well Cindy I do respect your opinion.Maybe someday Ill even have the same opinion but for now I am in search of the winning edge.
Believe I do not apply these same methods to my personal relationships

I agree with Cindy. I let the mom make her own
decisions on weaning. Case in point...My older male's litter was started on food at three weeks
of age and I did the weaning for mom when the time called for it....Now I have a dog that sucks the hell out of blankets, toys,carpet...you name it. Now it could be just that's him but from the research that I did it could also be from rushing
the weaning process...

As far as interacting with other dogs I pick the best dog for the job. I pick an adult that won't make my puppy submissive. I have three dogs that live with me..two intact males and my new female puppy. Sabre runs a lot with Bodie because he's really good with her. If she reacts to something and he doesn't I think it shows her there's nothing to react too. She gets her own time with me in the evening. Each dog gets a one on one with me. I raised my older male from a puppy to a SchH III and have done well with him. He too was raised with other dogs and has eyes only for me.....I think there is a time and place for you and your dog and a time to let a dog be a dog and interact and learn from his own kind.

Im sorry that Im off topic,but I would just like to make one more point. My main concern is what happens in the pups life between 6 and 16 weeks. I let my shep.s play some time too, my house dogs,an English Bulldog and a Border collie are inseperable. So see Im not an evil dictator,with retarded dogs or a resentful girlfriend. Back to the topic I say start them on food as soon as theyll eat it and take them away from the mother when she shows signs of having enough of them,6 weeks at the latest. Man the disc. board is addictive,glad Im self employed.

I start giving my pups chicken wings to pull on and gnaw on at about 3 weeks.. usually they really get into it at closer to 4 weeks.. I leave Mom in until she doesn't really want to feed them any more... and then I give her her own time.. but put her back in with the kids at night.. my litter now is 6 weeks old... Mom is in and out of thier area... they all take walks with her.. sleep with her..play with her.. but she won't let them nurse anymore.. I do want them to know how to "read" dog language.. I think it is important.