A pig rail? I thought these were puppies!

In case you are wondering about the big pvc pipe around the perimeter of the whelping box--it's called a "pig rail" and is for the safety of the puppies. (These rails originated on farms to protect piglets, but I think it should be called a "puppy rail!")

As you can see in the photo below, puppies often gravitate to the outer edges of the box and wedge themselves down in a corner. For these first few weeks, mama dog rarely leaves the box--she eats and sleeps right there with her puppies. I even have to coax the mama outside long enough to go potty.  Since the mama is sleeping in the box with her babies all around her, she often leans back against the walls and falls deeply asleep as she recovers from her labor and delivery. The rail stops her from crushing or smothering a baby that has burrowed in along the edge. We'll remove the rails when the puppies are about three weeks old--they'll be strong enough by then to raise a ruckus if they get trapped.

By the way--can you see those round bellies on these babies? When I weighed them this morning, they have all gained FOUR OUNCES! since birth. It's typical for puppies to double their weight in the first week--if these babies keep up this trend, they'll exceed that! Whimsey is feeding them cream--and with only four puppies, there is lots to go around!