Notice, there is no milk coming from this puppies nose. This is very important, you do not want to aspirate them. If you see milk coming from the pups nose, the hole in the nipple of the bottle is too big. Replace it with a nipple with a smaller opening. Aspirating, or getting milk in the lungs, will cause pneumonia.

Hold the pups head high, so milk goes directly down the throat, and doesn't pool in the mouth.

It is important to make sure your new puppies are going potty (pee and poo). The Dam normally licks them to stimulate them to go. This keeps the box/den nice and clean. This can cause diarrhea in the dam, after the 2nd day, and treating with Pepto Bismal is best.

IF your dam doesn't potty the pups, or if you have an orphan litter, you must potty them. I like a soft rubber glove, as your finger, or paper towel is too abrasive, you must gently massage the penis or vagina, and the pee will come, then, massage the anus, and the poop will come.

Look at the box. YUK, I cleaned all of the pee and poop and pottied all of the puppies at 2am, and put them in the warm box and at 5 am, (tried to catch a 1 hour longer nap... NOT a good idea) WHAT a mess. Poop all over them all! All the puppies had to be cleaned one by one. Not only do you have to clean them as they soil each other, but you have to stimulate them to pee and poo. EACH puppy, needs to be manually potty, and poop drained, if the Dam doesn't do it. They cannot go potty on their own. Also the puppy box was too small, as they climb over each other too much, and loose their bowels, and bladder. Now I have two boxes and MUCH MUCH better.

Many breeds are not as maternal as others, and would not even think of cleaning/ pottying, licking a puppy, while some dams do clean their pups on their own. When a dam does not clean her puppies, you have to clean them yourself every few hours.

Sassy the English Mastiff, and apparently many Mastiffs, would not think of licking a puppy. This means you have to clean the puppies yourself. It's a messy job, but someone has got to do it! There are Many breeds, that do not make good moms. Mastiffs are 50/50, some breeds you just know they are not going to do it.

They soiled all their collars between the night feedings and had to be changed. I found This is the worst in the first couple days, as they can poo from climbing over each other, I haven't had to change the collars again, since I gave them a bigger box.

Someone ALWAYS has to be with Dam and pups, for feedings, as with this giant breed, rolling over, or standing up, can break backs and necks of puppies, very quickly.

Any Help is very very welcomed

We have adjusted to the puppy mess and dam not cleaning and worked out a system to keep them clean. I just Must pee and poop them after EVERY feeding, not every 2nd one. The Dam usually cleans on every feeding, so I must too. I put in 2 bins, so they are not climbing over each other as much, causing them to loose their stool and bladder... much much better. I also must clean them and their area every 2 hours, not three. If I wait three hours, the mess is back.

Sassy the English Mastiff with her 3 day old puppies. She will still not lick the puppies. I tried even really good dog food on a pup, she took one lick. Pups are all are gaining, See the ROLLS on the necks. Sassy's milk is in, so it is cutting feeding time down by ½, pups are gulping her milk down now. Pups can drink more from Sassy and less from the bottle.

This litter of puppies will be extremely socialized with humans, because they have been mainly hand reared, using the dams milk. The hands on that these puppies are getting will make them exceptional pets. While this litter has been an extreme amount of work, they will be well work the effort put into them.

Courtesy of MistyTrails Mastiff's

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