Help! Puppies!!!!

[Rico]

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

Um. While we were gone to church this morning, a stray Mommy Dog had NINE puppies under our shed!!!!!! They are SO cute--we rescued them, brought them all into our utility room (with the mother of course), gave her fresh food and water, but...where do we go from here?

Is there anything I can or should do to make sure the puppies are healthy? The mother is very attentive, and has nursed them several times. She doesn't mind my daughter getting next to the pups, but will stand between anyone else and the puppies. (Good girl, I say!)

I have never had newborn puppies in the house before. Also, the Mother has a few ticks, and I'm wondering if I can put anything on her for that, or if that will hurt the puppies.

Anyone have any advice?

My Mother said she might keep the mommy dog, and we would like to keep one or two of the puppies and give the rest away when they're old enough. They look like a lab/hound mix. (4 blacks like the mother[lab-maybe a bit of something else], and 5 white with spots like a coon hound)

I'll post pictures later!

DO NOT TREAT THE TICKS WITH CHEMICALS! My wife says it could kill the puppies. Try picking the ticks off by hand. She knows this kind of stuff because she grew up living at a kennel and worked with dogs all of her life until we left California. Her mom was an expert groomer too.