about my puppys

Question
i have a female toy poodle and a male tea cup poodle and they had puppys on 5/14  and i want to know when the puppys will be ready to leave to mom i was told 8 weeks and then i was told 10 weeks so i want to make sure cause i dont want to sell them to early.  thank you..

Answer
Hello Phyllis,
The typical age that puppies can leave their mother is 8 weeks of age.  The longer they stay with their mother, the more they learn from her, which is why some people allow the puppies to stay with their mother longer.  
Most females will wean their puppies around 5 weeks of age.  About this time, the puppies are getting their teeth in and mom usually doesn't like to be bitten while puppies are nursing.  When she starts to move away from the puppies when they try to nurse or if she snaps at them, then its time for you to start preparing their food for them.  

What I always do is make up a mixture of canned puppy food (I use Iams Puppy, as its finely ground and easy for puppies to eat) and either puppy formula or water to make the puppy food runny.  When the mixture looks like soup, you are ready to introduce it to the puppies.  Its best to do this one puppy at a time.  I take a puppy and some "mush" in a shallow bowl and put the puppies face near the mixture.  The puppy should start licking the mush up.  If it doesn't right away, gently dip his/her nose in it and they should start licking it up right away.  Give each puppy about 2-3 tablespoons or so, and you can do this about every 3-4 hours.  As you set the puppies back in their pen, they will clean each others faces off, or mom will do it when she comes back in (its best to place the mother outside or away from the puppies so that she doesn't try to eat their food).
Once they grasp the concept of eating with you, you can make enough for all the puppies and just put the bowl on the floor.  I would line the floor with papers first because the puppies will make a huge mess, usually stepping in the bowl and getting food all over.  
They can eat like this 3 times a day, and about 1/8 cup for each puppy or so (give less if they are leaving some food in the bowl).  

I hope this helps you some.  If you have other puppy questions or other Poodle questions in general, please feel free to ask me.

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim