Firstly, I just wanted to say thank you all so much for taking the time to answer all the questions I have had over the last few weeks with my first litter.  It has been such a long time in the planning, yet having sadly lost my mentor :( and reading everything I could lay my hands on, some questions you don't know about until the litter is actually here. I have discovered for instance that there is not really any detailed info on weaning, even in the BOTB.  I just wanted to say that I really appreciate it.

The litter are 4 weeks old on Friday and my girl is wanting to spend less and less time with them, they are having four meals a day now and growing really well (med type gundog breed) and up and playing with each other.  We have a 'Big Foot' pen in the kitchen with the whelping box in it and during the day she pops in and out as she needs to.  She now has to stand up whilst they are feeding and as they have teeth she isnt too keen. She probably only feeds them once or twice during the day and probably once at night.  During the night she is shut into the pen, however she has a plastic bed next to the whelping box where the pups cant get her but she can get to them, she is becoming less happy with this arrangement and is asking to be let out of the pen completely.  I cannot have her wandering the downstairs during the night as in the past she has chewed the kitchen vinyl and my house is rented, before pups she was in a huge crate in the kitchen full of cosy blankets.  At the moment my Landlord is fantastic, but I don't want to tempt fate whatsoever. At what age do the pups not need her at night please?  If she is asking to be out of the pen, is she telling me? I dont want her to get mastitis.

The pups no longer fit in the bowl of my normal kitchen scales (little fatties!) and when they are squidged into the bowl I do have, the weight moves all the time. What do you use to weigh your pups once they no longer fit in a normal sized bowl?  Is there anything that the weight stabilises and gives you a reading, like on the vets scales?  Is it worth getting/borrowing a set of baby scales?

Thank you :)  P.s The mods have told me I can put a link in my user profile ;)

I have digital bathroom scales which I use for my Collies.  I step on holding the dog, make a note of the weight and then weigh myself.  Hey presto!  The difference is what the dog weighs. 

Can you not put her cage up alongside of the gate in the pen so she can sleep in her cage but still access the pups if needs be. I think 4 weeks is a little young to be deprived of Mum. My pups have a pen with a gate and I block up the bottom half of the gate so Mum can hop in and out but pups cannot get over it. Mum then has the run of the downstairs but if you are worried she will chew then push her cage up to the gate and make a half door up somehow ??
Hope you undersood that !!
Aileen
PS I have one of those luggage scales that you hang your suitcase on...I just slip the pup into a sling and hang them up to weigh!!

Exactly what I do JeanSW..trouble is I would rather not know what I weigh..lol

Checked out your profile link... Oh no!! Broody alert!! So cute!!

I don't see the point in weighing pups at that age. After all, they are on solids and you can see what they eat, and feel if their bodies are right. The food that goes into them is no longer invisible and dependent on the bitch. Hence I always stop weighing when the scales have become too small, simple as that. :)

Just had a peek at your gorgeous babies, they are stunning.  I love the rich colours, so much nicer than the very pale creams that seem to be the fashion these days, IMO :)

I agree with Goldmali, we will have stopped weighing, although I do usually check weight for worming :-)

I find a fishing scale best, pop a pup in a bag and quickly hang the bag on the scale. Best if there are 2 of you

> I don't see the point in weighing pups at that age.

Umm, for worming purposes!!!

I got a small melamine tray and velcro'd it to the scales and got the pup to sit on there but my lot are only 5kg fully grown by which time I have progressed to weighing a dog plus me and then subtracting me.

I used a big bag for life shopping bag, light but deep, so large puppies can not climb out, hung the handles on the scales for weighing suitcases on, you can pick them up at supermarkets very cheaply.

Umm, for worming purposes!!!

You don't need that exact weights for that. I've never weighed a Malinois pup, not even once, in any litter I've had. They've still managed to get wormed just fine. :)

> would rather not know what I weigh

Well, it's at this point that I close my eyes!  LOL  :-)

> You don't need that exact weights for that.

I think you do.  Vermicides are pretty serious stuff designed to kill living organisms.  I would want to give a very precise dose.

Im absolutely no good at estimating weights and my pups are being wormed with Drontal Puppy, so 1ml per kg, if I over estimated their weight I could double their dose by accident.  I like the bag for life idea with a canvas bag, that might be the best way to go ahead.

Luggage scales, now why didnt I think of that!

Thank you :) (and thank you for the comments about the pupsters too, I adore all of them, but then I am biased lol)

> What do you use to weigh your pups once they no longer fit in a normal sized bowl? 

I have kitchen scales that go to 5kg, and after that I use a bag and fishing scales, by then you don't need to be accurate to the nearest ounce..

Your breed are adorable as puppies and loving the blog.
I like the look of the sire, very handsome, with what he has achieved work wise and with all those health tests I can applaud his owner very highly!!!

Good luck with them!!
:-)

i weigh my pups at 4 weeks :-) Daily up til then, then weekly :-D Why? Cos I like to!  Kitchen scales that go up to 10kg and small trug ... you do have a selection of trugs, don't you? ;-) Scale value wobbles a bit (talking digital) just pick a middle value or the number you see most. If they're asleep, perfect. More than likely they'll be oh so wide awake in which case put a bit of meat in bottom of trug to stop them climbing out!

I actually find at this age my mums have no desire to be in with the pups overnight at all! They have the choice but usually they'd rather sleep with me! If you don't think she wants to be in then try her in her crate. I've no doubt she'm quite quickly let you know if that's not the arrangement she wants.

All i can say is how did you get them to sleep till 7am !!!!

Claire_41 - Is that question for me?

If it is, I'm not sure I understand! If it is for me then I have to take it that you expect pups to 'sleep' til 7am? Wow! This is a new one for me. I took it that all puppies threw wild parties at midnight, 2am, 4am etc :-O Whether Mum sleeping with them or not ... I assumed it was one of the reasons Mum chose to sleep on my bed! Mind, the activity levels not greatly reduced as we share a room with them up to 6 weeks of age!!

Maybe it's a breed thing ;-) ;-)

Oops sorry no, I had looked at alfieshmalfie's website and it says the puppies woke at 7am for breakfast (I can't remember the exact words).

Phew that's a relief. I was starting to feel the little green eyed monster appearing if 7am sleep overs were the norm!! ;-)

Ahh woke at 7am for breakfast means that they had already woken at 3am and had a bit of a play and fallen back asleep again, probably a bit later around 5am had a bit of a wander around and fallen asleep again, then when they wake again at 7am they get brekkie.  They are only four weeks old tomorrow, if they were asleep all night then I would be poking them to make sure they werent ill!

My girl was in there last night but settled on a dog bed next to the whelping box, so I think I shall take each day as it comes.  She has been a fantastic mum so far so I cant blame her for not liking their teeth very much.

It is worming day tomorrow so I will have fun covering myself and them with wormer lol.

Thank god for that, you had us all jealous lol .

I am very lucky that my breed are small enough to fit on my kitchen scales at eight weeks old (it is a bit of a squeeze by then, mind!).

Good luck worming, I had one of my puppy's new owners round at the time and she loved holding each puppy whilst I syringed!

p.s. your puppies are absoloutely beautiful!