Those who have experience with mother dogs and puppies.... *rant/vent*

Is it okay to separate the mother dog from her puppies for long periods of time? Like, for an entire 13 hours? I have no experience with mothers and litters of puppies, but my first instinct says no.

I have a relative who has just recently started fostering a mother dog (a Dalmatian/Hound mix) and her newborn litter of puppies, and while the puppies are being lavished on, she's not being very nice to the mother. She keeps throwing her into the basement at night, while the puppies sleep upstairs, due to her having house breaking issues (my guess is she's just really stressed and nervous).

There's more to it then this of course, and I'll elaborate more later, but that just doesn't settle well with me. Am I over reacting?

If they're really small they eat every few hours (at least!) so yea keeping her away that long is BAD...

I THINK she's been feeding the puppies herself by formula, but...what about the mother? Isn't that bad for her mental health? She barks and whines, and goes NUTS down there...

Baby puppies need their momma. They need to eat frequently, and if they are very young, their momma cleaning them stimulates elimination. Momma is also vital to their socialization as they mature.

So yes, very bad. She could be killing those puppies, if not now, in the future, if they wind up with behavior problems from the momma deprivation.

This is exactly what I was thinking in addition to stressing the mother out above and beyond. She's moved the mother upstairs and crates her now at night for the same reasons. The dog WIGS OUT in there. I explained that getting an X-pen and lining it with puppy pads and a blanket, and placing the mother and babies in there together would probably make things a LOT better, and said relative flipped her ****... So, I don't know what's going to happen now. The mother looks sooo miserable...

Can you contact the rescue she's fostering through (if it's through a rescue) and tell them this is going on?

My Tess would have destroyed things or bitten someone if removed from her pups prior to their weaning. This is really cruel to the mother dog. As well as risky for the pups.

I would contact the rescue and get these dogs out of there. ASAP.

I know it's a Humane Society she's fostering through and NOT a rescue, but that's all I know... I'm going to give my mom a call tonight and see if she can find out.

^^^^This a thousand times, unless there is a valid medical reason to keep them apart and even then it isn't done that way. Here is the general rule of thumb........nursing:
1 wk old at least once every 2 hours.
2 wks old = 3 hours
3 wks old = 4 hours and so on.............

Of course that is also ensuring that each pup is getting a full nurse and milk replacer is a good choice IF you have to help momma but isn't as ideal as the real thing.
Even if she can't nurse her pups fully and they need to be supplemented with replacer, they still NEED their momma and no human can replace that.
So unless there are very, very valid reasons and recommended by a vet, then she needs to be stopped and reported.

Unless she's manually stimulating those babies to poop and pee herself, they're going to die a very painful death no matter how often she bottle feeds them. After Kaia's C-section she was really out of it and I had to do that for a couple of days.

It will be a lot less messy in the long run with mom in there anyway, because she will eat their poop. I was so sad when Kaia stopped eating their poop. lol. If she's fostering through a rescue I'd definitely let them know. It's bad for mom and baby's health, and could possibly kill the puppies if she isn't doing it right.

Another note, not only is it unhealthy, in most states it's illegal.

I'd definitely contact whatever shelter she's fostering for. If she cannot handle them as a package, she should turn them over to someone who will. The poor dog is at risk of mastitis, I'd imagine, as well if she's constantly going that long without nursing the pups

I doubt the puppies are potty trained, either. How is it that momma has so much more access to the house that she can get into trouble? It doesn't sound like they have the right set-up for a newborn family, let alone a stressed foster family. I know close to nothing about such young puppies, but this seems wrong for a number of reasons. I'm going to echo everyone else and say call whoever she fosters for.

I have no advice except that I hope that pups and mama are able to be placed with someone better set up for them.

Why don't you tell your relative that what she is doing is unacceptable. I totally agree with the views of other Chazers. The pups need their mother. I guess your relative is not a mother or has never had babies. Otherwise she would not be keeping the mother dog away from the pups.

The thing is, I tried, and as nicely as possible. She's taking it COMPLETELY the wrong way though. Apparently me trying to give her good hearted advice is "rude"? Also, she does have kids. Infact, she's a grandmother.

She is getting frustrated and mad at the dog for going to the bathroom in the house (but because the dog isn't staying there perminantly, she doesn't see it as her job to house break her...which is also ridiculous), so she locks her up in a crate at night, away from the puppies. The dog is FREAKING out in the crate, but she sees it as the dog is just throwing a tantrum like a 2 year old. Obviously, she wants her puppies. I tried explaining to her that getting an X-pen, lining it with puppy pads, and putting both the mother and puppies in there with a blanket would relieve SO MUCH stress for everybody, and she flipped out and blocked me. This is a distant relative (second cousin) who I was corresponding with on Facebook, so it's not someone I am close to.

Everyone else has pretty much confirmed what I was fearing, and I'll do my best to try and report her.

This breaks my heart

Yep, mine too. Having had a couple litters, and seen how incredibly devoted to their puppies a new momma dog is, the thought of deliberately separating them for more than a few minutes is horrible to me.

If you know the rescue great, if not then I'd suggest emailing the info to all the local rescues that might be involved. Even if you don't use names, I'm sure they don't have that many litters and moms in new foster homes that they couldn't figure it out.