Early weaning is the early separation of the puppy from his/her mother and litter. While this problem is often seen and felt in our dealings with dogs, it is rarely spoken of amongst dog trainers.
One of the biggest challenges faced by dog owners in Egypt is caring for a puppy that has been weaned too early. Most breeders and pet shops will try and separate a puppy from its mother at 35-45 days or when the puppy has started to eat solid food. This early separation is problematic on many levels and most dogs separated so early lose on very important elements that are crucial for good health and good behavior. Up until the age of 2 months you will notice that puppies when falling asleep do not go to asleep alone, as soon as one puppy starts falling asleep its littermates will collapse on top creating a small puppy pile. This physical contact is crucial and puppies who do not to get that tend to develop lifelong separation anxiety. Additionally, littermates will run, tumble and bite on each other, exploring each others bodies and their own, unfortunately dogs who miss out on this important stage end up not developing the ability to control their bite and their bodies are overly sensitive to stimuli. In other words these are the dogs that even if they play do not play very nicely with other dogs and often playtime ends with someone getting hurt. Communication skills that define boundaries over food, space, toys, owner and other dogs start developing between 2-4 months, dogs separated from their littermates and mother too early not only fail to learn these signals and how to use them, but also do not seem to understand them when other dogs use them, inevitably leading to dog-dog conflict and dog-human conflict. Here are some steps to follow if you find yourself the owner or rescuer of a dog that has been separated from its mother and its litter before the age of 3-4 months.So let us take a look at early weaning, its effects and how to deal with it when it exists.
One of the biggest challenges faced by dog owners in Egypt is caring for a puppy that has been weaned too early. Most breeders and pet shops will try and separate a puppy from its mother at 35-45 days or when the puppy has started to eat solid food. This early separation is problematic on many levels and most dogs separated so early lose on very important elements that are crucial for good health and good behavior. Up until the age of 2 months you will notice that puppies when falling asleep do not go to asleep alone, as soon as one puppy starts falling asleep its littermates will collapse on top creating a small puppy pile. This physical contact is crucial and puppies who do not to get that tend to develop lifelong separation anxiety. Additionally, littermates will run, tumble and bite on each other, exploring each others bodies and their own, unfortunately dogs who miss out on this important stage end up not developing the ability to control their bite and their bodies are overly sensitive to stimuli. In other words these are the dogs that even if they play do not play very nicely with other dogs and often playtime ends with someone getting hurt. Communication skills that define boundaries over food, space, toys, owner and other dogs start developing between 2-4 months, dogs separated from their littermates and mother too early not only fail to learn these signals and how to use them, but also do not seem to understand them when other dogs use them, inevitably leading to dog-dog conflict and dog-human conflict. Here are some steps to follow if you find yourself the owner or rescuer of a dog that has been separated from its mother and its litter before the age of 3-4 months.So let us take a look at early weaning, its effects and how to deal with it when it exists.
Dogs like humans
need their mothers and litter to help them develop. The separation causes many
developmental issues. Let us see how the mother and litter help in developing
the dogs’ behavior:
- The mother teaches the litter dog etiquette and proper communication by snapping and growling at them when they have crossed the acceptable behavior.
- The litter helps physically desensitizing all of the puppies through bites, scratches, and physical contact in general. This helps the puppy’s physical and psychological development and reduces overreaction to physical stimuli.
- The litter’s sleeping habits, AKA “the puppy pile” helps the puppy’s physical development and learning to sleep deeply.
- The frequent feeding times and nap times help the puppies physically develop and psychologically develop. The lack of proper and frequent feeding and napping schedule irritates and stresses the puppies out.
Based on the
importance of the influence of the mother and litter on the puppy, we recommend
not weaning the puppy until at least 4 months. Most irresponsible breeders in
Egypt will try to separate puppies earlier to get paid as soon as possible, so
stay alert!
Now you might be in
a situation where you have adopted, bought, or rescued a dog who has been early
weaned. If that is the case, don’t worry. You can help the puppy develop
properly by trying to recreate the role of the mother and litter and tweaking
the puppy’s environment. If the dog is one month old he should be
given 200 ml of the puppy formula 12 feedings. You can replace the formula by
adding one cup of water to one cup of full cream milk, with the yolk of one
egg, 1 tbs honey, a pinch of salt and a drop of oil. The feedings lessen to 8
feedings per day once the puppy is two months old and we can start mixingfresh
food (rice-chicken-vegetables) with formula. It is important for the puppy to
have proper calcium supplements and plenty of sunlight.
- It is important to always give proper reinforcement to proper behavior and ignoring unwanted behavior very early in the puppy’s life.
- It is important to recreate the litter’s bites to the puppy without actually biting the dog but by lightly pinching his body and massaging. This helps in desensitizing the puppy’s body and lowering his reactions to physical stimuli.
- Stuffing the puppy’s bed with a warm bottle of water wrapped by a towel recreates the feeling of the “puppy pile” which will help the dog rest thus develop properly.
- Recreating the feeding and napping schedule is crucial to helping the dog develop psychologically and removing stress. The schedule is based on frequent feedings and naps and should be followed to the minute.
- Limiting the puppy’s movement space to an enclosed area that does not exceed 5 to 7 square meters. New environments and unlimited movement space can be very overwhelming to puppies.
- Keeping the puppy stimulated is important. Introducing proper games and toys can be crucial in helping him/her become a calm dog. Toys such as chew toys, squeaky toys, and smart toys for the older puppies are highly recommended. Eliminating games such as tug of war, chasing, wrestling, and fetch while replacing them with hide and seek and eye contact exercises can help the puppy understand boundaries and relieve stress.
- Proper socialization with calm dogs and puppies have proven very mentally stimulating for puppies without it exceeding 10 minutes a time and not more than 3 times per week.
- Introducing bones and yummy chew toys can help during the teething period. Never let the puppy chew on you or on the furniture and use your body language to stop him/her. Once they have stopped chewing redirect their attention to the treat or the bone he should chew on. If the puppy is uninterested in it try adding some cream cheese to it.
Once again please
don’t get puppies who are younger than 4 months and make sure you don’t
encourage irresponsible breeding.
Shady Said