Today the pups are 8 weeks old and what a journey we have been on, Bepop has been the most wonderful dog with her babies. She was so protective of them initially, not with us of course but with the other dogs who were not even allowed to look through the window! The last couple of weeks she has been trying to wean them, she is very much in charge though and although she sounds fierce and you feel she is trapped in the room with her puppies, she will not leave them if I call her, so it is still her choice to be with them. When the puppies have got the message, she then will play and reward them for their good behaviour, then they snooze together. She will however still give them a drink but only if she wants to, the puppies now do not demand her to feed. The 4 pups left are doing very well and are definately getting a bonus meal as Bepop is now bringing back her evening meal, it doesn't seem to matter whether I feed her out of sight, an hour earlier, even a different diet!. I even tried a frozen block of meat, but we had an hour of her yelling at the pups and I was starting to worry about freezer burn.....it was a hot day and the pups enjoyed frozen tripe with no ill effects!.The pups have now learnt in a big way to jump and lick her mouth anticipating that they will get another meal, it is natural behaviour and I have tried to avoid it but I will not refuse the contact that Bepop has with her pups, so my hands are tied. The downside is that Bepop hassles us all night as she is absolutely starving, she still eats a big dinner in the morning though and never lets the pups have that one!
