my lab is pregnant at 9 months. i won't go into details, but a farang neighbor's dog is responsible. it runs free, has no shots, and must be part deer because it jumped a 5 foot fence more than once to do the deed. he (the dog) is a handsome fellow, but of no fixed breed other than soi dog.

me and him now have a problem, but that's beside the point. we took her in to get a "shot" to end the pregnancy, but the vet, a very nice lady at the khon kaen university clinic, said that if she was more than 3 days pregnant, it could do her a lot of harm. since we were't 100% sure, we didn't give her the needle.

now, upon reading some info on the internet, i find out 9 months is awfully young for a first time mother (i read 18-24 months is the optimum age for a first litter). a lab's gestation, according to the info i read, is 63 days. we figure she's got 5 to 8 days to go. i'm a bit worried, like a first time father. her teats are not developed as much as i think they should be. the pair closest to the hind legs are nice and full but the rest, tho' bigger than before she was pregnant, don't seem full at all. i gave them a squeeze today, no milk yet.

anyhoo, was just wondering if anyone here could give me some advice. i've witnessed lab bitches whelping on youtube, read up a bit on google, but as per most people who ask for advice here, some first hand knowledge would be nice. the male i would say was slightly smaller than her, which to me is a plus.

she is a beautiful dog with an absolutely lovely temperment, i just want to do the best i can for her.

hi, don't worry too much. the milk will come and it should be ok.

try to be with her when she gives birth, watch how she takes care, licks the pups and if she can bite the navel string (?) by herself. if not have some clean towel and sterilized scissors handy. but usually nature will do all by herself.

important is that she will not lay on her newborns and kill them by that, which is very common. a big box with a plank around the sides, about 10cm from the floor, would prevent that, so that the babies can not be squeezed to the wall by the mother. i had a litter of 5 goldens 6 weeks ago and sadly the mother lay on one of her babies on the second day, it died pushed to the wall after that i seperated mother and babies and kept them in a big box and let the mother only every two hours to them to feed them. after about two weeks it was ok to let them stay with mum again.

as it is your dogs first litter and she's so young she will hopefully not have a lot of puppies.

good luck!