How to Build a Whelping Box for a Dog

If a female dog hasn't been spayed, there's a good chance that at some point it will come home expecting. At that point, the owner needs to start preparing with both education and supplies. Take the dog to a vet for a checkup, draw up a calendar of when to expect the birth and get together some supplies, including a whelping box. Instead of buying a whelping box or spending a lot of time constructing a permanent box, use a couple of household items to put one together.

Things You'll Need

  • Cardboard box
  • Plastic bags
  • Scissors
  • Blankets
  • Rags
  • Cotton balls
  • Hydrogen peroxide
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Instructions

    • 1

      Choose a cardboard box roughly three times as large as your dog, so it will easily fit mother and babies without the danger of crowding or crushing. Put the box open-side up and cut out the front to make an opening. The open side should still have a 3- to 4-inch lip at the bottom, to allow the mother dog in and out but keep the babies in. Make sure the lip is low enough that your dog can get over it without scraping its nipples.

    • 2

      Put a plastic bag in the bottom of the box, to provide a cheap, easily replaced liner. Puppies make a mess when they're new and a liner makes it easier and more efficient to clean the box. Put several blankets into the box to keep both mother and babies comfortable and set other blankets aside, so you'll always have clean blankets on hand.

    • 3

      Put the whelping box in a quiet, protected area of the house, like the kitchen or bathroom, where you plan to keep the dog while it's giving birth. Show your dog where you've put the box and allow it to get used to it. Although it probably won't have puppies in the box itself, this is where the dog will nest and keep them immediately afterward.