The American Beagler Forum

i was wondering what everybody uses for their new litters....straw, shavings etc.....thanks...scott

I use shreaded news-paper....

Find a printing shop and get the end of roll newsprint. It has no ink so the dogs stay clean. Coloured ink, in particular, is not very good for pups. Works great. Carolyn

I do not use bedding for new born pups.

I have a hard plastic heating pad for cold months, or a clean piece of plywood for summer.

Reason: The female cleans up all of the waste at this time and can do a better job without bedding. Also too much bedding can cause smothering.

After the pups are weaned, they get bedding. The bedding is changed often because of the little bugger's messes. I use cedar chips.

I also install side rails so that Momma doesn't roll over on the pups. Had a female do this 8 yrs ago, and never again.

Works for me,
Lone Pine Beagles

thanks everyone....scott

we use a hard plastic kids swimming pool. pups can't get out until they are older. we take mother and pups out every evening and clean it.

We use cheap carpet. Change it daily. This provides good traction for the pups to push their way to teats. Imagine trying to push on bare plywood or plastic? They just spin. Carpet is pretty cheap. Put it over a heating pad and it works just fine. JMO

I have tried just about everything, and have found that bath mats work well. Get yourself a few of them to change out every couple days when they are little.

I agree with Lone Pine. We use nothing as bedding. We have the hard plasting heating pads for cold months and the plywood for the warm months. I have not had a problem with pups "spinning". Everytime we have tried to use bedding with newborns it has been a mess. We have tried paper, carpet, cedar and straw. We didn't like any of them. The mother does a lot better job when she doesn't have to deal with any bedding and the pups have better coats to boot.