pups whelped in a hole

[doubleb]

had my bitch nice whelping box with carpet clean and shiny ready to go last night she dug a whole in the pen and had pups in hole. my question is should I leave them I moved then to the dog house she just moved them back. The only thing that concerns me is if it rain(and is is suppose to all weekend) will she move them or just let them drown.

[Newt]

If they are not in a low place, could you put a cover over them so rain won't fill up the hole. In this heat, being underground is the perfect place to keep them cool. While living in Mississippi, I would dig a hole in the side of a hill and half bury a barrel for a whelping box so they would be cooler.

[doubleb]

where the hole is will probably fill with water from run off so I will probably have to move them

[sammiller03]

i would say mother nature knows best, i think your task at hand is to figure out why she perfers the hole to the whelping box. in my opinion she is just going to move them back to the hole.

[doubleb]

im sure she prefers it because of better air flow and cooler temp. looking at changing the box some before rain get here.

[finnfin]

had similar situation last week mom moved pups from hole that filled with water

[cpuckett]

I would take the carpet outta the welping box and just use bare wood. Pups r nasty and momma cleans all the mess up and it will b hard to do on carpet. Not to mention it wont b able to dry out like wood. That may b why she prefers the hole. Im not sure. Just my opinion.

[BB Beagles]

When I was young, my daddy raised bird dogs. No matter how nice the pen was or whelping box, this one female would climb up limbs of old apple tree that was in middle of pen and go down into field, find a brush pile, get in very bottom, and dig a hole. Daddy would retrieve pups, put them in whelping box (wood) next morning, babe be back in hole with pups. If weather got bad, she knew to move them. Nature will tell her what she needs to do with them. If she's safe in her hole, I let her be. Like someone already said, I would remove carpet from your box, maybe put a fan, not directly on them, just to get some air flow if it's humid. If I was to bet though I say thousands of great hunting hounds been born in a hole. Jmo.
Congrats on pups too.

[Alabama John]

Mom eats the poop and dirt stuck to it as the way to keep them clean and keep flies and other bugs away that are drawn to the pups. Hole will get bigger as they grow. Notice she will go far away to poop herself.

Wild animals all do the same thing.

Mother Natures way is always best.

[doubleb]

Thanks for the replies she moved them in the doghouse last night all are doing well