In watching how my Sunshine took care of her babies, I can understand why it is important to stay with mom a bit longer. Besides socialization, I watched how Mama treated her babies in thier daily life. She would sometimes mouth at thier legs and I thought she was being mean to them until I realized she was teaching them thier boundaries. If we had them on a blanket on the patio, and they started to crawl off of the blanket, Sunshine would run over and mouth at thier legs and push them back on the blanket. If they crawled over near one of the other dogs, she would do the same thing. Or if one of the puppies was biting. At first I would tell her to be nice, but once I realized she was teaching them thier limits, I let her do her job as a mom. I am keeping both babies (now a little over 5 months old) and I am so thrilled with how well behaved they are thanks to having Mommy around. Just my own opinion.
Sonya |