When should you start taking your dog out for a walk after giving birth?

Hi everyone,
My dog gave birth yesterday to her first litter of puppies and mother and babies are doing well. However, I do have a couple of questions to ask which probably sound silly but I have no idea on.
Firstly, do i need to wait for the puppies to be rehomed before taking their mum out for a walk again? And secondly, hoovering (as mother and puppies are in a whelping box in Lounge) is it ok to carry this on daily as normal or would the noise upset the mum and/babies and if so how long before I can start again please? Thanks for your help and sorry if they sound like stupid questions.

I suggest you phone your vet and have a long chat.

This is something you should really have thought & researched about before you decided to reed from your bitch.

Have you bred a litter before ? If no do you have any friends who have bred puppies or the stud dog's owner to give you advice ?

Most bitches like peace & quiet for the first couple of weeks after the birth, mine had their puppies in a bedroom & after a couple of weeks the bitches don't need to be with the bitch 24/7 & are moved into a slightly busier living area.

I wouldn't take a bitch out where there are lots of dogs whilst you have puppies at home, but once you have started weaning the puppies & they are nearly weaned then a walk is possibly as long as you make sure you give the bitch a gentle cleansing of legs/paws/undercarriage etc before letting her in to her puppies.

I am of course presuming that you have had the bitch health tested & checked over before she was mated & that the vet will be visiting today to check her over for retained placentas, cleft palates etc, a friend didn't & her bitch had retained a placenta & was seriously ill because of it.

Your bitch is very young to be having puppies(16 months or so ?)

doubt any health tests have been done as it says the dog is lab sheperd mix??

No walks until the pups are weaned and vaccinated.Mum will be very distressed at being forced to leave them before then and until they're vaccinated it's too risky for their health.
Unless the mother isn't used to the hoover it's no problem to use it in the room with the pups.
Does this mean you have them in a room with carpet on the floor?You'll want to rethink that when they start moving around (at about two and a half weeks)
Or start saving up for a new carpet!

Really ? so no walks until the puppies are fully vaccinated ??? Gosh 14 weeks of being not fully exercised ! Puppies have maternal immunity for up to 10 weeks & should not be vaccinated until after 10 weeks without being titre tested. Which means that as most vets vax twice(even though it isn't needed for dogs over 10 weeks of age)the bitch cannot go out for nearly 13/14 weeks

As for the bitch being distressed at being separated from her puppies before this I must say my bitches never showed this after 4 weeks & certainly not upto 13 weeks of age

I must try that with my next litter & see how my bitch copes with being indoors except for toileting for 3 months-NOT I wouldn't want my bitch to end up a basket case.

Shepherds & farmers have bitches that whelp litters & continue working all the time-not compelled to work, but because they have the need to do so. Not all bitches are like this but many are.

How many litters have you confined bitches for 10 + weeks for ?

tad over the top hiho

usually at about 3 weeks mum welcomes a break...wouldnt you

ps... lab x gsd? what was the sire? really hope you have had your bitches hip scored with that mix.