Help! Strange behavior of mom of litter

[Cady]

I am fostering a dog that has 9 puppies born in an animal shelter. I've had mom and pups since they were 3 days old and they're 3 wks today.

I had them settled in a bathroom, but received a nice sized puppy pen last wkend and they're now in my living room. While she nursed nicely at the beginning of the week, Heidi, the mom, only went in the pen once today to nurse. Her milk supply is dwindling, so I've tried to supplement with goat's milk recommended by my vet.

Heidi keeps picking up a puppy and taking it to an armchair where she lays with it. She doesn't encourage it to nurse, it seems she just wants to lay with one pup on the chair. I keep putting it back in the pen as I'm afraid it'll fall --she eventually gets down leaving the pup in the chair. She's probably done this 20 times yesterday and today.

I've tried putting a big basket in the seat but she put the pup inside the basket. I also tried turning the chair sideways and she jumped over the arm with the pup in her mouth.

Does anyone know what's going on?? Thanks in advance for any advice!

Here's the website I made for Heidi and pups:
http://heidiandpups.shutterfly.com/

[BlackthornGSD]

At 3 weeks, it's almost time for them to start eating solid food, although it's a bit early for her milk to be drying up. You could/should start feeding them solid food this week, though.

As far as what mom is doing... it almost sounds like she doesn't like the pen area. Is it much more open than the previous location?

[Cady]

Maybe that's it --the pen is too big. I tried to make it long and narrow so she could just go to one end of it, similar to the bathroom shape.

Sometimes I think she's just wishful thinking, wishing she only had one puppy instead of 9.

I'll try to make the pen smaller to see if that makes a difference.

[BlackthornGSD]

I was thinking more about openness, not having a den-like quality, rather than space. Also, maybe the chair is more comfy than the pen.