Back about 20 years ago my husband John had Beagles, which he used for hunting rabbits and for breading.
They were all pure bread beagles and he trained them very well. John and the three kids would play with the dogs every day, they were fed very well and always had fresh water daily.

The one female that John had named Lucy was about four years old and had a litter of five puppies.
John would feed and take care of all the animals at the house, which included horses, cows, sheep, cats, chickens and the dogs. He did these chores before going into work at the car plant on the afternoon shift. The last thing John would do before going to work is to check in the doghouse on Lucy and the puppies; he just loved those dogs.
His three kids were home at night to let the dogs out of the doghouse if need be and to watch the other animals.

John came home around 1:00 A.M. and one of the puppies was missing that night. In the morning, he asked the kids if they knew anything about the missing puppy and no one knew a thing. The pups were only three weeks old and were not old enough to take care of themselves… John checked the pen and doghouse there was no way they could have gotten out unless someone let them.

Therefore, the next day the same thing, John did his chores letting Lucy and the pups out to play while he was doing his work. The kids played with the puppies and then helped feed the animals and give them fresh water as they always do. That night the children were up and came running to tell their Dad another puppy was missing.
Now we have two puppies missing and three left, what in the world is going on John wondered.
He started thinking maybe a neighbor was taking the puppies and selling them; they had good breading and were big for their age. All the neighbors knew that John worked afternoons shift.

The next night John thought he would be smart and asked the supervisor if he could take all his breaks at the end of the night. His boss did not have a problem with this so John came home early and brought out a flashlight to check on Lucy. He could not believe his eyes there was one puppy with its head bitten off and Lucy the mother was eating the remains of the puppy. John grabbed the dead puppy out of the doghouse to bury, took the other two puppies into the house, and put them into a round dog bed.
In the morning, Lucy and John went to the Vet's office, which he proceeded to tell John that dogs sometimes need raw meat and Lucy was lacking this in her diet.The Vet said to give Lucy raw liver or meat and that should help her. So from then on, if any of our dogs had puppies they also got raw liver before giving birth. Never have we had a problem since that one time with Lucy not having the proper raw meat.

Hope you have learned something from this article so you do not have to learn the hard way as we did.
We always make sure that all are dogs have DOG BEDS or DOG HOUSES to help keep them feeling secure and they have their own space.
Thank you and God Bless,