Weaning Shih Tzu Puppies??

Question

I've never seen anything like this before, so maybe someone can give me their opinion. I have a Shih Tzu who had a litter of pups exactly 6 weeks ago. The pups ALREADY have a mouth full of teeth! I guess it was the puppy milk I fed the mom:) but now they're able to eat puppy food and are eating it. But they also want their mommy's milk and she can't resist letting them latch on. But moments later, she's yelping because they're biting her! What should I do? Keep them separate? Let them bite her? Or maybe just put a baby onesie on her so they can't get to her? Anyone with Shih Tzu weaning experience is welcome to give your opinion! Thanks.

This litter of pups came as a surprise to me since I adopted the poor mommy from an abusive home! I am not a breeder of any sort! I am simply trying to help these pups survive until I can find them a home in a few weeks. BTW, I did start feeding the pups softened puppy food weeks ago, but I didn't know they'd have this many teeth by now, since they shouldn't leave their mommy until they're 8 weeks old. I have a baby gate to separate my son from the pups as well as to give the mom a break, but she just hops right over it to them! FYI, I may not be a "breeder" but I'm not stupid, just asking something I don't know.... you'll never know if you don't ask. Thanks for your opinion.

Answer 1

You should have started weaning these puppies onto moistened dry puppy food by the time they were 4 weeks old. If you consider yourself a breeder, you surely know that they've had teeth for 3 weeks already!! The average mom has the puppies fully weaned by the time they're 6 weeks old. You should be feeding them puppy food by this stage and making sure they always have fresh water available. Give your poor dog a break and learn a little about what you're doing!!

Answer 2

I have 4 week old puppies right now and they had all their teeth by week 3, which has not been fun for the mom. You should cut down on the food your feeding the mom so she stops producing milk. Puppies can be fully weaned by 6 weeks but It's best to keep them with the mom until 8 weeks for socialization

Answer 3

This is your first litter, right? I have a litter of Cocker-Lhasa-Tzu puppies that will be six weeks old Wednesday.. The mother is a Cocker and the father is a Lhasa Apso/Shih Tzu mix. The dog came to me pregnant.

At four weeks, these puppies, which all look like Shih Tzu, were running their mother away from her bowl. They wanted real food. Try giving them one feeding with either milk soaked food or food mixed with milk and make sure they have plenty of clean drinking water. They will be less likely to go for the "milk machine". My female still cares for her puppies, but she will lay down or run away to keep them from feeding on her. Moms instinctively know when the time has come and she will take care of it on her own.

Puppies think everything is a "milk machine". They go after our fingers, toes, and any other dog in the house, male or female, while looking for food.

Answer 4

The pups are old enough to wean. Vets say 6-8 weeks is fine for weaning. CKC recommends 6-8 weeks. So no problem. Just give the pups puppy food and clean water. They will be fine.

Answer 5

My shih tzu had eight puppies, poor thing. They were eating soft food at 4 to 5 weeks....mixed with milk. Mom finally got tired of the biting and handled that herself, so, I dunno how to make them stop....the onesie sounds like a good idea. We were selling them at 6 to 7 weeks, fully weaned. We kept one for her a playmate....and that one tried to latch on for what seemed like weeks. I say just let mom get them off. She'll know when it's time. But, again, with six....you might want to separate them every once and a while just to give poor ma a break.

Answer 6

Puppies start cutting their first set of teeth at about 4 weeks some at 3 and a half. I start weaning then, but I also let dams dry up slowly so they don't become engorged. Take the fats and milk out of the dam's diet so she dries up. You can let them nurse a little if she looks like she needs to be drawn off. Also cold compresses help on the dam's breasts.

Answer 7

Dog training are excellent and very helpful to build you a stronger relationship with your dog. Read more https://tinyurl.im/i7Plh

After I started training my dog, he became very attached to me and loves to stay by side as long as he can. But just going to them won't help. You have to practice what they teach you outside of the class and you need to keep up with it at least every now and then after the class ends otherwise they'll just go back to previous habits. This course is a really good place to go for dog obedience classes. It get's your dog around other people and dogs to socialize while getting the training you need. As for electric collars, I would say to not get one. In my experience, they're only a negative effect on your dog. I mean of course you're going to need to correct your dog, but being positive and encouraging your dog works a lot faster and easier.

Every dog is different, so unless you have a german shepherd or a really smart dog, it might take a while to train her. You might get frustrated with her, but go easy. She's still a puppy and has a lot of energy. A backyard or somewhere to run will help her get rid of a lot of energy that might cause her to misbehave from boredom.

