I am throwing out that question after I visited my MIL over the weekend. She had dobie puppies and I dont think we have the same idea about how puppies should be kept or taken care of. I am not saying my way is the right so it would be interesting to hear what you all think.
First of all, the mama is 5 years old and had puppies for the very first time, to me that is a bit too old for a first litter. The puppies are now 5 weeks old and she has them separated from their mom the whole day, they only get to nurse and be with her during the night. To me the mama looked like she was not comfortable, since she is nursing during night, she is still producing milk, but then has to be without any nursing the whole day so she seemed very "milk heavy" and a bit hard and red and warm. The puppies, being only 5 weeks, well I think they need to see a bit more of their mommy than only at night, after all 5 weeks isnt very old
They have a puppy box in the garage, it is an attatched garage so its not like they are in an "outhouse" but since it gets rather hot here during daytime, and there is no aircond. or heat, I have a hard time seing how she can keep a good temp in there at all times. The box has wood shavings, you know the kind you can buy in stores for pocket pets, it must have been cedar in it too because it smelled like that. The puppies had eye discharges, not a lot but it was absolutely there, and I was thinking that the dust and little particles from the shaving may cause that, but I dont know. And the over all impression of the puppies was that they were not clean, a little dusty and just not the shiny, nice looking coats you usually see on pups, and the nice wonderful puppy smell, well their breath but not their bodies. It is 3 girls and 1 boy
She has been breeding dobies for years, or rather she used to breed for years, have not in the last 10 or so, until this litter that is. She is going to keep one and give one to my sister in law, the two other well, she asked me to look up a place on internet, a site to sell the puppies
She had heard from the guy who is the owner of the male, that he always sold them on the net, because he got so much more for them there, than he did if he just sold them around here....... I did see the "breeder" who had the male and how he keeps his dogs, and hmmmm it is not so bad so you could report it, but small runs, and I mean SMALL, dirty and poop everywhere in there, since it was so small they pooped everywhere and he obviously didnt clean up too often. He had like 7 to 8 females and said he had about 10 litters a year. Sooooo obvious that the only reason he is breeding is for the money, not for the good of the breed, not because he loves dogs, just for the money.... and that makes me feel sick to my stomach.
Soooo there I was, trying to nicely point out the things I thought the puppies and their mom needed but even though she didnt say anything I know she will not do anything about anyting and thought I was a big "know it all'er" Soooo how would you all keep puppies, how do you keep them if you breed??
Marit