A mother dog and her puppy is one of the cutest combinations in the dog world. Keeping one puppy with the mother dog can be seen commonly. But have you ever imagined the practicality of this incident?
Keeping a puppy with the mother dog is not prohibited; it often makes the puppy dependent upon the mother. Factors such as gender should be concerned.
Keeping a male puppy with the mother dog is more successful than keeping a female; the ideal age to separate a puppy from the mother is 8 weeks.
Let’s read the article in detail, and you will get to know the possibility and the pros and cons of keeping one puppy with a mother dog.
Can you keep one puppy with the mother dog?
Dogs can have litters of 1 up to 13 puppies; obviously, the owner cannot feed and care for them alone. Therefore, giving puppies to adapt is common among dog owners.
But, keeping just one puppy with the mother dog is not a burden for you as a caring dog parent.
So, YES, you can keep one puppy with the mother dog if you pay enough attention to both. Since keeping all the puppies of the mother dog is not practical, you can just choose one and attend to them both.
When attending to their mommy-puppy matters, you should consider several important facts. First, you should be careful when selecting the gender of the puppy.
You have to think twice and more if you prefer to keep a female puppy ball with her mother. Many female dogs do not get along with peace while growing up.
You will have to face some real wars, and the same-sex scenario is not working, especially among canines. Sooner or later, they will start fighting as the competition between two female dogs is considerably high.
So, it’s a pretty joke if you think that the girls will get along in the future when they grow up.
But, it should be mentioned that the circumstances might change as well. If the mother’s doggy is too caring and loving, keeping a girly puppy might not be an issue.
Well, there can be room for little clashes but not severe ones. Even though, for the most part, this is a very rare situation, it can happen.
You have to observe the mother dog and the puppy securely and identify whether they are getting along or not.
This condition depends on the breed of your doggy as well. If you keep one puppy with the mother doggy, the best combination is a male puppy and the mother. Because it is a strong biological combination as well.
The other fact is, if you are keeping a pup with his mother dog, you should stick to the timeline and help the pup to stand on his own.
If you are ready to accept the above-explained facts, you can keep one puppy ball with the mother dog with minimum clashes.
Suggested Reading: Why do some big dogs get obsessed with small dogs?
What are the pros of keeping one puppy with the mother dog?
Keeping only one puppy with the mother dog results positively and negatively in both mother’s and the puppy’s lives. If we keep apart the cons, there are several advantageous pros of keeping one puppy with the mother dog.
Pros are available not only for doggies but for you as well.
1. More milk.
Little puppies love their mother’s milk more than anything. They tend to suck milk for the whole day from the mother dog.
When keeping one puppy with the mother dog, he can have almost all the milk from her; it is much needed and nutritious for his growth.
2. No anxious conditions.
Separating a little puppy from his mother is hard to even for us. Even though it is true that the mother dogs get separated on their own when the puppy is socialized enough, it seems like something cruel when we have to separate them.
So, keeping one puppy with the mother dog cures her separation anxiety, and the puppy will not have anxious conditions from getting separated. The puppy ball will be happy and stress-free at the same time.
3. No aggression.
When a puppy is separated from his mother dog before reaching the appropriate age, he will become more aggressive. Because, as human babies, puppy balls need their mother’s love very much.
When keeping the puppy with the mother dog, he grows calmly and quietly without any aggressive behaviors.
So, no aggression can be seen in a puppy with the mother dog, and you do not need to worry about his phase of anger and destruction.
4. Good health.
Keeping one puppy with the mother dog positively affects both puppy’s and mother’s health, including both physical and mental.
Puppies grow up with more than enough milk with nutrition while receiving preferable hormones, enzymes, and antibodies from mother’s milk.
As a result, these puppies have less probability of getting diseases.
5. Economical.
Well, this is an advantage you can have from keeping only one puppy with the mother dog. Taking care of two doggy fellows is not easy with the current economic situation.
If you keep all the little pups with their mother dog, you have to spend more than you expect, and it will not be easy, as it says.
So, keeping only one puppy ball with the mother dog will help you reduce your expenditures. It is also beneficial for doggies since they can have the best.
Now, you may be wondering what the cons are of keeping one puppy with the mother dog. As well as the pros, there are several cons that you should consider when keeping one pup with his mother dog.
What are the cons of keeping one puppy with the mother dog?
Every animal indeed needs its mother’s love, like human beings. Especially mammals who live only from their mother’s milk during the initial stages of life. So, separating a puppy from its mother might be seen as an act of cruelty to outsiders.
But, a puppy should be separated from his mother when the right age hits him, which is for his good. So, keeping one puppy with the mother dog can cause some issues.
