In my description of my own bottle feeding program, I am speaking of midrange and high content animals. I pull the pups at 12 to 14 days and place them into a three foot by three foot puppy play pen with a grill floor and newspaper lined pans underneath. I cannot understand where the erroneous concept that bottle fed pups are also pulled from their littermates is coming from, my pups live together 24/7 and I know that other owners follow this routine too. Only two of the females that I currently own have been bred. Babe does not seem to mind that the pups leave her at 12 to 14 days, in fact she seems to be relieved that life can return to normal. Mia is upset by the loss of her pups so I compromise with her. In the beginning, I take the pups back outside so that she can watch me feed them once or twice daily and this seems to relieve her mind. I also return the pups to Mia several times a week for a few hours and this does make her quite happy. Mia loves pups, all pups, and will raise pups they do not belong to her, but she is a very strict Mama. However, the pups are not always so happy to visit Mama. By the time the pups had been in the house for two days, they are beginning to walk around on all fours and play with each other and the people that care for them. My socialization routine is first to feed the pups, and secondly to have "play time" until they become tired and fall asleep and I return them to their play pen. I usually leave the pups with Mia for about four hours per visit, but she will not allow them to leave the dog house, so they are very glad to see me when I come to take them back into the house.
Yes, the schedule for bottle feeding a litter of pups is quite demanding. I usually start at 7 a.m. and end around 11 p.m. with at least 5 feedings a day. I normally do not get up during the night unless a puppy is having problems. By the time the pups are three to four weeks old, I start them on formula soaked puppy chow and they still continue to be bottle fed until they wean themselves from the bottle as I feel this is necessary for the bonding process of the midrange and high content wolf dogs. I have had puppies take a bottle until they were eight weeks old. The cost of bottle feeding a litter of 4 to 5 pups is $3.00 to $4.00 per day, so you can see that bottle feeding is an expensive and time-consuming endeavor, but IMO, it is well worth the effort.
I own three animals that were not bottle fed by their breeders. I have not been able to achieve the social bond with these animals that I have with a bottle fed animal, and I have found that bottle fed animals are much easier to socialize and train.