My poor dog angel!

[Wcross]

She is trying to ween her pups, and is being "hounded" by the little poopers. Every time she lays down she is forced to move away. She has found refuge on the bed which is away from where she wants to be. I guess I will have to put the pups in the cage and let her come back out and hang with the other dogs. I can't blame old girl, they were nibiling on my toes a while ago and it HURT!
I've started them on canned food and they are eating it up but still have a taste for milk.

[lcordero]

1. how old are the pups?

[Wcross]

2. Pups are 4 weeks old. n/t

[Branjor]

3. 4 Weeks Is Way Too Young....

for weaning - they need to be with mommy until at least 8 weeks.

[Wcross]

5. I keep telling her that!

She is a recently rescued dog and the landlord of the family I took her from said she has always weened them early. (I will get her fixed soon, the vets won't do it when she is nursing)

[newyawker99]

13. Hi Branjor!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[kodi]

4. i was like that for about 11 years, it drove my mom crazy

.

[Wcross]

6. Im 40

I am still trying to "nurse" on any teat I see! Oh well, I am just a dog at heart.

[SoCalDem]

7. Our mother Lab nursed NINE until they were almost 10 weeks old..

They probably weighed about 10 pounds each.. The vet bawled me out for letting them nurse so long, but Tasha was just such a good mother, she would let them nurse whenever they wanted.. She's be trying to walk away , dragging 90 pounds of puppies along with her..

They were eating puppy chow, but they still preferred Mom..

[ChoralScholar]

8. You can relate to this then

My oldest dog, Ginger, a shepherd-sharpei mix, climbed on top of this pile of laundry to get away from her first litter.

EDIT: punctuation

[Wcross]

12. How cute!

She has the same frustrated look angel has!

[RebelOne]

9. I don't get it.

Why are you letting your dog have litters, when there are so many unwanted dogs in shelters and millions euthanized every day?

[Wcross]

11. Rescued dogs

I rescued them after a neighbors (rented) house burned down. Two were knocked up already. I had no control over them until two weeks before the birth. I Have already had the male dog nuetered, I can't have the girls fixed until they ween the pups (three total). They will be fixed as soon as they are able.
The neighbor never did anything for these dogs-they would come by my place and be covered with ticks this past summer. I started using frontline on them even though they weren't mine. It sounds mean but I am glad his house burned down- I hated to see the way he treated these animals.
I plan on keeping all the pups, they have over 500 acres of land to run on and will have a good life down on the farm.

[RebelOne]

14. I apologize.

I get livid when I hear of people not spaying or neutering their dogs. I do occasional transports for dogs that have been rescued and are going out of state to new forever homes. There are so many poor souls in shelters. I just wish I could take some, but I have a small place and one big Rottweiler. I am sure you will give those pups a good home.

[Padraig18]

10. When I still lived with my brother,...

... we had a beagle-mix mommy dog who was THE sweetest dog and an awesome mother to her one-and-only litter of 10 pups. For 5 weeks, she nursed, bathed, played, etc. with them in a most conscientious, 'perfectionist' manner, to the point that she herself came to resemble a concentration-camp survivor despite generous supplemental food, a pint of Similac a day, etc.. Any way...

One day during the fifth week, everyone awoke and the normal breakfast routine began, except... after Maxine (the dog) finished her breakfast, the pups approached her in order to nurse (the 'routine') and she snarled and snapped in a MOST vicious manner at them, and refused to permit them to nurse at all. The message was clear: "You're on your own now, kids!". After about 24 hours of uncertainty regarding filling their puppy tummies, the 'lightbulb went on', so to speak, and all 10 pups learned to eat softened, then regular Puppy Chow.

:)

[Avis]

15. Puppies

I show/raise and rescue dogs. At 4 weeks most moms won't want much to do with puppies. THey visit a few times a day, but it is usally not enough to feed them. You can buy a dry weaning formula that you mix with water, soak a puppy food until it is soft, or put a dry puppy food in the blender with water and make a gruel. They should be fed 4 times a day and a little yogurt is also helpful. I'd go to the vet or order from one of the animal cataloges some wormer. More than likely the pups will have worms, and it is important that they are eliminated early in life. The pups really need a quality food right now - and even a puppy formula mixed with their food is a good idea - if nothing else goat's milk (canned in stores and diluted to directions) is helpful in getting them to eat puppy food. If Mom is trying to stay away, she probably knows she can't do this anymore, perhaps her body has no more to give. I'd worm her and get her on a good food. If she wasn't eating a high quality food or a puppy food during pregnancy, she has a lot of ground to make up. Hope things go well for these little ones and they find good homes. (it isn't usual to see things like coccidiosis while weaning - if they start to have diarrhea you might take a stool sample into the vet -- don't wait for a stool sample on worms though - lots of false negatives on them)