Do pups miss their mothers?
 

Maybe I am a bit strange, but I wonder if puppies 'miss' their dog mothers. Do they remember their birth mothers? Does anyone have an opinion on this?:p:p

We take Joey to his breeder every few months for grooming, and he doesn't seem that happy to see his momma, but boy is he happy to see his breeder. He really loves her, and is so content in her arms. He plays with all the other dogs, but his mom and he don't play together, at least what I’ve seen. I think she see herself, more at the alpha and watches out for everyone. From what I've heard, most mom's promote independence.

Good question, everytime we are at our country house I try to figure this out. . In September my partner and I purchased a puppy each from our neighbor who lives 2 houses down from me. whenever we walk by the house where both the mother and father live my partners dog Dottie always wants to run into the yard and to the door. When my Rocco gets near to the driveway he just wants to pass right by the house with no interest whatsoever to go inside. When the mother does come outside she and Dottie just fuss and fuss with each other. With Rocco if he comes in the driveway she may take a sniff or two.We all try to figure it out if the mother and Dottie remember each other (i think they do just by their reaction to each other), but then there is Rocco who has no interest. cant figure it out.

What a great Topic Alvindy ! :thumbup:

The Breeder we got both of ours from, is also a friend, and, we have
taken both of ours back to their house several times.

As you've read in the previous posts, some do and some don't (recognize).
However, I think it's a little more than just recognition, and depends on
the personality of the individual animal.

My experience with Yorkies, is that they have extremely diverse
personalities. My Male Sneakers is very aloof with his "original" pack
mates and Parents. But, My Female Becca is in total glee, seeing
them. Becca is almost 2 years younger than Sneakers, and it's possible
that her more recent exposure to them, may cause more acceptance.

I remain convinced, that it's an individual issue.

My neighbor's pup doesn't seem interested in her parents, who live across the street.

My boys have not seen their parents after leaving the breeder's home, but they recognize the names if I say them. They go to the window to look for them and bark. :)

Good question that I've often thought about. I think if you reunited a mother and pup shortly after the pup went to a new home, they would remember, but I think as time goes by, not so much.

Now litter mates I think are a different story for whatever reason. My aunt has Alice's litter mate brother and they've been seeing each other pretty much weekly since we had them. They both like all other dogs and play with them, but when the two of them are together it's CRAZY lol. They roll around on the floor and play bite and growl with each other, just like puppies do when they're still part of the litter and with mom.

I've seen it other times too - my cousin's beagle mix has a close friend who has one from the same litter. They don't see each other often (maybe about 10 times in their 2 years. of age) and they FREAK (in a good way;)) when they see each other and play like puppies. All my cousin has to say to her dog is "where's sister?" and her dog goes nuts barking at the door lol.

I tend to think they're more attached to their peers by the time they're ready to go to a new home than they are to mom at that point (she's "cut them off" by this point with weening, so I think they move on lol).

I dont know about dogs but with cats the mother raises them and then she wants them to move on. I have a mother cat and her 3 adult kittens and the mother cat hisses and swats at her babies. She started doing that when they were 6 months old

my yorkie is a girl "Gidget" and her mom is owned by a friend, so they see each other a lot and it is always exciting for both of them.. Gidget spends the whole time licking her moms face and they don't stop playing. My friend swears her dog knows when they are coming for a visit. Added bonus her brother and sister are still close and we have play dates for all of them.. they really seem to know and love each other, much different than just meeting other dogs.

I've thought about that too. I also wonder if a dog sees his brother or sister, does he recognize them as a sibling or does he just see another dog?

I belive that they do when they are younger... but in my opinion they probably miss their litter mates more.

My fiance owns the mother of Ziggy, my Aussie mix. He lived with her until he was almost 11 mos old. She has come to stay with us for a few months when he has to travel and we've gone to visit them a few times. They are always so thrilled to see each other and wrestle and play like they did when Ziggy was growing up. He has also seen one of his sisters a few times and they play the same way. I'm sure that they remember each other and are good friends, but only because they continued to see each other past the initial 8 wks.

Almost all of the puppies went to live with our friends and I know that they remember my fiance and I. One female in particular jumps right into his lap and doesn't move until we leave, she doesn't do that with anyone else :D