I realise this topic has been covered but not all 'cases' are the same so thought I'd put mine out there, I hope you don't mind.

My bitch has had her first (and last) litter of 8 pups. She's now spending hardly any time with them, much preferring the company of our other 6 dogs. She does check on them if they cry out and she is still nursing them, but we do sometimes have to almost make her stay in the whelping box to nurse them. She won't eat her food in the box so she is fed in the same room.

The pups were born quite large (around the high 300-low 400 grams) and have continued to gain weight, with all pups now in the high 800 grams.

I am considering starting to put a shallow dish of puppy milk in for them - they are already licking themselves and will lick my fingers - with the intention of starting to add liquidised puppy food by the weekend or sooner. This will mean that I can then worm them at 3 weeks old with their food.

Do you think this is an acceptable route to follow and if so, how often should I put milk down for them? I read somewhere that it's best when weaning, to only allow the bitch in with the pups either a couple of times a day or overnight so that they reduce the amount they're feeding from her. Would you agree with this?

Thanks for your invaluable guidance.

Personally I'd say it's too young to start weaning - I prefer to start at about 3 weeks, unless the bitch has a huge litter, which 8 isn't for a medium-sized breed. I also make sure the bitch spends as much time as possible with the pups, if necessary spending long hours in the puppy room with them all.

When I do start weaning I used scraped beef or mushed-up puppy food, not milk - mum should still be supplying all the milk they need.

>I read somewhere that it's best when weaning, to only allow the bitch in with the pups either a couple of times a day or overnight so that they reduce the amount they're feeding from her. Would you agree with this?

Definitely not. The litter is at the stage when they need plenty of milk from mum for at least another two weeks; the only time I stop mum from going in to the pups is at the stage when she'll regurgitate her own food for them, so she's kept out for an hour or so after she's been fed. Otherwise she has free access to them.

I'd try to persuade her to feed them for another week if you can. Will she let the other dogs in the whelping room so the whole lot of you can sit in there? If not, you'll have to sit in there with her so she's handy for them if they do want to feed, even if she's not right in the box. Ellie spent most of her time lying in the doorway to the dining room when her litters were that age, so she could go in if they cried.

I would not start them on straight milk as they tend to choke on it and there is risk of it getting into the lungs.  I always start with soaked and mashed food mixed in to a thin porridge.

I have started as soon as eyes open so don't think it's too soon if the rate of weight gain is levelling off.  If the rate of gain is still ever increasing then they are getting enough and I would wait another two days, as I always start mine at 18 days because of wanting them on solids by worming, even if they are doing really well and only take a small amount.

I only separate Mum from pups while they are fed, otherwise she has as much access to them as she wishes, until they go to their new homes.

Their main nourishments will still be from Mum for some time yet.

Also it is vital to weigh each pup and dose individually just after they have been eating.

hi my girl done the same at 2 weeks and i was quite concern, she was such an over protective mum who never left her pups,i did notice she would do the same go back to them when they cryed and did still nurse but it was alot less. i did supplement them and gave them two bowls of milk am and late pm and it done no harm and stopped the crying!!!!! i weaned at 4 weeks but in the end is was hard stopping mum from feeding them it was the first and last litter as well :)

Thanks everyone for your advice. As the pups are still gaining weight, we've decided to wait til the weekend to start weaning. What kind of porridge mix do you use?

Are your pups in a different room to the rest of the dogs?  My girl was like this at about exactly the same age and I was asking the same questions.  We had her and the pups in an upstairs bedroom, but she hated missing out (or thinking she was missing out) on whatever else might have been going on in the house, so spent more time outside of the room than in the room.

I decided I didn't want to wean early, and I built a puppy pen downstairs in the middle of the living room (I had planned to do that later anyway) and moved her and the pups downstairs during the day and then back up at night.  This solved the problem.  She was happy to stay in with the pups most of the time, while still feeling a part of what was going on in the house.  She didn't mind the other dogs outside the pen, and she returned to being the awesome mum she had been prior to that point. 

I know one of my other girls would have totally thrived on having her own private quarters, but the personality of this one needed to companionship of everyone else around her.  Under normal circumstances I would have kept them separate a while longer, but mum needed more companionship.  Pups were weaned at the original age I planned to and all went well :)

Just an idea, if that's your current setup.