Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 7:29 pm Post subject: Do NOT bring pups home at 5-6 weeks old.
We seem to be having an increasing amount of posters buying pups and bringing them home at 6 weeks old, or younger and this is a very worrying trend.
Despite the fact the pups have been fully weaned, they really do need to stay with their litter mates until they are at least 7 weeks old, preferably 8 weeks if the pup is to go to a home without other dogs in it. I realise a lot of people will think "well it's only a week or two" but in such a young and rapidly developing life, they can learn SO much in that time from their brothers and sisters.....Valuable lessons, you can't possibly replicate at home on your own.
There are very few excuses I would accept from a breeder wanting their pups to leave that early, VERY few. Other than those few legitimate excuses, the only reason breeders want pups out so young is because they are hard work, expensive to feed and because they can't be bothered with them anymore. You then have to ask yourself, if the breeder wants shot of them so early, which will be to their detriment, what other short cuts have they made, which could impact that pup's whole life.
So if a breeder wants you to take a pup at 6 weeks old or younger, without a really good, plausible excuse, do yourself a favour, walk away and don't give your money to someone who simply doesn't care about the health and welfare of the dogs they produce.
Last edited by _Jules_ on Thu Sep 16, 2010 7:43 pm; edited 1 time in total
Perhaps change that to .... DO NOT take puppys home at 5-6 weeks Jules! Would hate people to think this is a thread about what to do to/if you get your puppy home at 5-6 weeks!!!
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Perhaps change that to .... DO NOT take puppys home at 5-6 weeks Jules! Would hate people to think this is a thread about what to do to/if you get your puppy home at 5-6 weeks!!!
Good post Jules - I think it should be made a sticky (if it isn't already) and I will also add something to Lab Health.
You are right, it does seem to be happening more recently, and it does beg the question why so much more so all of a sudden
I will allow my pups to go between around 7 and 8 weeks on the OWNERS request if I am happy that they are aware of the possible extra work involved and / or have other dogs. Having said that - only 2 have actually gone before 8 weeks, in fact my more common age for leaving being cloer to 9 weeks (and a couple even longer for various reasons).
Only once I've refused to keep a pup for the duration of the new owners request - (I wanted them to pick her up at 9 weeks) - and the only reason I did this was because they had a young daughter who was relatively apprehensive around older unknown dogs and I felt it would be prudent for puppy to go at the first sensible opportunity - and it worked fine
Breeders who let the pups go at 5/6 weeks without a very valid reason should be ashamed.
I have a litter of 12 here, they are 7 weeks tomorrow and I am letting 3 go this weekend, to experienced homes who have dogs. The others are staying until 8/9 weeks. They are an absolute delight to have and I am cherishing them.
They are blooming hard word, they eat loads, stink your house out and I can see that some people get them gone as soon as they can as they just can't be bothered to finish the job THEY started.
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In my pre-LF utterly clueless days when I bought Poppy we were told we could take her home at 7 1/2 weeks and I thought THAT sounded really young! (I did some research and found that this was deemed ok so went ahead with it - obviously!)
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