Needing some advice- breeders and others who have had pups please!
- Thread starter bossynbella
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- #12
I have to leave for work in ten minutes so I will make this quick, and still try to answer the questions.
Age- pups will be two weeks old in the wee hours of the morning,tonight/tomorrow morning.
She leaves the box because she doesn't want to be with them all the time. The first week she was with them almost constintly with only very short bathroom breaks, they where gaining 1-2 oz a day. Now she only goes in every few hours (sometimes every hour, but usually more like every 2-4 hours) they are still gaining 1-3 oz a day, seems like every day a different one gains 1oz and a different one gains 3oz, so gain wise they seem fine, that said, they do seem hungry in between.
When I handle them, if I stay by the pool she will just lay across the room and whine at me, if I get up and go to her with the pup she gets anxious as if she is saying " They need to be over there" and if I put one on the floor she tries to pick it up to put it back. I always put it back for her as she seems unsure how to pick them up. The blanket was put up because she was hunting for another place for the pups and to shield their eyes during their first few days of opening. Which started yesterday! At a quick peal this morning almost all of them where looking around with open eyes. How long after that does it need to stay dark?
She is being a very good mother, always attentive to them if they cry, feeds and cleans them great. She just is also a beagle, I think she misses going hunting, she hasn't had a good run in a week now other then when she gets loose, because everytime we try it she takes off, she is smart, to smart, and knows if she comes back she gets tied up (because I am rightly worried about something happening to her when she is running loose) but she knows this and so will wait as long as she feels she can to come back home. Yesterday when she got loose she was only gone about an hour. But that first day of 4 hours freaked me out. I should be taking her up back and doing some lead trails at least, but its been so rainy here or muggy hot, I haven't made the effort.
Well I am off to work. Hope that answered questions. When is it safe to start them on kibble and puppy formula (which I am picking up tonight)
Age- pups will be two weeks old in the wee hours of the morning,tonight/tomorrow morning.
She leaves the box because she doesn't want to be with them all the time. The first week she was with them almost constintly with only very short bathroom breaks, they where gaining 1-2 oz a day. Now she only goes in every few hours (sometimes every hour, but usually more like every 2-4 hours) they are still gaining 1-3 oz a day, seems like every day a different one gains 1oz and a different one gains 3oz, so gain wise they seem fine, that said, they do seem hungry in between.
When I handle them, if I stay by the pool she will just lay across the room and whine at me, if I get up and go to her with the pup she gets anxious as if she is saying " They need to be over there" and if I put one on the floor she tries to pick it up to put it back. I always put it back for her as she seems unsure how to pick them up. The blanket was put up because she was hunting for another place for the pups and to shield their eyes during their first few days of opening. Which started yesterday! At a quick peal this morning almost all of them where looking around with open eyes. How long after that does it need to stay dark?
She is being a very good mother, always attentive to them if they cry, feeds and cleans them great. She just is also a beagle, I think she misses going hunting, she hasn't had a good run in a week now other then when she gets loose, because everytime we try it she takes off, she is smart, to smart, and knows if she comes back she gets tied up (because I am rightly worried about something happening to her when she is running loose) but she knows this and so will wait as long as she feels she can to come back home. Yesterday when she got loose she was only gone about an hour. But that first day of 4 hours freaked me out. I should be taking her up back and doing some lead trails at least, but its been so rainy here or muggy hot, I haven't made the effort.
Well I am off to work. Hope that answered questions. When is it safe to start them on kibble and puppy formula (which I am picking up tonight)
Quote:
When their eyes are open, they are mostly weaned and have some teeth to help chew. Leave them on mama for as long as you can, I personally say 4 or 5 weeks at the earliest. But not 2 weeks or even 3 weeks. They will let you know when they are ready, and so will mama. But NO SOONER than 4 weeks!!! Their systems are not ready for solid food!
When their eyes are open, they are mostly weaned and have some teeth to help chew. Leave them on mama for as long as you can, I personally say 4 or 5 weeks at the earliest. But not 2 weeks or even 3 weeks. They will let you know when they are ready, and so will mama. But NO SOONER than 4 weeks!!! Their systems are not ready for solid food!
I don't know if my opinion matters or not. Vida, my Shih tzu had to be separated from her mother at 2 weeks old. (Mother started eating all of her puppies.) Well, she refused to eat from a bottle or syringe. She wouldn't eat formula by itself either. Wound up, at 2 weeks old she would only eat puppy chow soaked in the replacer. I will always remember her flipping hersel over because her front weighed more than the rear!
Quote:
eating her pups??? How horrid!!! In an emergency situation, feeding a pup solids can work, but it's not a good idea because they are just not ready for it. But it's also hard to get a 2 week old pup to accept a bottle so sometimes you have to do what you have to do. In the case of these pups though, they need to just get mothers milk until they are 4 weeks, then they can slowly start getting soaked puppy kibble, NOT canned puppy food ever. Even that Blue Buffalo canned food is too low in protein for dogs and I though that was a premium food! Pups and lactating girls need 28% protein and Blue Buffalo puppy food is only 10%. How can they call that an adequate puppy diet?
eating her pups??? How horrid!!! In an emergency situation, feeding a pup solids can work, but it's not a good idea because they are just not ready for it. But it's also hard to get a 2 week old pup to accept a bottle so sometimes you have to do what you have to do. In the case of these pups though, they need to just get mothers milk until they are 4 weeks, then they can slowly start getting soaked puppy kibble, NOT canned puppy food ever. Even that Blue Buffalo canned food is too low in protein for dogs and I though that was a premium food! Pups and lactating girls need 28% protein and Blue Buffalo puppy food is only 10%. How can they call that an adequate puppy diet?
