Signs of Labor in Dogs: The Three Stages of Whelping

Most whelpings go fine without much help from you. The reason to know this material cold isn't the normal case — it's so you can tell, quickly and without second-guessing, when a whelping has stopped being normal. That judgment is the whole job.

Your First Warning: The Temperature Drop

From about day 55, take her temperature twice daily and write it down. A bitch's normal runs roughly 100–102.5°F (37.8–39.2°C).

A sustained drop below about 99°F (37.2°C) usually means labor within 24 hours. It's caused by the progesterone fall that triggers whelping, and it's the most reliable advance warning you get. Twice daily matters because the drop can be brief — check once a day and you may miss it entirely.

This is exactly why you establish her baseline in advance. "Is 99.4 low for her?" is a question you can only answer with a week of prior readings.

Other Pre-Labor Signs

In the last day or two, expect some combination of: intensified nesting (digging, shredding bedding, rearranging the box), refusing food (common in the final 24 hours), restlessness and pacing, clinginess or the opposite — some bitches want you constantly, others want to hide — panting, visible puppy movement in the abdomen, and a clear or slightly mucoid vaginal discharge as the cervical plug releases.

Clear or whitish discharge is normal. Green, black, or heavily bloody discharge before the first puppy is not — see the warning signs below.

Stage One: Cervical Dilation (6–12 hours, sometimes up to 24)

The uterus begins contracting, but you won't see straining. What you'll see is her behavior: restless, panting, trembling, repeatedly rearranging bedding, possibly vomiting. Many bitches become intensely focused on their box; some want to be alone, others won't leave your side.

Your job is to do nothing. Keep the room quiet, keep her in the box, keep visitors away, and let it happen. Note the time this started — you'll want it if you need to call the vet.

First-time dams commonly run longer at this stage. Up to 24 hours can still be normal, but if stage one exceeds that without progressing to visible straining, call your vet.

Stage Two: Delivering Puppies

Now you'll see visible abdominal straining — unmistakable, deliberate pushing.

Normal pattern:

• The first puppy should arrive within about 1 to 2 hours of the onset of hard straining.
• Puppies typically arrive 20 minutes to 1 hour apart, though she may rest for up to 2 hours between them and still be fine — particularly mid-litter.
• Roughly 60% arrive head first, 40% rear first. Rear-first is not a breech in dogs and is not automatically a problem.
• Each puppy arrives in a fluid-filled sac. The dam should tear it open, clear the face, and stimulate the puppy by licking vigorously.

If she doesn't open the sac within about 30 seconds, you do it. Tear it at the head, wipe the face clear, suction the airway with a bulb syringe or DeLee trap, and rub the puppy briskly with a towel until it's crying and moving. Puppies suffocate in unopened sacs; this is the most common moment where your hands genuinely matter.

Tie and cut the cord if she doesn't, leaving about an inch, and dip the stump in iodine. Weigh each puppy, note the time and sex, and mark it with a collar band before the next one arrives — everything blurs after the third.

Count placentas against puppies. One each. A retained placenta risks serious infection.

Stage Three: Placentas

Stage three interleaves with stage two — a placenta follows each puppy, usually within 15 minutes. She'll often try to eat them; let her have one or two at most, since a full set typically causes vomiting and diarrhea you don't need mid-whelping.

Whelping is over when the puppy count matches your X-ray count, she settles, and she begins nursing in earnest. This is precisely why the day-45 X-ray count matters so much — without it, "is she finished?" has no answer.

Call the Vet Now If

Learn these before the night you need them. Any one of them is a call, not a wait-and-see:

• Stage one exceeds 24 hours without progressing to active straining.
• Hard straining for 30 minutes with no puppy. This is the classic dystocia sign.
• More than 2 hours between puppies when you know more are coming.
• Green or black discharge before the first puppy. Green discharge means placental separation has begun — a puppy is losing its oxygen supply. After the first puppy has been delivered, green is normal.
• Heavy bright-red bleeding at any point.
• A puppy visibly stuck in the birth canal that doesn't advance with a contraction. Gentle traction timed with a contraction is the most you should try; if it doesn't move, stop.
• The dam collapses, has a fever, or seems severely distressed.
• Trembling, weakness, stiffness, or seizures during or after whelping — this can be eclampsia, a calcium crash that is a genuine emergency.
• She reaches roughly day 65 to 66 without labor starting at all.

The reason to have your vet's and the emergency clinic's numbers written on paper taped near the box is that all of this happens at 3 a.m., and none of it is a moment to be hunting for a phone.

After the Last Puppy

Get all puppies nursing within the first few hours — colostrum in that window carries the antibodies they'll rely on. Check that each one latches; a puppy that won't nurse needs attention immediately.

Weigh every puppy daily. Daily weight gain is the most sensitive early warning you have — a puppy that stops gaining is declining well before it looks unwell.

Most vets want to examine the dam and litter within 24 to 48 hours. Watch her for fever, foul discharge, hard or hot mammary glands, or disinterest in the puppies.

Prepare Rather Than React

Almost everything that goes wrong in a whelping goes better if you saw it coming. Have your supplies assembled by week eight, the whelping box set up by day 50, an X-ray count in hand, and the exact dates in front of you — our free dog pregnancy calculator produces the whole timeline from your breeding or ovulation date.

Then write down what happens: start times, each puppy's time and weight, complications, what you did. It's what your vet will ask for, and across litters it tells you how each dam whelps — who runs fast, who needs help, who has needed a section before. Breeders Companion keeps that history per dog and per litter so it's there for the next one.

This article is for general education, not veterinary advice. Establish a whelping plan with your veterinarian before your dam is due, and call them immediately with any of the warning signs above.