Getting Ready For Pups

 Anna has been telling us for ages that Amber needs her whelping box, the place where she will deliver and then care for her puppies, ideally a couple of weeks before the expected date of whelping so that she will accept it. Having consulted various books, websites and breeders blogs, we came up with a design which Justin has been working on in the evenings. However this weekend was crunch time as she was then within 10 days of her date so we abandoned all other jobs and focused on 'project whelping box'.

 We wanted it modular as we may need to move it as the puppies get older and their needs change. Justin made the panels out of plywood and then fashioned strips and blocks out of softwood to make corner pieces which would hold it all together. Fortunately for us, Justin is very good at designing and building or adapting pieces of furniture etc. and he came up with a design by which the corner pieces lock the panels in place but can be removed for relocation.

 As it needs to be waterproof and very washable I found the hardest wearing gloss paint I could and ended up having to paint 4 coats on each panel, helped by Beth and Eoin. The weather was so hot that it was virtually drying as we were applying it and poor Amber was lying flaked out on the driveway trying to get cool.

We then laid out all the panels in the living room as so many bugs were dive bombing it outside and getting stuck in the paint!

This evening we have assembled the box, a week after we intended having it done but still with hopefully 7 days to go! It has no base so that the weight of the box holds the Vet Bed out-stretched, thus preventing Amber or the pups ruching it up and creating folds which could potentially cause suffocation. I will also source an off-cut of lino to put under it all which will protect the floor and be easily disinfected.

We now need to get Amber to accept and be comfortable with the box. Anna managed to get her into it with a treat but she only stayed half a minute so that's our next challenge over the coming week!