I was speaking to you all about my dog through her pregnancy and you was all very helpfull to me u all advised me to buy the book of the bitch which i did, and i'l add it was very helpful anyway my dog had a first sucessful littler of 7 any way my new query is that angel's teats have started drying up and it feels sort of like rubber through the skin i know they always dry up but she didnt feed them all that much a enough but not enough if you know what i mean and her teats r very saggy still where they are still filled with milk pretty much ful up and i was wondering what i should do? and does it damage her in any way them being so big and will they stay like this the other thing i wanted to know is that when do they start to retake there shape? as she is very skinny at the moment which i believe  to be because all the food she eats go's straight to producing milk can anyone help me many thanks manji

How long ago did she have her litter? I've always left my bitches to decide for themselves when to stop feeding their puppies and they've regained their figures within a few weeks of the pups leaving.

well she had them just over 4 wks ago now the pups r on solids now but still milk

Yes, that's normal. The bitch will gradually cut down on how much they feed from her, because they'll gradually be eating more solid food provided by you - expect her still to be giving them top-up feeds when they're 7 or 8 weeks old.

Don't forget to give them fulltime access to a safe water-source - they'll need to drink now they're on solids.

Well she is still in peak lactation then and shoulsd have big boobs :D

If she is thin then she needs food more often and it needs to be the highest quality.

At this atge mine are on four timews their normal intake of Puppy food.  I feed four times a day as much as the bitch will eat and any of the pups left overs.

In another weeks she will vut them down quite a bit, but leave it up to her.

I wouldn't expect her to get her figure back until theya re about 12 weeks of age, and the nipples may always stay large and prominnet if the Staff, Boxer and other short coated breeds I ahve seen are anything to go by, they seem to have big ones even when they never had a litter.

If yo7 feed her well, (don't cut food all the way back right after pups go unless she is getting fat, as she will need a bit extra to get condition back).  Give her pelenty of excersise and nature will (or won't take care of the rest). :D

hey all me again just wondering if you could help me AGAIN"!! THE pups are 6 weeks old now and personally i think that they are ready to go but some people think i should wait the pups are all on solid foods angel (the mum) doesnt sleep with them or play with them she gets grouchy when they go near her she isnt producing milk anymore, in my book it says to let them leave at around 7 weeks because 8 weeks is the sensitive period and could cause the pups stress but nothing about 6 weeks? please help me!! i got angel at 6 weeks old and she is a fine and healthy bitch what do you all reckon many thanks

I would never let mine leave much before 8 weeks.

I think that it's important for the Dam to teach them for those last 2 weeks.  Makes all the difference to dog/dog communication and understanding as they mature.

yea i see what you mean but angel isnt teaching them nothing really she jus snaps when they try suckiling on her teats even tho she is'nt producing it syas that they will anyway out of habbit

That what she is teaching them, they will learn to read her signals and learn to respect them.  The are also learning the limits of acceptable play from their litter mates, seperated from them too soon and they will perhaps be too rough and wild in play at their news home with no concept of what it feels like to be overly bitten themselves.    Better to let them continue to learn for a little longer rather than fail to settle in their new homes and return to you.

My pups don't leave until 8 weeks old, although it seems mum isn't having much to do with them, every grunt or growl they understand, so they are still learning, plus they have the social interaction from the rest of the litter, something they wouldn't have if you let them go at 6 weeks.

so u all think it best to keep them a bit longer? in the book of the bitch it says that u should let them go about 7 wks as the can become stressed if u move them at 8 wks as that is there sensitive period?

I have let mine go from 7 weeks and kept some until 11weeks and all of them are perfectly fine and nobody has ever said they have suffered stress.

Regarding the feeding someone who used my stud dog had a big problem by suddenly stopping her bitch feeding.  The bitch ended up with mastitus and in a terrible mess.  My bitch had to have a operation on a huge cyst at 6 weeks and someone told us to give the pups their food and then allow her to feed.  This will mean the bitch will close up naturally as the pups will not require so much milk.  Tigger is now 10 weeks post whelping and doesnt look like she has had any pups.

When Mum really starts to wean them seriously it will seem she doesn't want them any more and she will be quite hard on them and spend little time with them, but in a few days she will start to play with them and teach them how to be dogs and this stage is important for good social skills for the pups later.  She will encourage the shyer ones and discipline the ones that are too forward, you can learn a lot from her then about how to train a puppy, very useful with the one you are keeping.

weeks is too young to leave 7 1/2 to 8 weeks is quite young enough.  Pups will be going through variopus sensitive stages right through puppyhood.  From 8 weeks because they are getting more independant they start to learn to be afraid as this would help them survive.

Human babies go through a clingy shy phase at around 8 months when they will be wary of strangers, and this is often when Mums go back to work after maternity leave, and the babies cope just fine wiht child minders or going to a day Nursery.

I feel that 7-71/2 weeks is fine for a forward ( usually male) puppy to go, but there will be some in a litter that definately need to stay longer. You can stagger their leaving so there is one going ever day or every couple of days. If a buyers family has children under 12, or where the puppy carer works  part time then those pups should stay til 8 weeks. A childless couple where someone is home all day could have a puppy from 7 weeks onwards. It really does depend for me, on what sort of home they are going to imo.

Another  problem with pups going before 8 weeks is that they are not covered by the free insurance that breeders arrange for their puppies and for that reason  of my pups stay til 8 weeks anyway!

Petplan have actually changed the ruling to from 6 weeks.

Gosh, when did they do that? We had a litter at Christmas time, the first for a couple of years, and it was still 8 weeks then. I think 6 weeks is far too young though. Thanks for the info.

Well I am glad for one as it used to be annoying that the pups couldn't be picked up a day or two before 8 weeks if the owners found that particular day easier, meaning keeping pup a whole extra week for no good reason except red tape.

I remember when the registered breeding laws came in, 4 years ago?, saying that pups could not be sold before 8 weeks Petplan sent me a leaflet about it, it concerned me as I had a litter at the time, who if they were going to join their families at the weekend could either go at 7wks+5 or 8wks+5 so I phoned them and they reassured me they would continue to cover pups from 6 weeks from unregistered breeders so I think that has always been their lower age limit.  KC insurance may differ though, I have never used that.

Yes I found thesame when I rang them though Pinnacle insurance insisted on 8 weeks.  I issued both, with the latter starting later and the new owners could choose which was a better insurance for them.

Mine go at 7 weeks, but there again they are a breed that are retrieving to hand at 3 weeks of age and briniging a bunch full of keys back to hand at 4 weeks.  Not all breeds are the same.  OUr Pomeranian's don't go until around week 11/12.

Sorry to drag this post up again :-)

Thought it worth mentioning incase people didn't know that the kennel club free insurance starts or can start from 6 weeks also.