- Thread starter
- #16
Thank you all for your advice. They are so cute as they try to walk around, they all have their eyes open now. Gains where all around 1 oz yesterday. I wish Annie would leave something soft for them to sleep on, but she wants them on the bottom of the pool. We had a big carpet chunk in there even and she pulled it out and I found them sleeping on the bottom of the pool. Yesterday I bought one of those rugs u put in the bottom of a crait/ kennel its nice and fleecy on one side and has a hard back to keep it from bunching up, she had that on one side with the puppy pad this morning and they where all laying on the bottom of the pool. I guess I give up on that until I am ready to move them to the bigger pen next week. They are pooping on their own now, although thankfully she still cleans it up. DH found this out last night when he was holding on! I watched the boy and he even gets up into the pooping position before he does it. Looks so cute! They are nursing now, then I have to run to town to get rabbit, and chicken food. I may let Ann ride along in the car. I will only be gone about 20 minutes and she loves car rides.
"Melissa, this is just my humble opinion based on 32 years of experience of breeding.
Leave the puppies with their dam without being handled other than to check them over - they are her brood at this age not yours ... yet.
Why was she away from them for 4 hours at just 10 days of age? Unbelievable! No wonder they started to cry. They must have felt abandoned as at this age they need their dam's warmth and milk supply.
As for feeding - their digestive systems are no way near being up to taking solids at this age and you are doing more harm than good.
For everyone's sake, leave Anne with her babies - she knows what she is doing and clearly although you are trying to do what you feel best, you don't.
Please do not take offence at this very valuable piece of advice from someone who knows what they are talking about."
LMAO, I have to laugh at this person, I really do, he/she is clearly a kennel breeding, who, as a rule don't really handle their pups because they can have several litters at a time,
I remember when a couple years ago, we were going to go get a lab puppy, the lady at most had 15 adult dogs, and 3 litters of pups, let me tell you, those pups were CRAZY the oldest ones, which were the ones we were looking at (chocolate, and yellow labs) they were about 3 months old, SPAZZY crazy things, when you apprpached, they'd run, if you tried to play with them, they'd look at you like you were stupid, or didn't know what you were doing, the adults were mostly unsocialized as well, she had pairs together, and the males in kennels beside each other would fight through the wire
..anyway, we opted for the shelter, but never found what we were looking for, the point is, DO NOT take advice from kennel breeders, they're in it for the money, nothing else.
as far as the solid food goes, they may like it because it's so different, but no, no more until about 4 weeks old, atleast thats how it is with cats, but cats and dogs are different.
her leaving them/ not wanting to be with them constantly?, a completely normal and instictive reaction, she's not tired of them/abandoning them, the first week is the most important, because the pups will have nursed constantly, as they get older, they don't nurse so much, in the wild, mom would spend her away time hunting, (lol, imagine wild beagles
)...now i'm imagining a pack of beagles attack a deer...good times....
anyway, you have nothing to worry about, if she wasn't going to care for them, she would have stopped by now.
Leave the puppies with their dam without being handled other than to check them over - they are her brood at this age not yours ... yet.
Why was she away from them for 4 hours at just 10 days of age? Unbelievable! No wonder they started to cry. They must have felt abandoned as at this age they need their dam's warmth and milk supply.
As for feeding - their digestive systems are no way near being up to taking solids at this age and you are doing more harm than good.
For everyone's sake, leave Anne with her babies - she knows what she is doing and clearly although you are trying to do what you feel best, you don't.
Please do not take offence at this very valuable piece of advice from someone who knows what they are talking about."
LMAO, I have to laugh at this person, I really do, he/she is clearly a kennel breeding, who, as a rule don't really handle their pups because they can have several litters at a time,
I remember when a couple years ago, we were going to go get a lab puppy, the lady at most had 15 adult dogs, and 3 litters of pups, let me tell you, those pups were CRAZY the oldest ones, which were the ones we were looking at (chocolate, and yellow labs) they were about 3 months old, SPAZZY crazy things, when you apprpached, they'd run, if you tried to play with them, they'd look at you like you were stupid, or didn't know what you were doing, the adults were mostly unsocialized as well, she had pairs together, and the males in kennels beside each other would fight through the wire
as far as the solid food goes, they may like it because it's so different, but no, no more until about 4 weeks old, atleast thats how it is with cats, but cats and dogs are different.
her leaving them/ not wanting to be with them constantly?, a completely normal and instictive reaction, she's not tired of them/abandoning them, the first week is the most important, because the pups will have nursed constantly, as they get older, they don't nurse so much, in the wild, mom would spend her away time hunting, (lol, imagine wild beagles
anyway, you have nothing to worry about, if she wasn't going to care for them, she would have stopped by now.
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