Introducing Stud to Litter - Page 1

Hi,everyone.I was wondering what your experience and suggestions are regarding the age appropriate for keeping the stud with the litter.In the past we have put them together at four weeks with no issues.We would like to house them together earlier this time and feel this would keep the dam closer to her litter(keep an eye on them)as we are seeing her wander from them already(losing interest).This stud has a wonderful temperament and is very tolerant with older pups.All opinions appreciated.

Whether you put the male with the litter or not, and personally I would never leave them unsupervised, is up to you. However, the female wanders because she should. It is not wrong or incorrect or poor mothering for her to be eager to resume her normal activities. As a matter of fact, if the pups are allowed to do so, they too will begin to follow her around and if she is a good mother, she will begin to teach them and play with them as she is out of the whelp area. The pups are beginning to get little sharp nails, and teething. She may not be so eager always to feed them because of that. You can carefully trim their little nails and she will continue to feed them as she feels necessary. They are old enough now to to start being weaned.

Why would you put the stud with the litter?

I sense that the bitch typically pays more attention to the litter during his presense,especially after the first month,like I said she loses interest if left alone with her pups.

Lisa-- If the female pays more attention to the pups because she fears the male's presence that might not be the best scenario for the pups. She's their role model for now---there take on life. I'd be frightened that the pups would later be leary and nervous like 'mom'. Might be better learning confidence by following mom around while she wanders.

Be careful with this. A dog that is normally good natured, can get irritated, in a nano second, of a litter of tiny teeth chewing all over him. He may in an instant out of reflex, if nothing else, lash out and hurt/kill one(or more), if pushed over the edge by their persistance. Stephen

I agree with LMH. If the female does not appear absolutely confident and care for her puppies unless the stud (or another dog) is near, then this can make a poor impression on the puppies. Even at a very young age, there is quite a bit of imprinting from the dam-a perfect dam having the qualities of being a nurturing, loving, protective, and very confident mother, and most of these things are instinctive in a correctly-raised dam. Also, a dam who is past her first litter may realize that she does not need to hover over the babies as much as she did on the first litter. However, she must be present to provide sufficient nutrition and care for them. I realize that many dogs are different in their behaviours towards each other. However, I would be a bit touchy about the presence of the stud, as I know that none of my bitches would ever tolerate it and a severe dog fight would follow. In my opinion the puppies do not need to see this, as well. Follow what Hodie suggested and check the tiny, needle-sharp nails. You can CAREFULLY blunt these with a clipper designed for human fingernails. And as she said, it is time to start feeding a bit of weaning formula so the puppies will back off a bit from their mother. Good Luck, Bob-O

I friend of mine had an adult male kill an 8 week old puppy. Another lost a 3 month old puppy bitch when she put her with an adult bitch "to play" and to "be trained". Neither of these dogs had any prior history of injurying puppies. Frankly, I'm not sure why anyone would want to take the chance. For me it's not worth the risk to allow any adult dog, male or female access to young puppies unless it's the dam of course. I'd just keep them separted to be on the safe side. Why take the chance?

My experience is, the mother sees her puppies as babies. Other females see her puppies as, "prey".