Hi
My neighbour has a litter of pups they will be 4 weeks old on monday. The question she would like answering is her bitch is quite happy staying with her pups all day just coming out for the toilet, feeding them very well when should she start to wean her pups and when should she keep her bitch out, obviously the pups aren't hungry because mum is doing so well.

Pup's ideally are weaned at 3/4 weeks depending on the litter and the bitch.

yes she should start weaning now, and the mum should have free access to see to her pups during the day to come and go as she pleases, apart from when pups are eating their food otherwise mum will eat it! Make sure mum is well out of the way when feeding the pups then when they have finished she can then have free access to them again.

She should definately start weaning now and just keep her bitch away from them when they are eating. The older they get, the more solids they will eat and eventually they will begin feeding less and less until they just stop. She wouldn't need to separate the bitch and the pups, weaning is a very natural process and will happen on its own as long as she keeps providing food and increases the amount as the pups reduce the amount they feed from mum.

My litter is 3 weeks tomorrow and had their first taste of 'real food' today, although they were happy feeding from mum, and mum happy to be feeding them, they soon enough dived in and cleared the plate......it also helps poor mum because feeding a growing litter really takes it out of them!

I think it depends on the bitch and the litter.

If there are a lot of pups and it is draining mum's reserves start now.  But if there is only a few fat puppies and the bitch has lots of milk I wouldn't even try until the 4 week mark and then not be too stressed if they are not interested.  In my last litter, the pups were huge and didn't really get going on other food until 5 weeks.  My bitch was in great shape so I wasn't concerned.

In always start weaning after 3 weeks, letting Mum go in straight after feeding and if she really wants to. I find it helps when pups aren't taking too much from her for her to get back into shape. One of my girls has had two litters and looking at her undercarriage you wouldn't know she had had any. I much prefer it if pups are totally self sufficient from Mum for a couple of weeks before they go to their new homes.