DABEWS
MINIATURE BULL TERRIERS
The Trampoline System to Prevent Bitches Crushing Puppies
I should have put this information on my website long ago but the last time that I made it public, I had some lunatic woman saying how she could not see how it would work and that the bitch would be squashing her pups.
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I am of Scottish heritage, have a short fuse and have no time for stupid people.
Having made excuses for my laziness here is the list of what you will need.
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4 pieces softwood timber 3 inches x 3/4 inch x the width of your whelping box
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16 x 1.25 inch wood screws, wood glue
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A piece of netting,( like fishermen use for catching bait fish ), larger than the frame that you are going to make
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A roll of bricklayers plaited nylon line
This is an old one that I have been using for about 20 years, you will notice that it is quite a small mesh, it was some old mesh that I got from a nice fisherman, if you look at the photo of the back you will see the running line which goes both ways.
The trampoline sits on top of the pig rail, when you have made yours, tightened it, cover it with an old blanket, put it on the pig rail and let one of your bitches sleep on it to stretch it, take it off every couple of days to tighten the netting with the running line, eventually you will have the netting very taut, this is vital as you do not want the bitch sliding down on top of the puppies.
This trampoline is 2 foot 6 inches square which is a good size for Bull terriers or smaller breeds, make your trampoline a small as possible, the larger the trampoline the harder it is to tighten.
Usage
Put an old towel on the netting, cover the trampoline with an old blanket which goes under the edges by about 6 inches, If you have done a good job, you will find when you put the pups on it there will be hardly any deflection, the bitch will then walk around the outside of the frame, when she lays down her weight will cause the pups to slide down to her teats.
The only time a bitch is likely to lay on a pup is when one crawls under her arm when she washing some of the other pups, she then lays back on the pup, because the netting deflects under the pup he can still breath and complain loudly, if he was on a hard surface you would have one dead pup.
We have been using this system for almost 60 years, I can`t remember when we last had a bitch crush a pup and we are now on our third time going through the alphabet since we have been in Queensland.