When do i start weening my puppies away from their mum?

Question

my puppies are 2 weeks old i know they stay with their mum for 6 weeks but when do i start weening them away and how do i go about it?

Answer 1

YOU do not wean them.  The mom will start the process when nature tells her too.  Just keep her well fed and around 6 weeks old, start introducing wet puppy food to the dogs and they will start eating it when they are ready....

Answer 2

Pups should start being weaned at 3 weeks, and shouldn't be fully weaned until 7 weeks old.

Start by feeding them a puppy mush - take dry puppy food, and soak it in warm water until it's falling apart. Take the food and mash it up with the water, along with a little yogurt. It should be a very wet paste. Introduce them to this slowly - at this young age, they should still be eating mainly their mother's milk. Over the next few weeks, slowly increase the amount of the mush fed at each feeding along with the number of feedings (also decrease the 'mushy' level of the mush) while slowly decreasing the amount of time they're allowed to nurse on Mama. They should be fully weaned at 7 weeks, but they shouldn't leave their mother and siblings until 8 weeks.

Good luck!

Answer 3

You don't do a thing except provide a good quality puppy food mixed up all mushy with warm water when their mum starts to wean them herself.  She will know what to and when to do it.  Puppies need to stay with their mum and littermates until they are 8 weeks old, not 6.

Answer 4

They stay with their mum and littermates until 8 weeks minimum (10-12 weeks is best for toy breeds).

I'm not a breeder (and obviously you shouldn't be either..) so I can't really comment on weaning.

Answer 5

the mother dog will wean them when the time is right. and the puppies should stay with their mother until they are 8 weeks old 7 weeks the earliest. so just let the mom do her job, and she'll have them weaned.

Answer 6

Dams generally start the weaning process at 4 weeks.  What you do is choose a really good quality dry puppy food and mix it with warm water to the consistency of thick gruel.  Offer it to the puppies in a flat dish 4 times a day.  Give them about 20 minutes to eat, then let the mom have what's left over.  You also need to start giving them fresh water when you start feeding them.

You'll also want to start clipping their nails around 3 weeks (you can use human nail clippers) because the nails get really long and scratch the mom.

And they should stay with their mom and litter mates until they're a minimum of 8 weeks old, not 6.  It's important for them to learn social interaction and things like bite inhibition, even if they're weaned by 6 weeks.