Hi, the people on here have given me such good advice previously, I'm hoping you can do so again!

Well our litter of 9 pups are 6 weeks old today, wow how the time has flown! They are on 4 meals a day of soaked puppy kibble with added raw mince/scrambled egg/tinned good quality puppy food, and are really healthy and bouncy bunch of puppies!

My question is this...

My bitch prefers to stay out of the pen, sleeps in another room at night now, but wants to go into them several times a day. Whenever she does go in with the pups, they immediately rush her and are almost fighting to get fed. I feel so bad for her, as she is obviously finding it overwhelming and after a few minutes she is asking to come back out again, which I always let her do.

Am I handling this situation correctly? There have been a couple of occasions when a puppy has escaped and she has growled at the pup when it attempts to feed from her when she obviously doesn't want it. She doesn't seem to have too much milk, but I'd really like the situation where she can be with them and relax. Maybe it's because there are 9 of them its all a little overwhelming, and the pups themselves feel like they need to compete all the time. Her undercarriage is beginning to get scratched although all the pups have short nails.

I feel she's torn, because they obviously want to be together, just when she does go in with them, its all too frantic, and she wants to come out again... Saying that, the pups are growing so well, are given milk to drink as well as water always available, so I'm beginning to wonder if I'm doing something wrong.

I don't let her in with them around feeding time until they have all eaten and had a drink of milk (usually goats milk with warm water) which they absolutley love and have had no tummy problems at all. I figured if they are full-up, they won't be so demanding, but that flurry of desperate activity always seems to occur, and I'm wondering if she should be kept away from them altogether now they're 6 weeks except for first and last thing.

Any advice would be most welcome...

Thanks

She still needs to teach them about how to be dogs, so it's best not to keep her away from them completely. With a large litter like that she'd probably love having just a few of them at a time to play with and wash and teach - can you keep half of them (not literally with an odd number!) in their pen and have the other half out in the kitchen with her? That way she won't feel so overwhelmed by numbers. It'll also help the pups become used to the bigger world of the house and the hoover and the washing machine and the TV etc if they have her to show them that there's nothing to be afraid of, which will stand them in good stead when they leave.

Keep letting her have free access to them - she weaning them nice and gradually, and will probably still allow them comfort sucks from her even on the day they leave for their new homes.

You're describing my bitches exactly. From 5 weeks of age my bitches will just go in to them a few times a day, when they want to -I would never keep them together by force for any length of time at this stage. I find my girls don't start playing with their pups or teaching them things until they are older, usually by the time most have left for their new homes and there may be two or three left, perhaps at 12 weeks or so. So between 5 and 12 weeks I'd normally have the bitch visit them around 3 times a day on her terms and that's it (apart all night) -and she's usually VERY desperate to get away from them as soon as they've had a quick  feed.

Their puppy room is my dining room off the kitchen, and they frequently have the run of the ground floor. The pups are really well socialised and are all confident and happy pups. They sit and watch the washing machine and TV, and have never seemed scared at the noises outside, that's one aspect of the litter I'm really pleased with! At the moment they're outside on the grass where they'll probably spend the best part of a nice day like today. The problem I'm having is that whenever even one or two of them are out, they are always trying to feed off her, and she has started growling and getting fed up with it.

I realise its still important for them to spend time with her, but not sure how to go about this if she's choosing to be away from them more than with them. If she's snapping and growling because she doesn't want them to feed (she's done that when only one pup has escaped and has made a bee line straight for mum in the other room), is that ok to let it happen, I'm just not sure what to do, because I don't want her to get too stressed or them to get hurt.

Apart from that, my other dog (male) is acting overwhelmed also, the pups just chase him around, and he always heads for the door. He will, however, play with them through the sides of the pen outside... funny to watch!

I think all in all things are going well, but the pups are showing no signs of wanting to be weaned from mum... if I allow pups to be told off by mum, will they get the message and things calm down??

You have had some good advice, and you have almost answered yourself in your own posts :-)

Do check the mum's teats to make sure that she hasn't mastitis or a wound etc, and if not, then I would treat the growling as part of the pups learning.

We try to ensure the mum has somewhere high she can retreat to to watch the pups but they cannot get to her.  Pups of many months will often still try to suckle as soon as they see ther mum again, so as long as they are sleek and their tums are full, I wouldn't worry that they are hungry

I put a T-Shirt on my bitch as the pups wouldn't leave her alone and mugged her every time she went near   Fastened between her back legs it ensured that she could have time with them without them attacking her poor boobies :-D

Still took it off her a few times a day so they could feed if she wanted ;)   this way she was able to spend more time with them :-D

That's what I was going to suggest - I don't know what size breed you have of course, I have a small breed and a babygro was perfect to stop my little piranhas latching on once they were feeding properly but just wanted to grab hold from habit!

The T-shirt idea is really good.  You could also order some homeopathic pills from dorwestherbs.co.uk that will dry your girls milk up.  I have used these in the past and they work very quickly, if i remember correctly it just took 2 days for the milk to stop.  I think they are called urtica urens but if you do decide to order them, check with the company as they are very helpful, and also make sure you don't buy the pills that help to produce the milk!

Hi, thanks for all your responses, things have calmed down here a bit, they will be 7 weeks old in 2 days and are growing really fast (medium/large gundog breed), can run really fast too now and act like a bunch of little lemmings... little critters!

She is feeding them a couple of times a day now, always after they've been fed and had a drink of goats milk, and she seems more relaxed than before. They aren't going crazy every time she so much as shows her face which is a relief and she doesn't have masses of milk like she did so I think her body is being very efficient and shutting down the milk supply naturally. I've been regularly checking her for mastitis as she had a bout at the 3 week stage.

Things have a way of sorting themselves out, but this is our first time, and I was feeling alittle overwhelmed at the time. They are going to their new homes next weekend, after which I'll have a well deserved pint inthe pub!!