Let’s focus on the cons of keeping one puppy with the mother dog.
1. Try to depend.
When a single puppy is growing up with his mother’s dog, he often tries to be dependent upon the mother. This is unhealthy codependency which will result negatively in a puppy’s life.
The puppy will not try to be strong and learn the lessons about canine life as he depends upon his mother dog. It will make him weak and less competitive as well.
2. Not strong.
When keeping one puppy with the mother dog, they tend to hide behind the mother dog when there’s a threat. So they will not be strong enough to face challenges, exhibited through behaviors such as unnecessarily barking even for minute things.
3. Mommy-puppy fights.
There can be more fights between the puppy and the mother dog since, by nature, mother dogs leave their pups to face life alone. This will not be successful if the puppy always tries to be with the mother.
Sometimes, the puppy will become stronger than the mother and start fighting her. This can be commonly seen between two female dogs.
4. Less socialized.
He will not be well socialized when keeping one puppy with the mother dog. They might try to hide behind the mother dog all the time and not bother about making friends or becoming familiar with the surroundings and the owners.
Therefore, keeping one puppy with the mother dog for more than the needed time causes many issues for both the puppy and the mother.
So, it is essential to separate them at the right time, and it is not an act of cruelty but a wise decision that helps to maintain peace among both.
Can a puppy stay with her mother forever? (How long should they stay together?)
A puppy needs its mother for a specific period after birth since it is a natural phenomenon among all animals. But whether a puppy can stay with her mother forever automatically arises in the owners’ minds.
Even though you decide to keep one puppy with the mother dog, you might have doubts about keeping the puppy forever with the mother. We’ll break down the points slowly.
Usually, a puppy is separated from the mother dog when they are well nourished physically and cognitively at a stage where they can survive alone.
Since it is about domestic dogs, the puppies should stay separated from the mother dog when they can protect themselves from predators and when they get adjusted to the home.
Thus, waiting is important!
However, a puppy’s minimum period to stay with the mother dog is 6 weeks. But ideally, a puppy should be able to leave the mother dog when they are 8 weeks old.
The ethnologists recommend keeping a puppy with the mother dog until they reach 3 months. Therefore, a puppy can stay with the mother dog until it becomes ready to sniff and explore the world. Then, they should grow separately even if they stay at one home.
Remember, if you keep two female dogs, a daughter puppy, and a mother dog, you will have to face many war issues.
So a puppy and a mother dog should stay together for the first 12 weeks until the puppy learns the skills and becomes familiar with the surroundings and people.
They should be led to play with their other puppy siblings and learn basic communication while receiving needed hormones, enzymes, and antibodies from their mother’s milk, affecting their cognitive development.
Can you keep a male puppy with her mother? Will they mate?
There is no problem in keeping a male puppy with the mother dog. But, do not expect that they will not mate. Most definitely, the male puppies attempt to mate with the mother dog after attaining puberty which is quite normal and biological.
But, it is not accepted at the domestic level, and if you are not a professional breeder, there might be more risks of letting them mate.
Generally, a male puppy begins puberty at 6 months and above. Inbreeding is not recognized as bad as it is in human beings. In the world of animals, it is a common and natural phenomenon. Many today, many animals are bred through inbreeding.
But, the issues of genetic disorders might be there. Those genetic issues may result in cancers, immunity problems, blindness, etc. So normal breeders have strictly avoided inbreeding.
So be very attentive when keeping a male puppy with the mother dog. It is better if you do not allow it to happen unless you are a professional breeder. To be honest, I know it is not as easy as it says since you can’t watch over them all the time.
But, try your best to avoid them from mating for their good.
Nature has also tried its best to avoid inbreeding through strategies such as kicking young male dogs out of the flock when they are coming of age. But, since they are animals, they often try to do what they feel, especially during the heat.
Things to be aware of.
- Be attentive and careful about the mental condition of the puppy and the mother’s mental condition when separating them.
- Make sure that the puppy is well-bred and nourished up to a satisfactory level when separating.
- Attend to them kindly and, if needed, take them to the vet to cheer up their mental condition.
- Be loving and caring with patience.
Conclusion.
Mother’s love is the only thing a puppy needs after birth. So separating them before coming to the perfect age is not accepted. The mother dog leaves her puppies to get alone by their selves at a particular age.
But, we should not force the procedure to happen quickly, no matter how hard it is for our economy. So, I hope you are now aware of the pros and cons of keeping one puppy with the mother dog and when to separate them gradually.
A happy puppy with a mother, it’s a happy life for you as a loving dog parent.
