
I never decide when pups need to be weaned. I let them tell me (usually by licking the bitches food.) I never stop or reduce access. I do make sure that mum can come and go as she pleases, but I also make sure that the pups can't follow mum if she wants a rest away from them.
My bitches often comfort suckle a pup on the day that a pup leaves home. Bear in mind that it isn't for what milk is left by then. I think it is the proper way to let a bitch dry up naturally. But I would never let all a bitches whelps leave on the same day. Mine would be distraught. And I often keep a pup longer if a family have a holiday already booked. So it's often over a space of 10 days or more. We each have different ideas on this. I've heard folk say that the bitch is fed up of the pups. This has never, ever happened with my own dogs. Let the bitch decide.