Originally posted by pitc9
Why are the puppies drinking goats milk??
Have they been taken away from their mother??
Puppies are given goats milk to supplement their kibble. They love it. They will eventually be introduced to meat and weaned from the goat's milk.

Most farmers take the pups from their dam at around three months. Farmers understand that there is a great deal of greyhound lore to be taught the pups by their mothers. It's cute to see her in the sprint field every day being chased by a bunch of her pups desperate to keep up. Most dams know to set a pace just ahead of the pups.

An Irish breeder I know thinks this is so important he tries to leave them in until a month or so before the dam's next season which could be up to nine months. This can be done with litters that get along famously, but three months is about the age that the pups' playful scrapping can become injurious, so farmers figure out who is picking on whom and put them in separate pens. This is also about the time that some dams lose patience with their pups and can be overzealous in their discipline.

If the litter is a large one, or there are rivalry issues, the pups will be broken up into factions and placed in neighboring pens. Sometimes a pup who is a pariah in his litter and is picked on by the rest is put in with a friendly litter of similar or slightly younger age.

Watching the pack dynamics in these litters is endlessly facinating, especially when one knows the personalities of the sire and dam well. It doesn't take long for the pups' personalities to emerge. It sounds like Cathie had this litter's temperaments figured out after just a few weeks.