Mom's water has broken and contractions have begun. Generally, contractions should start within 1-2 hours of the water breaking. If it doesn't, contact your vet.

During this time mom will pant, possibly nest, grunt and you'll see a rippling along her back and sides. These are the actual contractions. She should start to push within 1-2 hours of contractions.

The sac emerging.

Yellow pup born in the sac. The head is to the left.

I usually rip the sac from around the puppy's head so the pup can breathe immediately. I then aspirate the puppy with a bulb syringe. I don't normally let mom eat the afterbirth, since they will give her nasty diarreha. I will tie off the imbilical cord approx. 1 inch from the puppy's belly with the unwaxed dental floss. Then I cut the cord on the side of the knot that faces the afterbirth. DO NOT PULL ON THAT CORD OR YOU COULD CAUSE A HERNIA

I make note of the time born, the color and sex of the puppy.

I let mom lick the puppy while I am doing this. I want to hear that puppy squeal. If I don't hear squealing, I will take a towel and rub the puppy across the back until it does. Squealing means the puppy is breathing. I then put a colored string loosely around its neck and weight it, making note of string color and weight on the whelping chart.

Black puppy being born breech. If you see pads, that means the puppy is breech or backwards. This is not unusual and not really a big deal. I will make sure I get that sac off quickly though in a breech birth.

This black puppy had me laughing. His feet were pushing up against the sac and his tail was wagging. I had a feeling he would develop into quite a character.

The little black puppy saying hello to the world.

If mom doesn't show any signs of having the next puppy, I put the pups on a towel and let them nurse. This helps bring on new contractions but also allows mom to bond.

Mom and her pups after a job well done.

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