arghh puppies

[marywelsh]

bellas pups are now 5 weeks old and have started weaning (very messy)
they are cute but with 10 pups and only me here during the day it is a nightmare getting them all out to feed they just scatter
a question really should i aim for them to be tottaly weaned at six weeks or let nature take its coarse
bella has been a super mum and only feeds them about twice in the day now and stops in with them at night, but it is beginning to take it,s toll on her she looks skinny even though she is on a mass amount of food
any advice

[browser]

I had a litter of doberman puppies. Train them to come to the food by using a clicking noise with your mouth and call them. They will soon relate the two to food.
As for weaning I would try and keep mom away from them more and more now. Try and discourage them drinking off her and supplement them with a bit of evaporated milk. feeding weetabix/rusks/ready brek/mince meat - start putting puppy mix in their feed and let some of the water from the mince soften the mix and when cooler feed them. Mine did really well on that sort of routine. They were fed 4 times a day initially and they found they were content enough to not want to feed off mom so much. Hope that helps