Weaning

Question
Hi, I have a litter of dane pups due any day now and I was wondering what your advice on weaning them is?  I have heard sooo many things.  I do know that puppy food is a no no.  My last litter I weaned them on a mixture of ground beef, food mush and a homemade milk mixture made of goats milk.  is this ok?  Your imput is appreciated!  

Answer
If you are weaning puppies you need to wean them onto whatever adult food you want the new owners to be feeding them. If you are breeding high quality Great Danes, then I would be weaning them onto a warmed, mushy high quality food such as Fromm, Merrick or some of the other better brands. Remember to keep the protein no higher then 24% and you can add the goat's milk but I wouldn't continue to do that either as this is not something that is going to be in their normal everyday diet. What you want to avoid is feeding them something they are not getting any type of nutrients from and ground beef really doesn't have anything except protein. This is the reason that dog foods are made, they are specifically designed with the dog in mind and include all proteins, calcium and enzymes that they need to stay healthy. I may add that you might want to put that into your placement contract, and I hope you have one of those as well to ensure that your puppies are being placed in the best homes possible and if anything were to happen to them and one of the owners were not able to care for them anymore you would take the puppy back and re-home them yourself.

My main reason for bringing this point up is, if you read my profile I do not help, support or educated anyone that is breeding less them Great quality for the Danes. There are too many of them in rescues and shelters. So if you are not breeding responsibly and following the Great Dane Club of America's breeding code of ethics, please take the time out of your day to educate yourself on what it takes to be a great breeder. Otherwise you are adding to the pet population and many dogs are dying in shelters everyday due to this.