Not quite a carving knife, a scaple is, I think, sharper, certainly more sterile.  Wednesday evening, March 16, Lorelei whelped her litter of pups, 4 girls and a boy.  The boy was tiny, only 2.3oz, and had a hard time from the start.  I finally lost him about noon on Friday, so there are just 4 girls now.  Working to save the pup, and observing Loreleis reaction and attention to him, it occurred to me why bitches pull the pups in and curl around over them, almost as if  to hide the pups the first few days after whelp.  They are trying to keep them warm.  It takes 72hrs+/- before the pups are able to regulate their body heat, so an outside source is necessary to assist them, and that outside source is mama.  I've almost always known the litter box needed to be in a warm room and the pups needed warmth, but over the years and dozens of litters I've witnessed, I continually  wondered why the seeming hiding, protective behavior was there during the days after whelp.  I never connected the dots until this litter.