How to Get Your Puppy to Stop Suckling

Newborn puppies are helpless without their mother's care and antibodies.

The healthiest adoption age for puppies is 8 weeks or older, making it essential for breeders to wean puppies from their mothers between the ages of 3 1/2 and 6 weeks. Providing puppies with appropriate food in addition to their mother’s milk facilitates the weaning process. Once puppies recognize an alternative food option, they will gradually become accustomed to obtaining sustenance without suckling.

Things You'll Need

• Puppy food
• Milk replacement (optional)
• Pan
• Food processor
• Food dish

Instructions

1. Allow puppies to begin nursing within two to three hours after they are born. They will gain crucial antibodies from the mother within their first 16 hours of life. If they don't nurse as newborns, they are at risk of becoming severely ill.

2. Remove puppies from their position of suckling at the mother’s teats once a day to allow her to recover from stress. She will also take this opportunity to lick the puppies clean and encourage them to urinate and pass feces before resuming nursing.

3. Cover the bottom of a pan with water or puppy milk replacement, available at most pet stores or from your veterinarian.

4. Place high-quality puppy food in the pan and allow it to soak until mushy. Blend the mixture using a food processor, and place it in a dish near the puppies’ habitat when they are 3 1/2 to 6 weeks old.

5. Spend three to four weeks weaning the puppies, allowing them to consume a combination of their mother’s milk and the puppy food mixture before attempting to feed them only puppy food or separating them from their mother.

Tips & Warnings

• While the optimal weaning age ranges from 3 1/2 to 6 weeks, it is important to wean puppies gradually, regardless of how old they are, to minimize risks to their health.

• Weaning puppies younger than 3 1/2 weeks could result in malnutrition and leave them with insufficient antibodies to fight disease. Allowing puppies younger than 8 weeks old to be adopted or separated from their mothers could similarly result in developmental damage.

References

• Pet Side: A Guide to Nursing and Weaning Puppies
• Pet Education: Weaning Puppies
• ASPCA: Feeding Your Puppy
• Dog Time: Feeding a Puppy

Resources

• The Everything Puppy Book: Choosing, Raising, and Training Your Littlest Best Friend; Carlo Devito et al.