Hi my dog had puppies on 1st november there 8 days now and Tilly is a brilliant mum to them, she was spending all her time with them even eating in the box with them,but the past  days she seems to be spending more time with me, if i go into the bedroom were they are she'll happily lay in the box with them, but if i'm downstairs she tends to come down here,although she keep running up and seeing there ok, is this normal or should she be ith them constant,please advise thanks Donna x

This is normal. She wants to be with you as you have been the focus of her attention for most of her life, but her mothering instincts are strong enough to also want to be with her puupies. If it is stressing her out then I would advise that you move in with her

Thanks for your reply, shes not at all stressed out, infact shes almost back to her pre pregnancy self, shes playing with her toys and fetching me her ball. was just told she should be with the pups constantly and it made me worry,the puppies sre well fed & cleaned by her x

As the pups get older she will spend less and less time with them as she will start to get tender, so long as she keeps popping back to check and the temp in the box isn't getting cold I wouldn't worry too much.

Your bitch will naturally want to spend her time with you once the initial high emotion of whelping is over. However at least until the puppies' eyes are open she must spend the majority of her time with them; you might have to spend your evenings in the room with the puppies rather than have her wanting to join you somewhere else.

Agree with Jeangenie.  I have my bitch in the same room as me when pups are this young.  Then she doesn't have to have the stress of torn loyalties!

i stay with mum and pups till their eyes open ,then i start to leave them to play without mum there and go and have a bath and mum follows me and happy lay by the bath ,that way i know pups are ok and mum is ok ,but even then i still spend most of my time in the same room with mum and pups !!

I agree I do everything not to cause a conflict between the mothering instinct and the bitches attachment to her human family.

When the bitch is acting as yours is it is time to bring them downstairs or to stay with her .

Its only natural that mum wants to spend time with you as well.  I usually stay with mum and pups for the majority of the day and all night, especially the 1st 2 weeks.  The pups do need to be constantly monitored and at this young age i would encourage mum to stay with them as much as poss.  If you are in the same room with the puppies too, this will help the situation.  Its at the weaning stage that mum will start to spend less time with them.