Warning - long post. I have only bred a few litters of yorkies, but back in the horse farm days, we raised many healthy foals. I base my opinion on having been a breast feeding mother of three plus my experience with the furs.
Nursing is about much more than food. I honestly believe that it is in the best interest of babies and mothers to not rush the weaning process and as long as everyone is healthy to let the mother decide when it is time to wean. That being said, we had one foal that still nursed occasionally at 3 years of age and one yorkie mom that was done with the pups between 5 & 6 weeks.
Generally the pups we raised were fully self-weaned around 9 - 10 weeks and moms milk supply gradually waned until it dried. At some point the pups became more interested in food than nursing and nursing became more about comfort than nutrition. This way there was no concern about mastitis or swollen painful teats in mom. At about 4 - 5 weeks I would start introducing ground food mush mixed with goat's milk, mom ate most of it but the pups would get a taste and the idea.
Self-weaning shouldn't be a problem because an ethical breeder would never ever let a pup leave before a minimum of 12 weeks - but that is a whole different topic.
Good luck with the pups.
Last edited by chattiesmom; 01-02-2021 at 10:06 AM.
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