Mother dog giving up on puppies

Question
I have a litter of 3-week old pit/boxer mix puppies.  The mother is under a year old and is a terrible mother!  A few weeks ago, I noticed the puppies would hang on to her nipples when she got up to leave the (heated) dog house and fell off outside the dog house.  I would find them, but she would sit in her dog house and look at them.  She wouldn't put them back in.  The last time it happened, I found the puppy too late.  It had fallen out at night and got rained on and died.  I screwed a board to the dog house so only the big dogs can get in there, to prevent this from happening again.  I'm not happy with myself for not doing something earlier, but... Suddenly the mother has stopped nursing (could be teething?).  But regardless, my other dog who has been with the puppies and mother since birth, drug one of the puppies off and started biting it, while the mother watched and did nothing.  I'm at a loss.  If the mother does not interfere with this behavior, will she do the same?  HELP!!!!

Answer
Hi Andy. You said mom is under a year old. That right there could be part of the problem. She's really young to be a mom. She probably just doesn't want to fool with them anymore. At that age, mom is still puppy like herself. If the pups are three weeks of age, then you can go ahead and wean them. I'd seperate the pups from all other adult dogs for now, especially if the other dog is trying to bite the pups, and mom isn't doing anything about it. If forced to be stuck with the pups that she doesn't want to care for, she may turn on them herself. My best advice would to be to wean the pups, and keep all other dogs away from them for now. That's the safest thing you can do for them. If I can help with anything else, let me know!