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Helping you learn about our breed
The Neapolitan Mastiff

Building A Whelping Box
The purpose of a well built Whelping Box is for the safety of the puppies. And a great place for the mother to have her puppies.
Materials needed to build the Whelping Box: 
8   -   2ft x 6ft boards 
Screws  -   3in.  long 
8  -  Angle brackets "L" shaped 
Varnish to seal the wood and make it washable 
** There is NO floor in the box. The Box is simply set down over a blanket or sheet,
underneath  there are several layers of newspaper. 
Building the Box: 
The Whelping Box ideal size is 5 ft X 5ft. Square. Build the sides first, Take 4 of your
boards stand them on there sides 2ft. tall by 6ft. long. Square. Screw the "L" brackets to
the corners, connecting the boards. 
Adding the Top, by placing your remaining 4 boards on top of the 4 boards you just placed
on their sides. They will form a overhang, place the boards so that the overhang is on the
inside of the box. Screw the top boards onto the side boards every 2 feet. Screw the
remaining "L" shaped  4 brackets to the top boards, connecting them. 
You will want to Varnish the boards before or after they are all put together. The Varnish
insures that the wood is sealed so that they may be wiped down. 
*** Floor Materials, When the Neo gives birth, there is allot of fluid, blood, and placental
discharge all over the place. You will need something to soak up the fluids, and that can
easily be cleaned. 
The BEST choice of flooring materials are a layered combination of several layers of
Newspaper and "old" blankets that may be destroyed by the digging and stains that it will
endure during the Whelping process. Papers alone are too messy, They get crumpled up,
and the pups can crawl underneath them, and then the puppies can get squashed by the
mother, who does not see them under the paper. 
     Once the bitch has had all her pups and the birthing is over, change the soiled blanket
and papers, and replace with clean papers and a blanket. Layered as mentioned. 
**Blankets should be changed 2 times a day. 
**Newspapers should be changed as often as they get soiled through the blanket. 
*** There can not be any holes in the blanket or seperation between the blanket and the
box. Puppies can crawl into holes or spaces and be crushed to death by the mother who can not see them. 
The Finished Product should look at this:

Whelping Box and Mother Neo

The construction of the Whelping Box is so that the Puppies and mother have a safe
  surrounding to be. The "lip" is so important in the construction of the Whelping Box. So
 that the puppies can crawl under to escape being crushed by their mother when she lies up against the sides of the box.
                                      .
   ** It is so Important to watch the mother with her babies, the mother is so large, it is
       common to hear of Neo bitches laying on her babies crushing them to death.
 and it is not unheard of to hear that a pup has been suffocated by there mothers tits, while suckling. So if you plan on having a Neo litter, please watch your Neo mother with her  puppies.
 
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