I have a 2 year old bitch with 6 very healthy  10 day old pups. She is feeding and caring for them just fine. My other bitch however is one year old and this morning i caught her feeding the pups!!    she has been very interested in them from day 1 and mummy dog has let her wash them, so i trusted her judgement on that one and put it down to 'pack' behaviour, ie. other bitches helping out..I guess this is another form of phantom pregnancy except its phantom motherhood [she is producing milk] ?  Obviously I am keeping her away from the pups, but my question is 'how do i make her happier about that?' she is so stressed and upset poor girl, cos she really thinks they are hers, she cant settle at all. Any ideas???

This is exactly what happens in nature! If you want her to stop then you'll have to keep her away from the pups completely and keep her busy and active so she doesn't have time to think about them.

you say 'if i want her to stop', im guessing that means you think its not essential to stop this?? part of me thinks its ok you see... natural behaviour as you say..

Yep, as long as the mother doesn't mind I'd just let her get on with it! Her milk will dry up just as the dam's will when the pups are weaned, and she'll be a lot less stressed.
:)

my worry is that she doesnt have enough milk for them and if i let her continue then the mum will hand over the job to her completely then cos she is so young she is not really 'up to' the job .. she has no swollen boobs at all and very little milk [although i know a little squeeze from me is not a good indicator!]  , the pups only seem to want to suckle on her for comfort rather than to feed. hard to know what to do for the best. i had a bitch give up totally on feeding her pups at 2 weeks and i dont want to risk that again!  :-/

She is unlikely to have enough milk for them just a source of comfort and topping up.  Unless Mum is showing poor mothering then I don;t think I would worry about ehr drying up because of the others help.

hmmm... still pondering on this one. Mum IS a little lazier than other bitches ive had in whelp, hence my concern. At the moment she is doing fine tho, but my gut feeling is she will hand over to Ruby if she got the chance! 

Someone i know let Granny feed virtually the entire litter as the mother wasnt interested.  Nothing bad happened.  You are very lucky they are so laid back when puppies are in our house it is the only time I think they would kill each other to prevent the others going near them although they seem to think Thomas is okay but then they tend to treat him with utter contempt anyway.

What breed is it you have Naybee? Sounds really sweet the other one wanting to help out :-) I can see your concern though.

Both 'mums'  are gorgeous black labs, puppies are 3 yellow and 3 black  :-)

Just as an update, we have gone for it and let nature take its course and its all going great! Mum doggy does the feeds, other doggy [who is actually half sister to pups, same sire] does comfort sucking and they share the poo and wee rota..

pic at link below

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/naomi3918/DSCF1564.jpg

naybee just had a look at ur pic,wat gorgeous puppies ! :) i take it mum is the 1 on the left! they are gorgeous looking dogs.glad there ok and doing well!

What a beautiful photo...Good luck with the litter.

That is such a wonderfull photo :-) they all look so content. Congratulations on such a beautifull litter and owning 2 great bitches, they are a credit to you. Well done. :-)

I once had a litter to a yellow lab called Bea at the time her mother Vicky was ten years old vicky used to sneak in and wash a pup till it was suckling when I looked she was full of milk  and other pups would join Granny , Bea didnt mind at all and both bitches reared the litter it was wonderful to see and the pups were very contented with their two mums

The photo is great, you are right they are gorgeous bitches and puppies, so nice to see a photo.

What a wonderful photo :D

They both look so content and the pups look very well catered for ! :D Double cream :D

Lucy
xx

That picture put a smile on my face.