Answer 8

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/ax8Sj

If they're fat, healthy and energetic than they are doing fine. Puppies don't look at a calendar and say "Right, it's time to go onto solid food today" They'll start when they and their mother are ready. Don't worry - and enjoy them while they are at this lovely age!

Answer 9

I'm sorry about your breed mentor. Hope everything goes well. Now for your pups, if you see anything wrong with them or anything concerning, then you should take them to the vet but I think that 6 weeks old could still nurse if the mother allows it. Maybe they aren't ready for kibble yet. Don't take my word on it though, I have NO experience with such young pups.

Answer 10

Everyone begins training a dog with a number of unknowns. First, no one can truly know how a dog will react to training and even if you know the breed, there can be differences with each individual breed. Another unknown is the type of dog training that you use. Some dogs do well with food based reinforcement and some do not and owners will need to learn as they go along. While most of the unknowns with dog training can be overcome quickly, many owners make some pretty common mistakes while they are training your dogs. To avoid those dog training mistakes, it is important to be aware of them and that is exactly what I will be doing in this article; alerting you to common dog training mistakes that every owner has or will make at one time.

Mistake #1: Not Setting Firm and Consistent Rules: One of the most common mistakes that owners will make actually has nothing to do with the physical act of dog training and is actually a daily occurrence that usually plays in the background. As every parent will tell you, children require rules and dogs are no different. There should be rules set in place the moment that a dog is brought home. This means that if you have a rule for no dogs on the furniture, then you need to stick with it, regardless of how cute a puppy is. Not establishing those rules right from the beginning can lead to long term behavior problems and your puppy will quickly learn that he can ignore the rules and eventually simply ignore you. It is important that you avoid this dog training mistake right from the start and make sure that everyone in your house will follow the same rules with your dog to ensure the best success.

Mistake #2: Repeat, Repeat, Repeat: Okay, this may be a little confusing since dog training consists of the repetition of an action but while repeating an action over again is fine, repeating a command is not. When it comes to dog training mistakes, I would say that this is the biggest mistake that owners will make and I have been found guilty of this little offense myself. It is only natural to repeat a command when a dog doesn't listen but it is something that you should train yourself not to do. When you repeat a command, you are teaching your dog that he doesn't have to listen to a command every time. This means that a command stops having any affect on the dog and you end up having to retrain with a new command, which can take time and can be very frustrating for both you and your dog.

Mistake #3: Rewarding Bad Behavior: Although there are several types of dog training available, most trainers and owners will use positive reinforcement training, which consists of treating your dog, usually with food, whenever he does something positive. While this is an excellent way to train your dog, many owners make the mistake of treating the wrong behavior and end up reinforcing bad behavior. Bad behavior in dog training is anything that you don`t want your dog to do. So, for instance, your dog is in the kitchen while you are cooking a meal. At first it may not seem like he is doing anything but spending time with you and that may have been the case in the beginning but when you drop your first bit of food, or you toss him a little snack, he will quickly learn to beg whenever you are in the kitchen. Fast forward a year and you have a full grown dog under foot whenever you go to the kitchen simply because you have reinforced that begging in the kitchen is okay. To avoid rewarding a dog for a bad behavior, don`t praise him, comfort him or treat him when he is doing something you don`t want repeated. So if he barks at the door, don`t praise him for being a good guard dog and if you drop some food on the floor, pick it up yourself and take it to his dog bowl if you want to give it to him. By controlling the environment, you can quickly stop yourself from rewarding his bad behavior.

Mistake #4: Saving it for a rainy day: The last common dog training mistake that I am going to mention is the desire to put off training. Many owners feel that dog training should be done after a certain age but it has been shown time and time again that the longer you wait, the harder it will be to train your dog. Dog training should begin as soon as you bring your puppy home. It starts with establishing rules and house training first and then it quickly moves to basic training such as sit, down, stay. Puppy socialization class usually begins around 11 weeks of age and from there you will quickly start dog training. Never leave training until your dog is 6 months of age or older since many negative behaviors are established by that time. In the end, if you are aware of the dog training mistakes that you can make, you will find that you are less likely to make them and your dog will quickly respond to dog training with only a small amount of fuss.

Before You Spend MORE Money On Expensive Dog Trainers or Products,
Watch This Video First!

https://bitly.im/BG5eU

Discover the powerful dog training secrets to eliminate over 30+ common behavioral dog and puppy issues with step-by-step instructions from one of the world's most skilled dog trainers!