When and How to Wean a Puppy

In order to find the most appropriate time to weanpuppy moves to a new home, it will not end up crying
puppies, one must understand the stages ofall night long.
development that a puppy goes through. If you areThe mother dog is responsible for weaning the puppies
going to ask your veterinarian's opinion, he will tell youoff her milk. But when it comes to weaning them onto
that you can start weaning your puppy when it isregular dog food, it is already your responsibility. As
about 4 weeks old. The weaning process may takesoon as the puppies' eyes are open and they start to
some time to accomplish and could last until the 8thcrawl around, you can introduce puppy milk as
week.supplement. The milk can be given a few times
Puppies stay really close to their mother from birth untileveryday. But make sure that they get most of the
the 12th day. They need to keep themselves warmnourishment from their mother because they need the
and they cannot hear or see very well at this stageimportant proteins in her milk.
yet. Puppies begin to explore their surroundings fromWhen you see the teeth grow in, you can start adding
the 13th to the 30th day. Their legs may still be a littlecanned food to the milk. Give only small bits at the
wobbly but they can walk already. They start tostart, and the food should be very tender and covered
respond to their sense of smell and taste at this time. Itin milk. Continue until the puppy is eating more food
is also the best time to get the puppies used to hearingthan milk. The mother will stop feeding her puppies
people talk to them.gradually. Until the puppies are completely weaned, you
In weaning a puppy, you have to teach the rules of thecan feed them about four times in a day. You can
house and take it away from its mother. When thereduce the number of times you feed the puppies
puppy is about 30 days old, you can begin taking iteach day as the puppies get older until such time you
away from its mother and the rest of the litter. Youare feeding the puppy exactly the same way you
can do it for short time periods and then graduallyfeed an adult dog.
increasing the length of time everyday. So when the