Hopefully there isn't any dog in labor right now (or a c-section breed or a frequent one to boot) waiting on the answers, it's a really bad time to be learning about that sort of thing. You don't want to see more than 20 minutes of active hard labor with no pup, no green or black or a lot of blood or anything, no pups in the canal too long, no straining, no obvious signs of distress, no breaks of more than a few hours (most dogs complete whelp within a few hours of starting and do not need or take a break, it is not an all day or a very long thing when things are going correctly usually). There is an actual quick short list of some danger signs in the second link below. If you have any questions or aren't sure about anything call your vet, if the answer doesn't make sense to you or seem quite right based on what you feel or see tell them and go in or call another vet. If your girl is pregnant or in labor her life is danger (breeding) so you can't be too casual about it. :-) Good Luck.
Average gestation is 59 to 63 days from the first tie (calculator in first link below) though can be a little earlier around 57 (earlier may be a bit of concern for puppy development) or up to 68 (time to be concerned and are more likely to need assistance or c-section at that length and more so on smaller breeds and some will not wait until 68 depending on factors). Some of the standard prenatal care consists of things like confirmation by ultrasound or blood test earlier around 3 or 4 weeks to confirm and try and be sure she doesn't have something like pyometra and possibly STD if dogs weren't tested before breeding instead. It also helps with distinguishing a false pregnancy which has some of the complications of a real one and indicates the thyroid or hormones may be off and dogs who go through false pregnancy are usually recommended spayed for those reasons and their comfort.
Towards the end of pregnancy you will do an x-ray or ultrasound. This is where we try to evaluate for likelihood of difficulty and c-section based on the pups themselves and things like their size and rate of growth leading to the whelp and how many and if she is likely to run into difficulty from exhaustion and things if not known you are doing a C before even breeding based on breed. Knowing how many if not exact is exciting but also gives you an idea of when she's done or if there is a pup left to decay and cause infection and even helps evaluate distress when she has stopped or seems to tired to continue or there is too long a period in between pups and you know there are more during a free whelp and things like that so is imperative and invaluable (and standard) when whelping. The second link is a quick run down of danger signs during whelp. Colostrum usually appears a week or so before or not until right at whelp but most often appears a day or two before the temperature drop. Colostrum is where the pups get the bulk of their antibodies from and is less in volume than milk which comes in day 3 or 4 after whelp. It is a good idea to begin taking temperature when the colostrum appears no matter how many days in if you weren’t before that.
During early labor the females temperature will drop to around 98. It is important to know when this occurs since if there are no pups within 24 hours of the temperature drop (active labor) there is likely a problem and the vet should be called (or if c-section breed that it is time to head in). If the pups are free whelped (non c-section) the dam is examined 24 hours after to be sure there are no complications (rupture, torsion, prolapse hemorrhage ect.) and retained placenta's or pups to cause deadly infection. She may need or benefit from an injection to help clean her out faster at that time (also to try and prevent infection). The veterinarian will usually go over the next steps and more common danger signs and problems (like mastitis and eclampsia) for the nursing stage at that time. Usually around 2 to 5 days the pups go in to the vet for a look over and to have dew claws removed and tails docked if that's done.
www.askabreeder.com
drnelsonsveterinaryblog.com
www.terrificpets.com
www.learntobreed.com
www.dogbreedinfo.com
www.marvistavet.com
www.marvistavet.com
www.lowchensaustralia.com
www.bullmastiffsonline.com
www.wildheirlabradorrescue.org
www.irvinevetservices.com
www.dogfoodanalysis.com
www.bornfreeusa.org
Average gestation is 59 to 63 days from the first tie (calculator in first link below) though can be a little earlier around 57 (earlier may be a bit of concern for puppy development) or up to 68 (time to be concerned and are more likely to need assistance or c-section at that length and more so on smaller breeds and some will not wait until 68 depending on factors). Some of the standard prenatal care consists of things like confirmation by ultrasound or blood test earlier around 3 or 4 weeks to confirm and try and be sure she doesn't have something like pyometra and possibly STD if dogs weren't tested before breeding instead. It also helps with distinguishing a false pregnancy which has some of the complications of a real one and indicates the thyroid or hormones may be off and dogs who go through false pregnancy are usually recommended spayed for those reasons and their comfort.
Towards the end of pregnancy you will do an x-ray or ultrasound. This is where we try to evaluate for likelihood of difficulty and c-section based on the pups themselves and things like their size and rate of growth leading to the whelp and how many and if she is likely to run into difficulty from exhaustion and things if not known you are doing a C before even breeding based on breed. Knowing how many if not exact is exciting but also gives you an idea of when she's done or if there is a pup left to decay and cause infection and even helps evaluate distress when she has stopped or seems to tired to continue or there is too long a period in between pups and you know there are more during a free whelp and things like that so is imperative and invaluable (and standard) when whelping. The second link is a quick run down of danger signs during whelp. Colostrum usually appears a week or so before or not until right at whelp but most often appears a day or two before the temperature drop. Colostrum is where the pups get the bulk of their antibodies from and is less in volume than milk which comes in day 3 or 4 after whelp. It is a good idea to begin taking temperature when the colostrum appears no matter how many days in if you weren’t before that.
During early labor the females temperature will drop to around 98. It is important to know when this occurs since if there are no pups within 24 hours of the temperature drop (active labor) there is likely a problem and the vet should be called (or if c-section breed that it is time to head in). If the pups are free whelped (non c-section) the dam is examined 24 hours after to be sure there are no complications (rupture, torsion, prolapse hemorrhage ect.) and retained placenta's or pups to cause deadly infection. She may need or benefit from an injection to help clean her out faster at that time (also to try and prevent infection). The veterinarian will usually go over the next steps and more common danger signs and problems (like mastitis and eclampsia) for the nursing stage at that time. Usually around 2 to 5 days the pups go in to the vet for a look over and to have dew claws removed and tails docked if that's done.
www.askabreeder.com
drnelsonsveterinaryblog.com
www.terrificpets.com
www.learntobreed.com
www.dogbreedinfo.com
www.marvistavet.com
www.marvistavet.com
www.lowchensaustralia.com
www.bullmastiffsonline.com
www.wildheirlabradorrescue.org
www.irvinevetservices.com
www.dogfoodanalysis.com
www.bornfreeusa.org