My friend has a Yorkie who had 4 puppies. The mom dog came down with eclampsia (crashing from low calcium) when the puppies were 3 weeks old. She almost died. She was hospitalized overnight and when she was released from the hospital she was told that the mom could not be around the puppies as they can not nurse from her or she will crash again. She has been bottle feeding them puppy formula and they are doing very well and getting big. The problem is the mom is stressing from not being able to take care of them so she is considering moving the litter out of the house and splitting them up in groups of 2 until they get to 8 weeks. She has asked me to take 2 of the puppies at my house. I know socialization is very important but my question is if having their litter mate with them will help them with separation anxiety. Thanks. Kathy

Maybe, maybe not. It really all depends on the pups. The best thing you can do for them besides feeding and cleaning their corral is to spend as much time handling them as possible. I am a firm believer in having puppies out of the box and in my lap, playing with them, that sort of thing. Never had a mean dog from loving a puppy.

Kathy, if you decide to help your friend out, definitely take two of the pups instead of just one. You are right. It will help with the anxiety at this age to keep at least two littermates together. Also, as donn states, you need to heavily socialize them with people, which from what you have written, it appears you already know. Doing this does help them adjust to their new homes by minimizing their anxiety at being separated from their littermates. If you do decide to help your friend out, just make sure you are up for the challenge. It is a lot of work and very tiring bottle feeding every few hours, cleaning up after them, and monitoring them. You should speak with your friend as to when she plans on introducing solid food into their diet. Since the mama is unable to nurse her pups, your friend should have already begun introducing solids into their diet by now. If she is a responsible breeder, she should be aware of this. The AKC recommends introducing solids and beginning the weaning off the mama as early as 3 weeks. Here is their link:
Responsible Breeding Steps - Wean Puppies from their Mother (http://www.akc.org/breeders/resp_breeding/steps_19.cfm)
Frankly, I am surprised that she is asking you to only take two of the pups. I am perplexed by her request because she is still going to have a difficult time keeping mama away from the two that will still be under her care. Doesn't quite make sense to me but then again, I am only a "voice" on a web site. ;)

Thanks so much for responding to me. I really appreciate it. As you can see I am a little nervous about the situation. I am concerned about splitting the litter also but the reason for doing so is that I am keeping one of the pups and my mom is taking the other one who lives one street over so they will be together for the rest of their life. The other two are going to my friend's neighbor, her neighbor is keeping one and the other pup is going back to my friend after the mom dog's situation is better. I figured the adjustment would be easier on the pups that way. I offered to take all 4 and so did her neighbor. But I think it is better not to bounce the puppies around and let them get situated in the home where they will stay. The easiest solution would be to take the mom dog and leave the puppies there where they are familiar but I can't do that because I have a male maltese who is not fixed. They are 4 weeks now and they have started on food along with the formula and are really growing nicely but you still worry. The mom dog has another appointment at the hospital tomorrow to check her calcium levels. Any and all advice is welcome. Thanks again. I am stressing over this.

Kathy

Kathy, lol! I could tell from your post that you were worried.

I don't really like the idea of taking the pups away from the Mom or the full litter this early. 6 weeks is okay but now it is just too early in my opinion. Pups learn a lot from their mother and littermates during this time. If the mama is going for a check up tomorrow, is there any way you can accompany your friend? I think you both should speak with the vet about what he/she feels is the best way to handle this situation. But, the bottom line is, if you are really uncomfortable about doing this, then you shouldn't. Maybe you and the neighbor can set up a schedule with your friend over the next couple of weeks in which each of you can go over to her place for a few hours at a time on a rotating schedule to give her a break. Help her keep momma from trying to nurse, clean up puppy poop, help feed them, interact with them. It just sounds like she is a bit overwhelmed and needs help.

I would get a sweater and put on momma so that she could not nurse. Have her ask the vet if that is an option. My dog has sweaters that cover up the entire stomach area. Wamart 4 bucks.

LOL bushg! Good idea. They could try it and even if the sweater doesn't completely cover all the teats or the pups are determined little buggers and manage to get under the sweater, it will at least slow the pups down and give the owner a chance to stop them before they are able to latch on.

There are certain sweaters that I don't buy my male dog because they cover up too much of the stomach and he pees on them, this being a yorkie they could probably get a mans large tube or sports sock and make one that the pups could def, not get into. I really think it could work. The mamma and pups could have the benefits of being together.

I think an extra large tube sock with the toe area cut out is a great idea. Cheaper than a sweater and it will give the tight fit that is needed without cutting off her circulation. Hopefully Cathy will see your post and suggest it.

Thank you for the suggestion. I will let you know how it works out.

Kathy