What to do for dogs during labor/delivery

Ours are crate trained. And my dogs only get fed 2 times a day 6 and 6. I promise they will be fine! If anything see if someone can feed them if it goes over 12 hours

I would start looking for a dog sitter that would have some flexibility. I’m so glad we will be at home birthing. Our biggest concern will be sending the dogs outside so they aren’t stressed by my birthing.

Any neighbors your friends with or maybe just a coworker one of you trust?

If you can’t maybe try Rover or Wag and have someone stop by, then can do overnight visits also

One of my best friends took my dog because I had made reservations at the kennel but went into labor at midnight. He was really upset to be displaced and terrorized their dogs even though usually they are best friends. If someone can come feed them at home I think that is the best for them. Even if they miss a meal I think they will still be better off at home. They are smarter than we give them credit for and know what is happening and they want to be there when you come home.

@Candice I was thinking the Rover app too!

My dog stayed with my in laws whenever I gave birth.

My 2 dogs are crate trained, but my husband let our bigger dog loose in the house while the little one was in the kennel. Hospital was 20 minutes away. He left the hospital the morning before I gave birth took care of them and came back and that night went back to take them out and feed them. It wasn’t an ideal situation since I wanted him to be with me and baby but I also didn’t want our dogs to be away boarding since that would of stressed them out and then bring them home a couple days after having a whole new baby in the house. It worked well for us and our pups weren’t put in stress or unfamiliar place. But if you have family, friends or even neighbors that you trust I would kindly ask them if they could do that favor.

I had my husband go back home to feed our dog and let her out. We were in a similar situation so just chose for him to go back and forth from hospital (30 min from our house) since our dog has never been boarded. After our son’s delivery I was there for four days so just had my husband sleep at our house with our dog since we didn’t have anyone to help.

I had my in-laws take care of him. They were also going to take care of my other one, fluid bag and all but she passed 2 months before baby was born. Since you don’t have anyone nearby, I would ask a local rescue if they know a good pet sitter, usually someone from a rescue is also a pet sitter. It’s just easier on the pup if they are home unless yours is super chill and won’t mind being boarded amongst the craziness.

Left them in our largest bathroom with weewee pad water food and dog beds. (Two chihuahuas and a cairn terrier) my mom showed up around my 18th hr of labor i was in labor for about 26hrs so they were alone about a day she went two hrs after baby was born and took care of my fur babes and took some of the babys blankets and my sweaty laboring clothes homes for them to smell.

Def find a dog walker on Rover and have them be on call

Thank you everyone for your replies!! To give some more context, one of my dogs is surprisingly strong and quite a skilled escape artist. For this reason, I really can't say I'd feel comfortable trusting anyone to come into the house and then be able to leave without accidentally letting this dog escape. And I'm really not wanting another thing to have anxiety about when I'm in labor, like a runaway dog. @Christel and @Rachel, your responses were especially helpful in knowing that although having my husband go back may not be our first and wanted choice, it might be the best and necessary one. Thanks to everyone again for your input!

I had my brother watch my dog. There’s also dog boarding -if you’re willing to spend it- I worked at a dog boarding facility and it was great. I always recommend it

My dogs are crate trained. We have a house sitter and trusted friend come and let them out a few times a day and to feed them both.

Ours are getting a bath and wet food at the latest point possible (crate trained)... luckily my oldest son will be around in the mean time but they also plan on meeting the baby so the dogs will be in thier crates. I'm also only 5 minutes from home but we've done this when I was in the hospital farther away too... just have to keep driving back and forth to let them use the potty and eat. It can be done!

We had family with my 1st that were supposed to check in on our dogs and out of 6 adults none of them did. My husband had to keep coming home to let them out and make sure they had food and water.

I paid a friend to stay over my house two nights and take care of mine. Helped that we were induced so I could plan, but if you know anyone with a flexible enough schedule see if they'll agree to stay over with them

Both times I’ve been in labor, my husband leaves to check on the dogs. The hospital was 10-15 mins from home so it wasn’t a big deal. It also allowed him to grab real meals for himself.

We left him with our father in law the first time around since we used to be neighbors he’s very comfortable in his house, and the second time we had my mom and mother in law come stay with my first born and our dog in our house.

If you do not have a regular dog walker, arrange a meeting with a new one in advance and you can have that person meet your dog and learn and practice your routine beforehand.

We are only about 10 minutes from the hospital but also have multiple dog walkers who have met our dogs before. My husband is going to walk the dogs before we leave for the hospital and we will let the dog walker know so she can plan her day.

My hospital is less than a mile from my house. The dog is gonna stay home and my husband will just run home to let him out every so often.

So we didn't have anyone to help out when my so. Was born. So my husband stayed at the hospital with we until he was born. We made sure our dog had went out and had good and water. Then he went home after my son was born and stayed home with our dog from 1 am until about 9 am. While I was Bonding and feeding most of the night. He got back around 1030am and stayed until 1pm. So he basically spent time at the hospital and at home.