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Originally Posted by bjh  Yes, this behavior is perfectly normal. When I have a litter of pups I spend a lot of time letting the mom in and out. The moms like to spend a lot of time in the living room once the puppies start getting a bit older. The older the pups get the more time the mom will want to spend away from them. I always setup my x-pens so mom can escape the pups when she wants too. I have a board that I put across one end of the x-pen and it will contain the pups usually until they are at least 8 weeks old or older, depending on their size. I have attached a picture of my setup. At night I leave the mom with the pups but she is still able to able to escape them. The mom has bedding, food, water and pee pads on her side of the x-pen also. It is a lot of work trying to keep everyone happy.  |
Barbara, I used to have mine fixed that way but I found my mamas (especially a couple) wouldd get away from the babies where they couldn't get the teat or their little legs couldn't run her down and I had to be very careful of low sugar problems in the babies. I have got so now that I put them allin the x-pen. The babies can't get out of the whelping pan until they are about three weeks or so old. When they do that, I transfer them to a smaller area where she can't get away from them and I do the taking in and out every two hours thing. That way I make sure that when she IS in with them that they can catch her and eat. BTW, I love the picture of the babies looking out!!!!!!