Whelpday Due windows for dog pregnancies

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Dog due date calculator

A whelping window from the date you actually have. About 63 days from ovulation, 65 from the LH surge, and usually 58–68 days from a mating. A single day is only fair when ovulation was timed.

Enter the date you have

Mating dates produce a window. A progesterone or LH date can produce a day.

Use every mating in this heat. The window runs from 58 days after the first date through 68 days after the last.

Size and litter, optional

These add notes where studies support them. They do not move the due date.

Dates stay in this browser. Nothing is uploaded. This is an educational estimate, not a diagnosis or a cesarean plan.

Your result

Your window will show here.

Add a mating date, a progesterone or LH day, or how far along she is. The result updates as you type.

  • 63 daysfrom ovulation
  • 65 daysfrom the LH surge
  • 58–68 daysfrom a mating

What to enter

The clock in a dog pregnancy is ovulation, not the calendar day she stood for a male and not the first day of heat. This dog due date calculator keeps those clocks apart.

Mating dates

Enter every tie in the heat. The planning window opens 58 days after the first date and closes 68 days after the last. Day 63 after a single mating is only the middle of that window. It is the due day if she happened to ovulate that day, and a miss if she did not. Colony records include normal births about 57–72 days after a mating, because sperm can live for days and eggs are not ready until about two days after ovulation.

Progesterone or the LH surge

If a clinic named the LH surge, whelping is expected 65 days later, most often on day 64, 65, or 66. If they named ovulation — often the day progesterone reached about 5–6 ng/mL — count 63 days, most often 62–64. One blood draw is a wider guess than a series taken every day or two. Use their words for which day it was. Do not invent the label from a single number you found in a chart.

Already pregnant

A week number is coarse, so the window allows four days either side of the middle of that week. A day count from ultrasound or palpation allows two days either side, and it gets less reliable after about day 39. A day count that was tied to a known ovulation uses the same tight clock as a hormone date.

What the window is for

Use it to book a confirmation ultrasound around days 25–30 from ovulation, a puppy-count x-ray after day 55, the start of twice-daily temperatures, and the day you will call if labor has not started. Download the dates as a calendar file, and print the whelping checklist before the window opens. The dog pregnancy calculator explains why the length changes with the method. Day-by-day care is in the gestation guide, and the reasons to go in are with the signs of labor.

Breed and litter size

Do not shift the date because she is a small breed, a giant breed, or carrying one puppy. Studies that find a difference usually report about one or two days, and they do not all agree. The optional notes on the form say where that evidence exists. They never rewrite the window. Flat-faced breeds are a delivery question for your vet — often a planned cesarean — not a different gestation length.

Questions

How long is a dog pregnant?

Most pregnancies last 63 days from ovulation, which is 65 days from the LH surge. Counted from a mating, a normal birth often falls somewhere in a 58–68 day planning window. Research colonies have also recorded normal births about 57–72 days after mating. The wide mating range is why a progesterone series is worth it when you can get one.

Is the due date 63 days from breeding?

Only if that breeding fell on ovulation. Ovulation is the clock. A mating several days before or after ovulation can still produce a normal litter, while the birth stays tied to ovulation. Use 63 days from a vet-confirmed ovulation date. Use a window, not one day, when all you have is a mating.

Which date should I enter if she was bred more than once?

Enter every date. The window opens 58 days after the first mating and closes 68 days after the last. Extra ties do not make the date more exact. They only show the stretch of days when ovulation might have happened. Progesterone timing is what narrows that to about three days.

When do I call if nothing is happening?

Call on the call-by date this page gives you if labor has not started. Call sooner if she is ill, strains hard for about 30 minutes with no puppy, has weak labor for about two hours with no puppy, or you see green-black discharge that is not quickly followed by a puppy. Do not give medication at home to start labor unless the clinic tells you to.