I am sorry if my post caused offence to anyone as that was not the intention. I do still feel however that research should be done before contemplating breeding. Amy Loe 79 first post was
' My puppies are 4 weeks old. When should I start weaning them as they are showing an interest in mums food and I have had to move so they can't get to it. Also should they be having water' She later said she was asking what to use.Though that is not what was said in the original post.
I am surprised to see that some of you who have bred had no knowledge of regurgitation as this is how a dog in the wild would wean her pups. Domesticated dogs will also do this if weaning is not started around the 3 week mark as milk alone is not now sufficient for the pups. Any good book on breeding carries this information along with things that can go wrong before, during and after whelping for both mum and pups.
I am sure that those of us who have had children would be less than pleased to have an untrained midwife to attend to us.
When I was writing breed notes I used to get a lot of phone calls from people from different breeds as well as my own to talk about dogs in general and to sometimes ask advise and I very much enjoyed talking to these people and gave advise when I could. One lady phoned to proudly tell me of her bitches newly whelped litter but was a little concerned that her bitch was so cold that she was shaking really badly and despite wrapping her in a blanket she could not seem to warm her up. I told her that her bitch had eclampsia and she should get immediate veterinary help. She had not even heard of the condition and had she not phoned me she would have been burying her bitch and handrearing the pups!
This is one of the reasons why research should and must be done, things can and frequently do go wrong. Yes, things do happen that surprise even experienced breeders but at least knowing the basics of whelping a bitch and rearing pups correctly will stand you in good stead and the rest comes with experience.
I hope you will stay Amy Lou and whether you take the advise of the 'pompous' is your choice.