PUPPY QUESTION

[BIGINNER]

MY DOG WILL BE HAVING PUPPIES IN ABOUT 10 DAYS.  I HAVE A QUESTION FOR KINDA THE FUTURE.  WHEN DO I START GIVING THE PUPPIES FOOD?  I WAS ALWAYS UNDER THE IPRESSION THAT AROUND 4.5-5 WEEKS OLD YOU START GIVING THEM PUPPY CHOW MIXED WITH A TAD BIT OF WARM GOAT MILK OR WATER.  WHAT IF MOM KEEPS EATING THE FOOD SET FOR THE PUPPIES?  OR AM I BETTER OFF JUST FEEDING THE PUPS SEPERATELY?     I KNOW ITS STILL A WHILE TILL I WILL NEED TO WORRY ABOUT FEEDING THEM HARD FOOD, BUT I JUST WANT TO KNOW.    OH AND THEY ARE WEIMARANER PUPPIES. 

[Happy Gilmore]

I'm no expert but, I followed recommendations from those who I consider to be "experts".

At about 4 weeks: Soaked food for about 3 hours in water until it it got all poofed up. Put moistened food in a blender with goat milk to make a puppy chow goat-milkshake. Did this for two weeks then slowly transitioned pups to just the soaked food. Poured warm goat milk on it to encourage them to keep eating it.

At 6 weeks I couldn't get my female to start drying up so, I let her feed pups just once or twice very briefly and slowly continued to limit her time with the pups. By 8 weeks she wanted nothing to do with letting them suckle. I've been told it varies and depends upon the mother and when she decides enough is enough.

I fed Natures Domain throughout the entire time. My vet actually recommended against feeding puppy chow. Natures Domain is about the same as Taste of the Wild for $20 less a bag. It is an "All Life Stages" food meaning it can be fed to any aged dogs. As a side note, I always let Mom go clean up the bowl and pups when they were done. This is usually when Mom would tolerate a little suckling at the end of weaning-

[runamuk]

Happy's advice is pretty spot on from my experience with the breeders I know....some pups will start slopping in soupy food by 3 weeks, this is a gruel made with cottage cheese and very well soaked smushed up kibble and enough water to be soupy and nearly drinkable.

[pens fan]

This is what we do....
Collar the pups as they are born. Document everything about them. We use those colored hairbands women use for ponytails. Not tight, though. They come in a variety of sizes.
Get a fish scale or a reliable scale that you van measure up to 8 pounds. Weigh the pups every other day.
You will see steady growth. Any pups starting to stay the same weight or lose weight get one on one mom time.
At some point, in about three and a half weeks you will notice a leveling offon all the pups weight. That is the time to introduce soft food.
All that is personal preference.
We put about a teaspoon of food on a plate at first and let the pup lick it. Next day, add a little more. We also start each one individually so there is no competition at first. They still nurse for a few more days, but mom will start to reject them. At that point we let mom do what she wants.
Anything else is breed specific, so talk to other peopme who breed that type of dog for more info.