right the pups will be 5 weeks old on this sunday coming 19/6/11
now ive been weaning these pups for just over 2 weeks now and stoped them feeding of the mother just wondering if that was the right thing to do
the pups are being fed on eukabana large breed puppy food soaked in whole goats mik and water say 50/50 with a tin of pedergree chum they have a constant supply of water just wondering when i could feed them the solid puppy food and how to take that step from bloated pellets to solid pellets

You definitely do not want to stop them from feeding off their mum -SHE decides when that will happen, not you. Pups will generally feed off mum until the day they leave for their new homes, just not as frequently and the bitch will regulate this herself.

Personally I would never feed any complete food dry, I always soak it for the adults as well -there are so many risks involved with feeding it dry. I know others don't agree though.

when feeding dry complete kibble I always soak it first all the way through life! But if you feel the need to drop the soaking then just gradually reduce the amount of water you are adding to it over the period of a week or 2. But personally I would carry on with the soaking. Not telling you what to do, but personally I would stop the goats milk and just leave water down and give mum full access. Also I would swap the pedigree canned food for raw minces (these are easily brought in places like P@H etc but if you feed mince that is fresh i:e from supermarket please freeze it first.

>and stoped them feeding of the mother just wondering if that was the right thing to do

I wouldn't stop them feeding from their mother - they still need access to her for milk, comfort and training. As the amount of solid food they eat increases, the amount of milk they take from her decreases, so by the time they're rady to leave they've been naturally weaned, although they'll no doubt still be allowed a couple of seconds comfort suck right up to the day they go.

Personally I always add water to dried food throughout a dog's life.