Mother dog biting one week old puppies

Question
Our coarse hair fox terrier is appr. two years old and just had 6 puppies.  They are one week old today.  Yesterday she bit one of them in the face possibly facturing its muzzle.  That puppy is now being tube fed because she can't nurse. Today, she bit another one on the nose and by the ear.  We finally got the bleeding to stop and now we are hand feeding that one too.  We muzzled her after that one, and then tonight with the muzzle on she snapped at another one.  Why is she doing this?  Is she to young to be a mother? Is it the breed?

Answer
Hi Paula.  I'm so sorry to read that you are experiencing this problem.  I don't think the problem is due to the breed, and at the age of two, your female is not too young to be a mother.

It sounds to me like she is stressed.  Now the real problem is to find out what is stressing her.  Is there a lot of activity around her?  Are a lot of people (visitors, kids, family members) handling the puppies?  Where is her bed?  Is it in a quite place, seculeted from traffic and other pets?

I try not to touch the new puppies, or bother the mother, for the first three weeks - with the exception of weighing the puppies and spot clean-ups.  If too much help is offered, and the mother becomes stressed she can loose her milk, and or reject the litter all together.

It is also important to have a quite, seculeted place for mother and puppies, free from visitors, commotion, and traffic.

However; now that your mother has bitten at least two of her puppies, you will need to keep a very close eye on her.  The muzzle idea might be a good idea, but be sure to take her out often and remove the mussel giving her a break.

Good luck, and please keep me posted on your progress.

Sincerely,
Penny DiLoreto
www.puppies-dot-com.com