What are your views on just letting the pups with the mother when they are feeding incase in being squashed?
Is it best she is with them all the time or not.
I am not a breeder but i would of thought it best if mum was with pups as much as poss.

I would never ever take pups away from their Mum and ecourage my bitches to be totally focussed on their family as being family companions the6y are soemtimes rather torn between the two.

Some breeds are very heavy and clumsy and in these breeds some breeders do rear them in what to me would be na unatural way, but with most breeds you just keep an ey on Mum and pups in the eraly days when they are of a size and lacking the strenght to keep from being crushed.  some people use crush bars, but of course this doesn't help a pup that gets laid on in the centre of the box or sop one getting it's head caught between Mum and the bar.

Ditto to Brainless - this is why most of us look like death from lack of sleep for the first week or so :( The mother has so much to teach her babies and I would have thought removing them apart from feeding runs the risk of her not bonding properly for play and learning later.

How true i havent slept since friday night because i want to keep an eye on my bitch and her litter. Everyone keeps telling me how tired i look but i just cant fall asleep yet!

I would never consider taking pups away, my bitches wouldn`t settle anyway, not wise to upset a bitch in this way no matter how big and  clumsy they are. Stress and trauma could affect milk production and that would be the last thing you would want, then you would have some sleepless nights hand rearing. If you cannot commit yourself to the bitch and her babies for those first few weeks almost 100% of the time then I would say its better not to breed until you can.

Couldn't agree more. It is crucially important both for the mother and the pups that they are separated as little as possible (if at all) during the first couple of weeks. As Tiggey says, if you can't commit yourself to the level of vigilance and care necessary, you probably shouldn't be breeding.

Agree with those above. I once left a bitch on her own for a couple of hours (pups were about 2 weeks old) and she managed to shut herself out from the pups. When I came home, the door was in bits, she'd tried so desperately to get back to her babies (who were fine!). I always make sure Mum can be with her pups but can get away from them if she wants to. Mum knows best :D

I think most dogs would go mad if they couldn`t stay with their pups at least for the first couple of weeks, at least mine would. After that they start staying away a bit longer, but its best for pups & mum to be together :)
Tiggy & Mick, the poster does say she isn`t a breeder.

Christine, Spain.

I know English bull terrier breeders generally don't leave their pups with the mum, but with most other breeds I think you will find that the mum is free to come and go as she wishes.  For the first couple of weeks she wants to be with them all the time, and it would be the height of cruelty to keep her from them. 

I've always left my bitches in with the pups. To be honest between whelping and weaning I've always pretty much left my bitches to it, (other than regular checks) and certainly dont stay with them. In seven litters (labs, working cockers & jack russels) I haven't lost any pups in this way yet.

Have to say Havoc I'm the same as you.  Yep I'm there a lot of the time but not all of the time.  My Spanish get fed up of the pups at around 3 weeks of age, saying that though the Spanish are retrieving at this age, so I don't blame them :d

In Megans (newfoundland) first litter we did not constantly watch her with her puppies, resulting in loosing 2 because she laid on then and squashed them, it was heart breaking, now the pups are birthed in my bedroom and we are with them 24/7 with one of us there all the time untill at 4 weeks they are moved out into a spare bedroom by that time Megan is not so interested and the pups are about weaned .

I would not risk the heartbreak of loosing any pups again

Rubyscharm:  I had to hand rear a litter at Christmas, bottle feeding every 2 hours for 4 weeks, I think the longest sleep I got between feeds was an hour!  I was a wreck, lost a stone in weight.........but I would do it all again if I had to! ;-)

And even though mum didn't have a drop of milk, she stayed with the pups the whole time, the only time I've taken a bitch away from her litter was when she had a severe eclampsia and almost lost her, she was given so many different sorts of drugs it was unsafe for her to feed her pups, but I put her in a boob tube and let her play, just couldn't leave them unsupervised!

I am in the exact same boat as Rubyscharm. I think last night was the first night that slept for 3 hours straight at a time (my pups are a 8 days old). Those first days are so crucial with the little ones- any cry and I come running (I think that I have created a rut between the master bedroom and the mudroom!)

Pig rails are a MUST, but as someone else has suggested that does not help if a pup is crushed in the middle of the whelping box.

Good luck!!

Megan, from Idaho

One of the members here has a bulldog,i'm sure i read that she takes the pups away from day 1 and brings them to mum every 2 hours to feed

I have to say i dont know of any females who wouldnt freak out if you took their babies away :(