Got your attention, didn't I?

I have a 16 day old litter with 8 girls, two boys.

Even when seemingly full/satisfied, the girls want to go for the boy's private parts to suck more. Their suction is really strong on a finger/etc.

Will this harm the boys? Should I separate by gender?

If you are not feeding then gruel yet, I would start. I don't really think it is good for the boys. And I have seen both boys and girls do it so I don't think it is gender related. I have 3 wk old ones and will start them on some gruel by the end of this week. They need more than Mom can give especially we have 10. Good luck

The possibilities are endless...

Mine have all done that. I just move them quickly to another spot. They get over it.

The puppies are hungry. Check the mother's milk, are they getting enough? To supplement bottle feed every 3 hours with goats milk and then put the puppies back on mom to top them off.

I have a litter that is STILL doing this even on gruel followed up by a drink on mom-I know it is not hunger.
Anyone else care to shed some light on this?

I think that it is perfectly normal for them to do this. They are just like babies....some are more needy and have more of an oral fixation than others. If you know they are gaining weight (look and feel content) then just move them to another part of the box or put them on mom. Eventually it will stop....not something to stress about.

I have had it once in 25 years. Seems like it only lasted a couple of days and maybe it was right at 3 weeks when you start to feed them. A smaller yellow female that never seemed to have alot of milk. No harm to pups, just moved them alot.

Geez I still have not gotten past Itchy Scooter yet and now this.......

I want to know how you got 8 girls and only 2 boys!!! Awesome

I have had this a couple times over the years. None of the puppies were hungry and typically I had one or two in the litter that did this. I had one very persistent girl who had to be moved to her own swimming pool when unsupervised due to the fact that she made "hickies" on the abdomens of the other puppies and actually made one boys sheath swell due to the continued nursing. She was even around five weeks when she would bulldoze her head underneath a boy and flip him on his back to nurse on his penis!! She eventually grew out of it, but it was very frustrating to say the least. It's always something!

Thanks all for your input. Honestly, they do not seem hungry. It seems to be at its worst about an hour after nursing when just a few start to scoot around to get close to others. Maybe those few ARE still hungry.

I am considering moving my normal gruel time up with this litter of 10 to help them and Mom. I am supplementing with Goat milk w/ H2O and a bit of yogurt, per my Vet.

And for the funny person who asked me about the gender split- I just paid extra money to the sire's owner :) Right, Diane?



Again, thanks for comments and ideas.

Betty