I have a new addition to the family (not so new now! ) shes a english x french mastiff    shes now at 23 weeks old

She was weaned from  her mother at a VERY young age - as her mum was  extremely ill and under vets guidance  was told to wean early-  she was  5 weeks old  (mother had anemia )

Anyways she  coped fine is a very big boned strong fun loving girl who is very much part of the family and settled well

Now shes always done this but well seems to be doing it more and more not sure what to do wether to stop her as she is now alot older
She grabs cushions of my sofa normally after shes eaten and will sit there suckiling its really cute and presume its some form of comfort to her. She will stop after a few mins and walk away so  guess its like some form of dummy ?

Now would you stop her or leave her be

Shes been doing it mor often  since her sister has been staying with us ...  she goes back home in a few weeks ( been dog sitting  as friends dog had a  massive  leg operation ) 

anyways all advice would be great!

Thanks!

I have a 5 year old bitch who will spend her evenings suckling a lump of her bed.
The others ignore her and haven't tried to copy so I just leave her to it. She wasn't weaned until 7 weeks so I don't know whether early weaning has any bearing on it. It might just be like human babies with dummies - some need them some don't !

I would leave her be, unless you feel there really is an underlying problem.

I have had 3 girls over the years who have happily suckled on blankets and cushion corners.. one pup I got at 8 weeks, weaned early, but the other two, I bred myself, and were still  checking the milk bar at 12weeks..so cannot lay the blame on early weaning...  Hannah doesn't do it very often, but her penchant is for my sofa cushion.. she bunches it up, lies on it and attaches herself to the corner. She doesn't chew it, but has sucked the whole corner away :-P  It's just her 'thing'   :-)   A bit like thumbsucking..

thanks none of my others have ever done this so  was abit hmm i dunno didnt want to set up for future problems I guess!

Silly puppy!! :)   she does suckle on her bed but thats very rare    but she has her fave cushion she loves!

But have found it rather annoying when you find your cushions in the garden !!!

My 14 month old girls suckle in their sleep, my boy too and he's nearly 3. They don't do it on anything though.
IMO I wouldn't worry. :-)
Paula xx

I agree with the others, my 7 year old girl still does this, strangely enough, only on furry things.  We had furry cushions she used to do it to and a furry bed she has. 

As long as she's not hurting herself and it gives her some comfort then it's fine by me :-D

One of our 13 year old sisters, which are homebred, does this to the vet bed. She has only been doing this the last 3ish years. They were not weaned any earlier than 5/6 weeks

I have a 9 year old male who suckles his teddy when he feels like it! It doesn't do any harm so no worries here.

my 8 year old still suckles her teddy and kneads with her feet

> suckles her teddy and kneads with her feet

That's exactly how our boy does it. Looks so funny seeing as he weighs more than 50 kilos! One big old pup!

I wouldn't worry about it, like others have said. My boy pug, 19 months old, has done this since the day we brought him home. He has a large soft toy dog that he lies on and suckles in the evening when we are all settled down and watching TV, none of the other dogs do it and none of them bother him.

My almost 3 year old bitch suckles on her teddy dog's paws. She's had it from the day I brought her home. It has been her comforter ever since. She sometimes suckles herself to sleep.

thank you every one   shes Lay down now suckling the pillow  atm :) 

Just was  worried   as been told to stop her but well I shall let her suckle the cushion  cos she happy!  :)

This thread is interesting to me too.  My youngest pup, now 6.5 months suckles on all our other dogs ears. She doesn't bite hard, and they dont seem to mind.  She goes from one ear to the other, then stops. She doesnt always stick to the same dog either.

I did wonder whether I should stop her from doing it, but it seems to be a comfort thing.  Her mom was very ill when the litter were very young and I had to feed them from about 10 days.  They did very well fortunately being hand reared.

Hopefully she will grow out of it too :)