I introduce mine to ground up dry food at around 3 1/2 to 4 weeks, as soon as the puppies are able to start walking. I put a quality dry puppy food in a blender and grind it until it is very fine. I put this ground dry food in a bowl in the x-pen with the pups along with a bowl of water. The puppies will go over and start licking the dry food. I use the little double sided bowls they sell in the pet section. I put the ground food in both sides of one bowl and water in both sides of another bowl. As the puppies get older they will start eating more and more of the dry food and mom will slowly dry up. Usually by 8 weeks the pups are nursing very little. All my moms have always had plenty of milk so I never felt it was necessary to make the mush. Some breeder prefer to wean them on mush. Either method will work but I have found the dry food method works best for me. It is a lot less messy. Once the pups are a little older I will also put out, twice a day, a plate of the ground dry food mixed well with a little bit of canned Pedigree puppy food. |