Hope it's ok to resurrect this post rather than starting a new one! I'm just trying to wean my puppies (2 puppies, small breed, 4 weeks old) and am thinking I will have to keep mum away from them like some people have suggested. She doesn't like it much though - she's happy to spend several hours away from them on her own initiative, but shut that dog gate and she sits in front of it glaring at me!! Will she get over this? Also, the puppies are quite liking scrambled egg and tiny pieces of chicken, but one of them doesn't seem to get the hang of taking the pieces from the flat dish - should I keep putting bits in his mouth or wait till he's hungry enough to work it out? They didn't think much of minced beef or Pedigree puppy porridge, though I might just be catching them when they are sleepy / not hungry. When they're awake they just want to gallop around wrecking the pen, not settled down and think about eating!

When weaning starts I personally don't keep mum away from the pups unless the pups are actually having their food - all the rest of the time she has free access to them (and to get away!) whenever she wants. I feed each pup individually to start with - on my lap with a tiny bit of food in a saucer (a teaspoonful of scraped beef for a pup the size of a three-week labrador) then from about four weeks they eat from individual bowls (of course by then the amounts have increased!). But mum comes in and cleans them up afterwards and tops them up if she wants to.

Oh good, I wasn't keen on the keeping her away bit - some people have said I should, others have said I shouldn't! As she's happy to spend several hours away, I guess I just need to pick the times when she has been away for a while to try to feed them myself. Also caught her trying to regurgitate, so am trying to shut her out for an hour after her biggest meal at least - she's too good a mum!!

I never take my girls away from pups.  Yes, they can get away if they so wish, but I leave them to decide.  Although my breed doesn't leave home before 8 weeks, I still have mum giving a last comfort suckle on the day they leave.

Ditto the above posts.  I have had pups that have not wanted to start weaning at 4 weeks ans other starting as soon as the eyes were open, but Mum can fed them as much and as often as she wants until they leave.  Have never had any unweaned by the time they were homed, though those saying would still sneak a nip up to 12 weeks.

Same as the above posters, my bitch always had access to her pups when they were being weaned.  She loved being with them, and would fret if she was away from them for too long.  She'd happily take herself off for a wander, and enjoyed her exercise, but she loved getting back to the pups up until they left at 8 weeks.

Mine were weaned onto a puppy food blended with lactol, put into a huge shallow dish and they all tucked in!  It was madness and they all got covered in it.  Fun though :-D  They did have odd bits of other things.....minced beef, bit of cheese, scrambled egg, the little pigs.  (I feel quite broody now!)

As long as Mum's happy, I don't see any reason to take her away from them :-) 

They definitely prefer little chunks of chicken to the minced stuff. :-) I also thought I might make Weetabix soaked in Lactol like my girl had as a puppy, but I've lost her puppy sheets and can't remember how much Lactol to use, the instructions on the tin say how to make a whole pint which is rather too much for 2 toy breed puppies lol! I only want enough to soak one or even a half Weetabix, I'll have to get my OH to do some calculating. :-)