why would a mother dog move one of her puppies from her litter of 12 ?

Question

My dog had a litter of twelve. On the second day, I moved the puppies into the kennel in the backyard. I try to respect her space by restraining from handling her puppies too much. Something strange happened on the third day. I noticed that she would be handling one of the puppies more than usual. She would carry it out of the dog house and then go back in with it. Finally, she removed that puppy and placed it under the house. I thought maybe because she might be relocating her litter into a cooler spot. If not, what could be the reason for her behavior?

Answer 1

She probably is trying to move her litter,but there could be something wrong with the puppy.

Answer 2

A litter of twelve is a very large litter. She may not have enough nipples giving good supply of milk to feed all 12 and this one pup may not be strong enough to fight the others for milk to its detriment. When my dog had pups, the runt was always being pushed aside. We would give the runt alone time or first drink in order to get the nourishment, and she did fine. 12 pups is a lot on the mom as well , make sure that she is getting more than she needs to insure proper nutrition for her and the pups. Our dog did not reject the pups when we intervened but it would depend on your dog. I doubt that there is any good reason that she is moving this pup other than abandoning it. Our pups were all inside in a birth box with their mom. We got to enjoy the whole process and loved them to pieces. It is amazing when you watch the Mom and pups you get to know each personality so well, so it was easy for us to match the pup with a new owner. Also, I thought I knew a lot about dogs but not nearly enough until I really watched. There is more to them then we know - I saw her reprimand them for bad behavior. When a pup wanted to get up on the couch, she would boost them by their bottom to get them up to where the pup wanted to go. Playing, she would lay on her back and gently pick up the pup in her forearm and lift them up and over her and gently place them on the other side in play, and do this with each and every one plus so much more. Amazing!

Answer 3

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A friend recommened it to me a few years ago, and I was amazed how quickly it worked, which is why I recommend it to others. The dog training academy also has as an excellent home training course.

Answer 4

If she is moving this one puppy away from the rest and not caring for it, it is because she knows it is sick. Mother dogs will "weed" out the sick pups and let them die and only care for the healthy pups. If she moves this one, then goes back and moves another, she is probably just re-locating the pups.

Good luck with your puppies

Answer 5

there is more then likely some thing wrong with that pup i twill mostly die you should call the vet when my dog did the same thing i was told by the vet to keep it warm and try to feed it of a bottle but the puppy die a few days later a dog can sense when something is wrong with its babies

Answer 6

As everyone has alread said the puppy either has somethin wrong with it or she is going to move th whole litter!

Answer 7

sounds like something is wrong with the puppy, she is removing it to keep the sick pup away from the healthily litter

Answer 8

Sounds like that one puppy is sick. She sounds like a good mother who is torn about doing what comes natural to animals, letting go of the sick ones, to save the others.

Answer 9

something may be wrong with that puppy . mother dogs do that . it may be the weak puppy and may not live

Answer 10

Maybe it is the runt of the litter and she senses that it is weak so she has rejected it.