My next foster puppies are 5 weeks old - any advice?

[CMOTDibbler]

They were born in the rescue, and mum (who has done an amazing job of feeding 9 hulking great pups) has had enough of them all, so they are going out in pairs to foster.
The youngest dog I've ever had was 10 weeks, and these fluff balls are 5 weeks. I will be given instructions on feeding them etc, but wondered if anyone had any tips on starting training with such little ones? Or soothing words...

Even though you're getting a pair it'd probably be a good idea to get to know what issues commonly affect puppies split from their mum and litter mates too young so you can specifically work on avoiding those. This article is worth a read, as is this one on Pippa Mattinson's site. We unknowingly got DDog2 at approximately five weeks of age and she particularly struggled with bite inhibition, house training and obsessive behaviours. I think if we'd realised at the time how young she was we could have done a much better job of managing (or avoiding altogether) those issues.

The Puppy Plan has got a good breakdown of the developmental stages of puppies and the sorts of things they should be doing/exposed to during each. I'd highly recommend looking into Puppy Culture as well. The DVD (you can also stream it rather than buying a physical copy) is a bit pricey but it's brilliant, the absolute gold standard of puppy raising and will have a very positive impact even if you can only start using it at five weeks. There's also a really supportive Puppy Culture FB group.

I fostered an eight week old whose litter mates had been taken away at five weeks and agree bite inhibition was the biggest issue.
With littermates I always supervise feeding very closely as it can be contentious and you want to make sure nothing develops.
They need loads of sleep at this age ( thank goodness!)

Thanks both. Fortunately ddog2 is really good with puppies, so I'm hoping he'll help with the bite inhibition - and several of our fosters have had issues around it from being separated too early so we have some experience.
Am very glad to hear they need lots of sleep! It's going to do my new year exercise plan good leaping up to toilet them lots

Umm, post pics on mumsnet

Good luck with the little ones.

OMG, they arrived a couple of hours ago, and they are incredibly gorgeous. We have no idea who dad is, but he must have been big, hairy, and with a curly tail as they are complete fluff balls.
They have played in the garden, had their milk, used puppy pads (yay!) and are now snoozing in the crate

Will post pics later

Is this a rescue putting pups out to foster at 5 weeks old? I am no bleeding heart, but actually I think that's horrific. All mums would be getting a bit less keen on pups at 5 weeks, particularly with a big litter, but they just need to be able to get away from them. They will still visit, top up feed, teach them manners.

Very sad.

Mum won't have anything to do with them now, and hasn't for some days. She has had the opportunity to come and go, and has been encouraged to go back but won't. Everyone would prefer mum to be with them, but this is how it is.

Mum won't have anything to do with them now, and hasn't for some days. She has had the opportunity to come and go, and has been encouraged to go back but won't.

That's not particularly unusual behaviour and certainly isn't an indicator that the family would be better off split up. Is the bitch just done with them or is she being genuinely aggressive towards them? If it's just the former then the rescue are taking a hell of a risk separating the puppies, even in pairs, as doing so could have a huge and lasting impact on them.

You mention they're still having some form of milk, are they not fully weaned?