The first ten days after birth, the dog practically does not leave the puppies. She lies with them, feeds, warms with her own body, licks. Often you even have to take the dog for a walk using force. Having quickly recovered, the caring mother hurries back to the puppies. This dog behavior is normal. Newborn puppies are completely helpless, they cannot see or hear because their eyes and ear canals are closed. Babies orient themselves with the help of their sense of smell, in addition, they have an innate reaction to move towards a heat source. It is these abilities that allow the cubs to find their own mother. Little puppies need a mother not only as a nurse, it is very important that she warms the puppies. Newborns lack thermoregulation, they cannot maintain their own body temperature at a constant level. If the mother does not warm the babies, they freeze in the truest sense of the word. For a puppy in the first days of life, hypothermia can be fatal – it will no longer be possible to warm it up, and it will die.
A congenital reaction called crowding allows babies to partially deal with the imperfection of their own thermoregulation. In the absence of the mother, the puppies get restless, begin to crawl in circles, and end up huddled together in one pile. This allows them to maintain normal body temperature for a short time. However, the puppies that are outside are more cold and tend to crawl into the middle. Experiencing discomfort, the babies begin to whine piercingly, prompting the mother to return as soon as possible.