When should pups be totally weaned

I want my pups ottally weaned by 4 weeks of age, is this just to soon or is it to late, they eat mostly solids but do feed off the mother sometimes but I want them to be totally weaned by friday, is this a good decision?
Also what do i do about my bitch, she will still be producing milk, should I keep her away from the pups even of she is still producing milk?
will she get mastitis from not feeding?

good question, here is what i could find!
hope it helps!
http://www.purina.com/dogs/food/FeedingDogsForLife.aspx

that site was so great an helpful an answered a few questions i had, thanks GG

np

How long were you thinking of keeping her away from the pups? I would leave them together they need the socialization from the mother. A friend of mine just rescued a pup she was 4 weeks old when seperated, its unfortunate because she lacks social skills and needs constant work to learn proper behavior. She's quite a defiant little girl but has come a long way in the past week or so. The mother should stop feeding them when their little razor teeth start popping up. Good Luck with your pups!!!

The puppies have gotten there little razor teeth and althought they scratch the mother she feeds regardless.
feeding puppies is said to be harder on the mother than even the pregnancy and weaning the pups is better for the mothers health when done at 4 weeks, when the mother dries up and is not longer producing milk I will allow her to be with the puppies as she pleases.
Puppies develope social skills from being with there litter mates from week 6 on of life, puppies that are taken away from the litter at 6 weeks didn't have time to develope the proper socialization skills ao on another note don't buy a pup from a breeder selling them at 6 weeks of age, they should be with the litter until 8 weeks at least.
This website gives some insight on why it is better to wean earlier and how Larger breeds wean ealier than small breeds because they teeth earlier.

http://www.debbiejensen.com/weaning.html

-Missy

Great info Missy!!

Thanks... not looking for a puppy that young now but someday I might want to!!

I start to feed mine at 3 weeks old, but they still are with mommy and drink when they can. To completely wean them is up to the mommy of litter, she knows when they should not eat off her. This could be anytime from 4 weeks up she starts to bite the noses of each and gets up and walks off.

My pups are often ready to be picked up at 7 weeks, but state law says 8 weeks, often have kept them to ten weeks to work with them for some people. To totally wean just feed them so they eat very well and let the mom wean them off of her.

Great Info as always Shep

I wean early also as my pups are very large at birth all being over one pound. But, I try and keep the litter together even though mommy knows when I start to feed she starts to often wean too early.

They do scratch the mom badly till almost bleeding, so I let her do her job. I often have left many leave on pickup at 7 weeks old with no problem. I give my own shots, check testicles, bites and worm every 2 weeks so no vet can do any better than just take my money. I micro chip myself, now that is very tricky as if not placed just rightly so the chip can move to the chest.

I use Avid I belive the tops right now.

Yeah!! I chose Avid!! That was fortuitous at least for now!
That is amazing to me Shep. I read about giving your own shots etc in some of the high end dog catalogs I get but I just worry that I would do something wrong!

Kudos to you!

Honey nothing to it. But then I had horses for some thirty years, worked along side of vets casturating stallions, holding off artery and a bunch of stuff, putting them down. Watching how they drew blood, etc.

I had to often follow up shots on horses with only a vet on the neck to inject in or hit a vein and dead wrong. So, just easy as pie to do dogs. Pick up a pocket back of neck ahead of shoulders and give the shot under the skin. Cheaper, I do my own vet check on male testicles, bites, ears, etc. Why pay a vet to do what I can do and I give a folder full of info.