Yorkshire Terriers – How to get your Yorkie away from the mother to have a self-sufficient Yorkie

Yorkshire Terriers are not the best mothers many times. I found this out when I raised my Yorkie and she gave birth to four puppies. She was not home at the time and only one of the puppies was living. This was heartbreaking for me, but I was determined to save the pup alive. My Yorkshire terrier wouldn’t nurse her own baby. I had to hold her and force her to nurse. He would even step on the baby to get away from her. After about a week, she got used to it and didn’t fight with me anymore.

The pup is now nine weeks old and doing very well. The problem now is getting her completely away from her mother. I’m keeping the puppy so I have to deal with this problem.

The mother and cub sleep together. I feed the puppy first thing in the morning so he won’t be hungry. I separate her from the mother and give her a small amount of puppy formula and some canned dog food. Then she is so full that she falls asleep for an hour or two. I repeat this process every three to four hours. The result is that he rarely tries to nurse from his mother because he is simply not hungry and the food I give him is more satisfying.

Within a week or two I will separate the cub from the mother all the time. They will be able to play together and socialize, but they will not be alone together for any length of time. A short time later, the mother’s milk will dry up and I will have a weaned, self-sufficient Yorkshire terrier puppy. That’s quite a feat with a Yorkie.