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Originally Posted by Lorraine  NEVER force wean. The problem is that although they are eating the mom is not ready to complete the weaning process so she is producing milk. The puppies getting the milk and continuing the bonding process at 7 weeks is IMPORTANT for happy healthy puppies.
The mothers of any of my puppies do not complete the weaning until about 10 weeks of age. I never force them.
The mom will dry up naturally as nature intending.
The only time you have to wean early is when mom has developed a problem such as mastitis. Even a low calcium is not an issue, give 1 cc of liquid calcium daily or 1/2 tums daily. There is enough calcium in tums to keep mom happy with calcium intake.
There should never be a rush for anything. The moms know best and let them make the decisions. If I am going to sell anything for pet, I am in no hurry anyway to wean, first vacc's etc because they don't go anywhere until minimum 3 1/2 months. |
Thank you Lorraine for taking the time to respond. I completely agree with your thoughts on this. This is exactly how I support my momma and babies during this stressful time for puppies.
All of my females have always weaned their babies themselves, and I allow them to do that....my older babies have been known to even just suckle like with pacefiers, during the day, on and off, and at night. As I have started to offer "weaning meals" in conjunction with what momma supplies, the pups just do not go to teat to satisfy hunger after about 8 -9 weeks old, and the moms milk is starting to dry up naturally. My females gladly allow this from their babies....and will allow the pups to snuggle and suckle until they fall asleep....mom will then leave the pups so she can sleep alone, but she returns to the pups bed and checks on them during the night (they are all still in a whelping pen that is larger so mom has the other half of the area to go for "alone time"). Mommas determine when the buffet line is closed and meals are no longer served....personally, if I have a female that starts to leave her litter early or shows no interest in feeding or bonding with them, I pull that dog off my breeding line after two attempts at litters have produced the same response from the momma.... I consider this behavior a temperment/personality trait I do not want in my lines.....
When my females that have been wonderful, patient, enthusiastic, "hands on" breeders, start showing behavior that clearly indicates their interests are elsewhere....and we all reach a point when we are just tired of fooling with kids!..... and they clearly do not want to be bothered taking care of kids any longer, these ladies are strongly considered for retirement from breeding. If two successive litters are treated the same way, she is pulled and not asked to continue as a breeder. She is promptly spayed, and spends the rest of her life just hanging out!