# Pups without mother



## Michele McAtee (Apr 10, 2006)

What are your experiences and knowledge base about puppies whose mother dies shortly after birth...outcomes? (obviously bottle fed and cared for by humans).


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

The Handbook of Applied Dog Beahvior and Training has a couple interesting pages about this. In essense, these dogs become spoiled rotten and tend towards dog v dog aggression. 

I agree with the general consensus written in the book and believe it's a handler problem in many (not all) cases. The human continues "babying" even when the dog is an adult.

I have done some bottle/tube feeding, bringing the pup in and out of the litter starting at 1 week old. I have worked with rescued pups as young as 4 weeks old. And as you know from other puppy discussions, I have a theory about bringing a puppy home earlier than 8 weeks, and I'm really happy with how that worked out for my (now 1 yr old) dog.

In the few cases where I have handled a motherless pup, I first put the pup in with my neutral female who will tolerate cuddly and suckling pups. If it's a rescue, I'll put word out to shelters and breeders to try to find a surrogate litter to put the pup with.

I think that if the pup gets neutral and positive experiences with other dogs right away, and if the handler is not specially permissive with the pup, there is a very good chance of the puppy developing normally.


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