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Dog Whelping Kit Checklist
Everything you need in the whelping box, the delivery kit, and the newborn-care station, as an interactive checklist you can tick off and a clean one-page PDF to print and pin up. Pack it by about day 58 of gestation, because puppies can come early.
Whelping kit checklist
0/27 packed
Whelping area
Monitoring & records
Delivery assistance
Newborn care
Dam care
Emergency, under veterinary direction only
Know when it’s coming
The pre-labor temperature drop
As the placenta prepares for birth, progesterone falls sharply. Because progesterone helps maintain body temperature, that fall produces the characteristic pre-labor dip, your most reliable at-home signal that whelping is hours away.
Normal canine temperature
100.5-102.5°FTake the dam's rectal temperature 2-3× daily from about day 58, at the same times so readings are comparable.
Sustained drop → labor within ~24 hours
~99°F (37.2°C)A clear fall of about a degree below her baseline, especially below 99°F, usually means the first puppy is within a day.
Behavioral signs
Watch alongsideNesting, restlessness, refusing food, panting, and visible contractions. Not every bitch shows a clear drop, so use both.
Tracking temps across the final week? That’s repeat, day-after-day work, exactly what BreedTracker is built for. Log each reading in the app and it charts the trend and flags the pre-labor drop, alongside the due date and every puppy’s birth weight. See it in BreedTracker →
Methodology & sources
Built on established protocols
The supply list and warning signs are drawn from major veterinary references and canine-reproduction texts, cross-checked across sources. This is an educational guide and does not replace your veterinarian.
- Merck Veterinary Manual, Management of the Periparturient Bitch; normal temperature and the pre-partum temperature decline.
- American Kennel Club, signs of dog labor and the pre-whelping temperature drop below ~99°F.
- WSAVA / Society for Theriogenology, periparturient monitoring and warning signs of dystocia.
- Greer M, DVM, JD, Canine Reproduction and Neonatology (whelping preparation and supplies).
Important: Dystocia is an emergency. Have a reproductive veterinarian and a 24-hour emergency clinic on call before the due date, and contact them at the first sign of trouble.
Frequently asked questions
Keep exploring
Related tools and guides
The checklist gets your kit ready. These tools cover the timing and care that lead up to, and follow, whelping day.
Whelping night, fully prepared
BreedTracker tracks due dates, the dam’s pre-labor temperatures, and every puppy’s birth weight in one place, with reminders so the kit is packed and the vet is briefed well before the first contraction.
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