Best age to seperate - Page 1

1. What is the best time (age) to seperate puppies from their mother?

2. I hear it is round 8 weeks, is that true? Is there any gain, or any harm in seperating Mum and puppies at a later age?

3. Is it beneficial for puppies to have time with their father, if yes at what age should that be started?

4. Then after seperating puppies from their mother, what is the right age to seperate puppies from each other ?

5. One last question, breeders sell their puppies usually as early as 8 weeks, is that the best age for the puppy to start a new page in its life?

Thank you

Ibrahim

Ibrahim, the time to separate the pups from the mum can not be done until the pups are eating solid food and MUST be able to lap water well enough to thrive. Those are important indicators..

Next, leaving the pups with the mum can cause great damage to the mum's breasts. I know a female who the owner left the pups with the mother dog til after twelve weeks. The pups almost tore a front breast off so that surgery had to be done to remove it. The teeth of a pups are detrimental if the female cannot get away from the pups to prevent nursing. Usually four weeks the weaning process begins...I have had pups that were ready to eat at three weeks. They will let you know when they are ready for solid food.

I don't see any advantage in having pups be with sire. After all, some sire's don't live in the same home.

I give my pups one on one, away from littermates, as soon as the eyes open...only for a few minutes at that age. When weaning from the mother, it's important to me to not stress the pups by taking them away from the litter till they are happy eating and drinking, then give one on one attention. Depending on size of litter and temperaments, five to six weeks I put them in pairs, then at six weeks I bring them in the house to crate train over night in rotation.

Placing into new home at eight weeks is usual as the pups can have first vaccination. 

The one answer for all those questions is "it depends." 

I have males that have been able to be around little pups. ALL my pups spend extensive time with my APBT. He is a huge part of my puppy-raising. I think there are benefits to exposing them to different adults besides their dam. 

When it comes to separating, it depends on how the dam acts. Some may need to be pulled earlier than 8 weeks. I pull mine from their dam around 4-5, but they may still sleep together and if not, then they spend time with her during the day. But by then, she needs a break and needs to be able to escape them. 

As far as separating pups, like if you're keeping 2-3 from a litter, I do that around 3-4 months. Again, "it depends." Some may do fine together and still work well for me and thus, they can stay together at night or play together when I'm gone during the day. 

To your last question, what age is best, again, it depends. Some experienced trainers want their pup at 49 days. I am ok with that in some instances. For novices, I find closer to 10 weeks is easier for housetraining, basic manners, etc. Focus and attention span are a bit better. 

Just a note: I started my post a while ago and had visitors so I didn't get to submit. I had not read Joan's post before I submitted mine. I agree with it. 

What is meaning of APBT ?

There are some things that only a dog can teach a dog!!  There are some things that a dog can only learn from another dog!!  The influence of the mother of the puppies on their growth and development after birth is a combination of nutrition, confidence, social order, education, and hormonal.  Puppies learn from males and females of their own species and breed whether as offspring, siblings, closely related kin, or as a member of their social group including nanny dogs.  I would say the response of the puppies to their environment after birth is similar to humans as canines form social bonds and groups just as human do.  My dogs form family groups and extended kin groups.  The model of dogs as wolf packs was always a flawed model and the early research done in this area was more akin to studying prisoners in a confined facility than a family group.  If you confine and force dogs to fight for survival they will do that just like humans in a prison will fight for dominance and survival.

What Jenni has said is correct...

Everything depends...

First of all nothing was said what breed of dogs are we talking about...But different breeds need different thigns...For instance small dogs...such as my wife's Yorkies...will be or stay with their mothers for a longer period of time...

But German Shepherds...or medium to large dogs are different...For my German Shepherds I will begin feeding them solid foods as soon as they begin having their teeth...Usually around 3 weeks...I begin teaching them to drink milk from a pan...Then adding in more solid foods...But they're still nursing off mama too...

Most of my German Shepherds will still nurse off mama until they're 5 to 6 weeks of age...I've had some to stay on mama until 7 weeks of age...and...But most Females begin separating from their puppies around 5 weeks...Because the puppies have sharpe little teeth that are hurting mama while nursing...So it's a natural separation...I also begin separating mama from the puppies through short periods of time...I mean actually staying with her puppies like all the time and throughout the night...

Some people will say they don't want to be weaning their pups off mama so early...but my problem with that is some mama's don't want to be around their puppies for too long after they have their teeth...So you have to be prepared for that...otherwise you'll be hand feeding all the puppies...

By 5 to 6 weeks of age all my puppies will be on totaly solid foods of Dog foods with stuff...cottage cheese...veggies and other good things...Also by 4 to 5 weeks my puppies will be eating RAW Chicken...no big bones at this age but pretty soon after this they will...

My Drago v Patriot X Quanja v Fuchsgraben2000 puppy was eating a RAW Chicken Leg Quarter everyday at age 7 weeks (bones and all...)

Once the litter is weaned, a GSD breeder friend has a male GSD "puppy raiser" who is like the Pied Piper with puppies. He will pick up a toy walk to the pups making sure they see the toy and then he steps it up just enough to keep ahead of the litter as they follow behind him in a que. This can go on for 15, 20 minutes until the pups get tired and start to fall behind. 

When the keeper pups get a littler older, 10, 12 weeks or so, we make sure the pups we hope are IPO/OB prospects are seated outside the fence on the training field watching the older dogs bite, run the blinds and so forth. Repeat it at the agility and OB field. I don't know how these pups would turn out if they weren't handled that way, but so far it seems to be working well. They do seem to learn by watching the other dogs and by socializing with the older male. 

APBT = American Pit Bull Terrier 

I want pups bonding with people not other dogs. They know how to act like a dog...it's programmed in. I want my pups to learn to respond to my voice, especially to come running when I call.