Maddy, at age seven and a half, still sucks on her stuffies as well. She will have several going at one time and will hold them in hers paws, put her jaw around them and zone out. Her eyes half close and she kneads with her paws (similar to a cat). After about 30 - 45 minutes (assuming something hasn't disturbed her - Moon) she will get up with a very dry mouth and get a long drink. You do not want to touch the stuffy as it is saturated with saliva!
As far as I know, she was weaned normally, it is just a comfort to her. Peggy Ford-Smith, Maddy (I would suck my thumb if I could find it), Niska (if you can't eat it whats the point) and Moon (but I'm the baby, why can't I have that stuffy, grrrrr) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Fran Jones" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Timothy Forman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "Berner Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, January 13, 2003 4:33 PM Subject: Re: Suckling hefalump; was suckling pup > Sisco doesn't suckle in his sleep but does suckle, a lot, numerous times per day > even, using his stuffed fleece bear as a surrogate "mummy". Whenever he comes > home from a walk, or after being out for a while, he runs straight for his bed > where "mummy" is waiting for him. He grabs her, shakes her a few times, flips > her around until her head is facing to his right, lies down and wraps his paws > around her, and proceeds to suckle on her head for 10 - 15 minutes, sometimes > accompanied by little moans &/or whimpers. This is a three year old 115 pound > unaltered stud dog we're talking about here. After a few days, "mummy's" head > gets so saturated with drool that she becomes heavier and heavier until she gets > the old heave-ho into the washer. We have two or three "mummies" on the go at > any one time so he's always got one to work on while the others are in the wash. > > When Sisco's litter was born, their mother was very sick and unable to nurse > them, so our breeder found a willing GSD who had just weaned a litter and was > willing to take on another. While she was willing to nurse them, she didn't > want to spend too much time with them just being a mummy to them, so we figure > that maybe somewhere in Sisco's little psyche is an unsatisfied need for > mothering. Anyway, it's hilarious to watch him in full "mummy mode". He > obviously gets a lot of comfort out of it. > > Fran & Sisco (aw, mom, d'ya haf ta tell everyone about embarrassin' stuff!) > West Vancouver, BC > -- > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Fran Jones [EMAIL PROTECTED] > SportSound Music: http://www.geocities.com/franinvancouver > Phone: 604-926-0084 Fax: 604-926-9543 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >
