how long should labour last on average?

nekdoneco123

Esteemed Citizen of ZV
so my girl went into labour today at 11 am. first pup was out what felt like in seconds. everything was fine, she immediately started to look after it. then she took about 4 hour long break before passing the second one out. that's the part that kinda worries me. can any dog breeder (or anyone with some experience) tell me how long is okay for the whole process? i mean, she's 7 hours into labour and she has only 2 pups out with at least 2 more to go. last check up we did confirmed at least 4 pups.

i called two different vets now (my regular vet is closed this weekend for technical reasons) and they both told me i should calm down, that it's okay for a larger girl to take her time passing her pups out. both said something along the lines of "don't stress her with needless travelling if the labour isn't longer than 24 hours"


what stresses me out the most is that this is almost exactly how i lost my boy a year ago. something happened, my regular vet was closed and i had to call 4 different ones to get some coherent information....
 
so my girl went into labour today at 11 am. first pup was out what felt like in seconds. everything was fine, she immediately started to look after it. then she took about 4 hour long break before passing the second one out. that's the part that kinda worries me. can any dog breeder (or anyone with some experience) tell me how long is okay for the whole process? i mean, she's 7 hours into labour and she has only 2 pups out with at least 2 more to go. last check up we did confirmed at least 4 pups.

i called two different vets now (my regular vet is closed this weekend for technical reasons) and they both told me i should calm down, that it's okay for a larger girl to take her time passing her pups out. both said something along the lines of "don't stress her with needless travelling if the labour isn't longer than 24 hours"


what stresses me out the most is that this is almost exactly how i lost my boy a year ago. something happened, my regular vet was closed and i had to call 4 different ones to get some coherent information....

The advice they're giving is good - Just chillax as much as possible. Yeah, I know, not easy, but they're talking sense. She'll push 'em out in her own time, and short of extraordinary measures, nothing you or anyone else can do will change it. If she hasn't finished "unloading" in about a day, or if there's *OBVIOUS TROUBLE* (straining, but getting nothing to happen, an obviously "stuck" pup, sudden heavy bleeding that won't stop, and similar "disaster-level" things) THEN it's time to start sweating - before that, you're just wearing out your nerves for nothing.
 
pup number three just went out not breathing... i searched for a tutorial how to handle it a few days ago. managed to shake out the fluid out to no avail. she somehow made a pretty big gash on the backside of his neck as she tried to clean him before i intervened.
 
Stillborns suck, but are to be expected. Try not to let it eat at you. I know, I know - easy to say, much harder to do. Doesn't change the facts - Carry on as best you can, and don't beat yourself up over it. This is something that's so far out of your hands that you might as well be on the other side of the planet, for all the good you can do.
 
Stillborns suck, but are to be expected. Try not to let it eat at you. I know, I know - easy to say, much harder to do. Doesn't change the facts - Carry on as best you can, and don't beat yourself up over it. This is something that's so far out of your hands that you might as well be on the other side of the planet, for all the good you can do.
what's gonna among other things eat at me for a while is the way i had to dispose of him. roll him into old newspapers and toss him to trash... like a piece of trash. the ground is still frozen solid here so i can't even dig a hole for at least a little dignifying burial....
at least i hope it's better than leaving him with the rest.
 
what's gonna among other things eat at me for a while is the way i had to dispose of him. roll him into old newspapers and toss him to trash... like a piece of trash. the ground is still frozen solid here so i can't even dig a hole for at least a little dignifying burial....
at least i hope it's better than leaving him with the rest.
Yes, removing a dead one from the nest is a good move. As for the rest, all I can do is tell ya to try, hard as it might be, to get over it and move along. Even if we had some sort of magic method, which we don't, we simply can't "fix" everything that can go wrong.
 
Get a rough towel and rub down any pup thst doesnt seem breathing on arrival....that mimics mom's licking. It may start up a pup that seems stillborn.
 
what's gonna among other things eat at me for a while is the way i had to dispose of him. roll him into old newspapers and toss him to trash... like a piece of trash. the ground is still frozen solid here so i can't even dig a hole for at least a little dignifying burial....
at least i hope it's better than leaving him with the rest.
I have had to do that before. It’s not the best feeling in the world but not much you can do. The only think I can think of is wrap him up and stick him in the deep freezer until you can give him a proper farewell. What was the fluid like in the placenta on the one pup that didn’t make it? If it’s dark it usually means they weren’t going to pull through
 
I am so deeply sorry for you, your girl and the third puppy...I truly am...
 
well, that was a fucking disaster. fourth one went out dead, with dark fluid inside. i let her rest and went to sleep thinking it's over only to wake up to find out she somehow laid over one of the first two pups and suffocated/crushed her and the very first pup, a little boy, nowhere to be seen at all. did she eat him? is it possible her maternal instincts didn't kick in? it was one of the worries our vet had on the last check up, because she's older. she cleaned them and all when they were born, but i was the one who showed them where the teats are....
 
well, that was a fucking disaster. fourth one went out dead, with dark fluid inside. i let her rest and went to sleep thinking it's over only to wake up to find out she somehow laid over one of the first two pups and suffocated/crushed her and the very first pup, a little boy, nowhere to be seen at all. did she eat him? is it possible her maternal instincts didn't kick in? it was one of the worries our vet had on the last check up, because she's older. she cleaned them and all when they were born, but i was the one who showed them where the teats are....
Not much that can be said that's anything more than useless. Sounds like at least she came though it OK? Also been sorta half-ass wondering if this was a deliberate pregnancy, or was it an accident?
 
Not much that can be said that's anything more than useless. Sounds like at least she came though it OK? Also been sorta half-ass wondering if this was a deliberate pregnancy, or was it an accident?
it wasn't a planned pregnancy, i wasn't even sure who exactly the father was... 2 different boys got to her when she was in heat, one was mine and the other was local roamer who got in through bathroom window. none of them got caught "in the act". they just were in a place they weren't supposed to be when i got home.

she seems fine so far. at least physically, she eats, drinks and responds to my voice. no residual leakage or anything. no idea what exactly happens in her head tho. she kept checking the crib and whined then proceeded to fill it with all her toys (very similarly to how she acted when fake-pregnant a few times before). so i dismantled the crib and took her toys for the time being...

i borrowed a pickaxe from my parents today to give at least a proper burial to the dead ones, which was pretty much just for a little bit of peace of mind for me... i hate the fact they didn't even get the chance to try this whole "life" thing
 
i made an appointment to the vet just to make sure everything is okay with her. first opening is on thursday so hopefully nothing happens till then. she spent the night curled up and whining on the spot where the crib was...
 
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