This was a very interesting thing to watch with our recent (and first) Australian Shepherd litter. At a certain age, mom starts "teaching" them manners and such. We kept one pup out of the litter (now about 3.5 months old) and when we let Tatum (our Yorkie) out to potty and Blaze (the pup) tries to jump at her and get her to play, Stormie (mom) comes and steers him away from her so she can go do her business. Sometimes if Tatum barks real hard at him, Stormie comes and grabs him by the scruff of the neck and pulls him away. I do intervene when she has been "fussing at him" for a while. I get them to separate and walk away. It's hard to really know sometimes if there is a real cause for the mom to be doing this but for the most part, you just have to trust their mommy instincts and let them reprimand the pup when they think it's necessary.
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~ Angie |