber eight feet long, cut them both in half to get 4 pieces, 4 feet long. You could easily make a whelping box and the given the boards would only be 4 feet long should easily fit in a backseat of most cars.


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

shawn murace said:


> Someone had mentioned going to Lowes or any home improvement store to get linoleum for the floor. You can also have them cut the wood for you and all you would have to do is screw it together at home to make a box. Just buy two pieces of 2x12" lumber eight feet long, cut them both in half to get 4 pieces, 4 feet long. You could easily make a whelping box and the given the boards would only be 4 feet long should easily fit in a backseat of most cars.


I pmed her, and told here as much, she has a mustang LOL....I think you can get pieces of wood 4 X 2..or 4 X 1 in a mustang..lay the passenger seat down...or fold the backseat down if it goes...


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## Adam Rawlings (Feb 27, 2009)

Jenna Lea said:


> I used a baby pool for my first litter, which was only 1 puppy so it worked, I think the baby pool is a bit small for larger litters.
> 
> I built a box for my last litter, it's really very easy.
> 
> ...


That's pretty much how I built my box. I used fir instead of OSB and I found some cheap laminate peel&stick tiles at the dollar store to line the walls of the box for easy cleaning. I also sanded all the exposed edges to help us and the dogs avoid splinters.


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## Harry Keely (Aug 26, 2009)




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## Ashley Campbell (Jun 21, 2009)

Craigslist is win...
Someone emailed me and said they had one they weren't using, and if I drove up to Black Forrest (not too far from me) I can have it free. Just means i need to borrow a truck.

The thing is with the car, I only have the trunk available...yeah the back seats fold down, but they don't fold down too good with 2 kids and carseats back there...but hey they're only toddlers, all they can do is complain right? Without my husband here, I don't have anyone else to watch the little heathens, so they have to go wherever I go. 

The mustang, smallest trunk in history, almost as bad as a BMW roadster.


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## Jenna Lea (Jul 25, 2010)

Ah good, make sure you bleach it lol


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## Debbie Skinner (Sep 11, 2008)

Here are pixs of what we use.


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