I hand reared my last litter although mum thought she did it all herself as she was still letting them suckle.

I began weaning at 2 half weeks with rusk (some will probably disagree but it works for me) mashed with lactol to soften put in a saucer and using my finger gradually teach pup to lap once they get the hang of it they are off.I then move onto Nature diet puppy which can be warmed in the microwave and softened with a fork then add a little milk to mush it up nice and soft, half to 1 teaspoonful with the bottles in between gradually ending up with morning and night milk feed.

I also give bits of frozen then thawed fresh mince rolled into little balls , scrambled egg using puppy milk , bits of chicken.

rocknose I just have 2 pens and alternate <G>

Louise, I can't imagine how awful that must have been for you and I understand your emotions must have been taken on a rollercoaster.

It takes a very selfless person to do what you are doing now and I applaud you.

I do agree with others sentiments that this reaction is indicative of nothing more than a good and protective mother. I have a BC who has the most wonderful temperament. Everyone who meets her comments on how gentle, sensitive and good with children she is. In fact, I have to lock her out the room when babies are visiting as she becomes anxious at every small noise the baby makes and runs back and forth between me and the baby as if to say "my god, the baby needs attention...do something!!" She is now 13 and I feel blessed to have shared her life.

However, my point....she had one litter many years ago (after which I vowed NEVER to breed again and didn't!)...my mentor was a wonderful shepherdess who my dog knew very well. Shortly after birthing, I was concerned about one pup who seemed not to be suckling well and, being inexperienced, I asked my mentor to look. Well.....my bitch went absolutely ballistic. She was snarling and spitting and my mentor quickly said she had to leave but to settle her back with her puppies. As soon as she left, my bitch settled back into contented mode. The only people allowed near her were my husband and myself. This was the way it stayed until the pups were 5 weeks old and she was spending more time away from them.

This poor girl that you have so kindly taken in has had to adapt to a new environment and she has done remarkably well to trust you and your husband so quickly.

You have done an amazing thing and please don't lose sight of this.

Re weaning - as I say, I am not experienced but I was led by the pups. I introduced a porridge like consistency mush of puppy food to them around 3 weeks. They trod on it...snorted it...barked at it...and eventually ate some lol Two weeks sounds a wee bit young but every breed and litter is different.

I wish you, the bitch and all these puppies the very best. You have all done an amazing job.

xxx

> You have done an amazing thing and please don't lose sight of this.

Hear Hear!

Hi Louise, I agree with others that you have done a wonderful job, and this is not meant as a criticism, but please could I ask why the bitch has not been registered as found on doglost.

As the puppies appear to be pedigrees, it appears to me that there is a possibility that this was a planned litter. Could it be that at some time the bitch was found or stolen, and she has escaped and as such her keeper doesn't dare to actively search for her. We will probably never know, but I would hate to think that she was once someone's pet and they would love to have her back. Only days ago we had a post about a found dog, where the poster didn't feel the owner was really trying to find their dog, when nothing could have been further from the truth. Fortunately this poster listened to concerns aired on here and made a concerted effort to advertise the found dog and he was happily reunited with a loving owner who had desperately been trying to find their pet.

It could be that she is just an unfortunate girl who ended up in the wrong hands, but no harm can be done by advertisng her as found.
It is good of you to offer her a home, but surely she deserves a chance of being reunited with her original owner, if indeed they are looking for her.

With everything going on with the arrival of pups, hand rearing one, xmas plus other stuff, I forgot to post that as thought by a local at the time of her being found, she was indeed left behind when her owners upped and left in the middle of the night.

Very very glad I did not act while in shock, going to take mum to a dog behaviourist after pup's gone and sort out any problems that have came about from who ever left her on the streets.

I'm so glad you feel more relaxed now, I can appreciate the worry and concern you have gone through, but the advice of experienced breeders on here is invaluable. I agree she was acting instinctively.

Just re the above - do ensure that the behaviourist you use is a member of a reputable organistion (eg, apbc) because there are so many "dog whisperers" or "barkbusters" etc and also those who are now taking money from people by modelling themselves on these, but with no actual knowledge. If your bitch does have problems, a bad behaviourist would make things much worse. I'd suggest looking at www.apbc.org.uk or if not, try www.apdt.co.uk (many of the latter organisation are trainers, but some are also behaviourists).

Hth and good luck
Lindsay
x

Hi Lindsay, I'm lucky in the fact we have one who works closely with my vet so will go to see him

Re your printing off responses and giving to the warden, I would print them off and forward them to his employers
as the advice you have recieved from this person has been highly inapropriate/unprofessional and has resulted in injury
to a third party. I am sorry to hear the difficulties/concerns you personally are undergoing regards this incident but I feel you
should ease up on yourself, you have done the best you can under very difficult circumstances and the problem is due
to poor advice given by a so-called professional dog person, dogs need people like you and this poor girl is now reliant
on you for her comfort and security and I am sure will find her own way of showing her appreciation given a bit of time
to readjust to her new life
thanking you for whatyou have done for this little girl.

my local council (now defunct ) has a dog warden and a "dog education officer", through my volountary work with
local housing authority I attended one of her presentations, after listening for some time to what was a very uninformative
lecture we were given an opportunity to ask questions, it turned out this lady had been transfered from customer services
phoneline to post of "D.E.O." without any formal training in dogs, but was deemed suitable for the post as she owned two
pet dogs. The staff holding both the above posts have been assimilated by the new unitary council with no changes to
level of training, Councils in general only do enough to pay lip service to there legal requirements under the new dog legislation
As they say, pay peanuts and youll get monkeys to do the work

Hi Louise,
             Been reading through some of the posts and have replied twice in earlier posts
Just one thought that may help ensure this "D.W." doesnt put someone else in a similar
position in the future with incorrect information/advice. Have the parents contacted the council
perhaps with a doctors letter regards injury and pointing out that council is the legaly responsible
body for such injuries, such a contact would ensure they take action in upgrading "D.Ws." awareness
and importance of giving the "proper" advice in such situations
regards
      Stan

HI stan berry, they told me they were going to put a complaint in about the dog warden

First of all, as others have, I salute you!  to take on a bitch and pups is an amazing thing.  Rearing a litter is exhausting and time consuming, not to mention the wear and tear on the house!  

>I forgot to post that as thought by a local at the time of her being found, she was indeed left behind when her owners upped and left in >the middle of the night.

The people who left her may or may not have been her real owners, dogs get stolen for breeding purposes and there are cases where pregnant pedigree dogs have been stolen, recently there was a case of a whole litter being stolen too   it wouldn't hurt to find out if she's on doglost

There are some real slime balls about  

for example http://www.newspostleader.co.uk/latest/Have-you-spotted-stolen-Dalmatians.5880510.jp   in Kent, October 2009 a litter of Bedlington pups were stolen and also a litter of Beagle pups - luckily they were recovered a few weeks later.

That is exactly why I tried to encourage the finder to list the bitch with doglost. Whilst I applaud what Louise has done so far, I can't understand why she has not listed her as Found.

As the OP last posted 3 days ago she may have done this by now.
Jeff.