Whelping might be from 56-72 days from breeding.  If you know when LH surge (number should be be around 2) is 65 days to whelping so ideally breeding should be about 4 days after that, eggs are viable 10 days.    Taking blood every other day or every day and have it tested for progesterone ($60-87 each time, LH test is $25 and you can miss it in 48 hours).

Cytologic Diestrus (vaginal) smears can be pretty accurate.   Swab should go in far when you do cytology.

Temperature of dog late in pregnancy-- measure morning and night same time, graph it, 85% of the time it will drop within 36 hours, cause is change in progestrone level, you don’t see that in singletons.

Whelp-wise is a service from KY you can rent the equipment to monitor contractions, costs about $500

You can also get a dopler to monitor heartrates 220 is normal, ready to born 180, distress is less than 150

Doing x-rays should be done around day 60 from LH or beyond 2 progestrone level.

Active labor should be only about 10-30 minutes until a puppy is born, she should be in labor but not in pain.

It is normal for them to rest from 2-3 hours with a large litter but it should start up again by then, entire duration is less than 24 hours.

2 drugs might help, oxytocin and calcium help, favorite calcium is ice cream, calcium citronate is better than tums.  don’t use oxytocin when she is actively pushing, use it when they are exhausted to help her push.

green discharge is an indication they should whelp within 2 hours or get help!

Walgreens has infant aspirator with a bulb and tube which is very good to use on pups

Don’t swing the puppy, 20-30 minutes of CPR (squeeze sideways 4 times a second, breathe 6 times a minute) needle stick under nose , kayro syrup under the tongue

puppies that have herpes don’t gain weight, are wimpering, cold — normal puppy temp is 95-97 degrees , for adults body temp is higher, keep pups warm, herpes can’t survive above 97

A good drug is acepromolizine,  anti-anxiety and also milk promoting.

Other vets in area which do lots of Canine Repro:

Dr. Catherine Settle in Sanford

Dr. Huff in Clayton (does not do transcervical inseminations)

Dr. Beth Bauer at Carolina Ranch