When this heat mat or the warming nest is used with a reptile thermostat, it will help keep your temperature perfect, even when the weather changes and you are not around! This will help prevent the puppies from being rolled up in a flexible human-type of heating pad or from chewing the cord. They have a solid plastic surface with a wire protection around the cord. These types of mats are much more durable and safe for kennel use. These are examples of what is commonly called a “hog” heat mat and a “reptile” thermostat. When you use a center-floor heat source, be sure to build your box with a very strong center support, so you don’t have any sagging or pinching happening. This warming nest can be purchased through Drs. I highly recommend that all whelping boxes have pig rails or roll bars on all four sides to keep puppies protected from being laid on by Mom. Carpet is also very difficult, if not impossible, to clean and disinfect for another use. Please be careful if you use carpeting in your boxes, as most will string, unravel, or flake, and this poses significant health and safety threats to your animals. This is a great way to secure your bedding, so Mom doesn’t roll the puppies in it. Notice the aluminum trim to prevent chewed corners and the flat aluminum tack bars holding the carpet into place. This is an entrance to the puppies' litter box and to their special food and water that Mom can’t access! This box is made of marine-grade plastic, which can easily be cleaned and disinfected. In this same box, note the small door and plexiglass lid to the left of the coils. Having the heat in the center of the box encourages puppies to stay in the center, and away from the edges where there is a greater risk for mother dog to lie down on them.
You set the temperature to just the right setting for your breed and circumstances. It uses thermometer-controlled water to circulate in the center of the floor. Here is a look at other new designs that help keep our puppies warm and safe. There are many styles of commercially made boxes that you can purchase from several companies, like this easy to assemble and store MagnaBox.
Today we see boxes that contain litter boxes to teach early latrine skills and separate play areas for puppy enrichment. That type of box still works today, and so does a wading pool or the bottom half of a dog crate (without any depressions along the inside on the floor), depending on the breed, space, location of the whelping experience, and storage options.īut there also have been many innovations in whelping boxes. I spent hours each day in that whelping box playing with puppies, watching them grow, and cleaning up the mess. Suddenly we had a whelping box! As simple as this sounds, you still needed power tools (circular saw and a drill) or some good elbow grease to run the handsaw and screwdriver. We added newspaper to the bottom and then tore more newspapers into long strips. He cut the boards in half and fashioned them together with the brackets. I can remember Dad getting two boards 8 feet long by 1 inch thick by 12 inches wide, and 8 “L” brackets. One of my first memories about breeding dogs is that of my father building a whelping box for our Afghan Hound, Twiggy.
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