@gary987 Not to downplay anything because I have no idea what the dog actually looked like, but it's very common and almost expected for any hair left around the base of the tail, legs, and tummy to be matted after giving birth and weaning puppies. It's why most long-haired dogs end up being completely shaved before welping. Nursing and giving birth gets the bitch REALLY gross. It's kind of expected for them to be a mess until they can get groomed again.
That being said, pups should be kept with the mother until they're around 4-6 weeks. Around that time, they stop benefiting from being with mom and start learning about social cues from their littermates. So even if they were taking the pups away from mom asap, they still should have been with mom an additional 2 or so weeks. Also, I've groomed a few standard poodle bitches right after the pups have weaned and if it's too early and they don't want to be away from their pups yet, it's honestly traumatic for the bitch (and, less importantly, me).
Knowing it's a doodle breeder, it's not only likely, but expected that the breeding is unethical and wrong. There is no such thing as an ethical doodle breeder, unfortunately.
