Is 7 weeks too young?
I'm about to give a deposit to a very reputable breeder (everyone here knows her) and she lets her puppies go at only 7 weeks. Should I be concern? 8 weeks is the recommended age, but everywhere I read they say that 10 weeks is even better. Also, at what age exactly the puppies are they separated from their mom?
Comments
Mirra we brought home at 10-11 weeks old - she's done spectacular (over 6 years old now)
Kitora I think was almost 12 weeks old (maybe even a little older...can't remember exactly) when we brought her home. She's fabulously bonded.
Kunai we brought home at 8 weeks and I would say the bonding is just the same strength as the older weeks.
I think you have some flexibility - 7 weeks I might fudge a little if it's necessary. I personally would never bring a pup home earlier than that though unless something really sad had happened to momma or something like that....
That's been our experience!
I take it show vs. pet quality isn't important in this case?
I really want that puppy, but it's really bad timing. If I wait for the next litter, I don't know how far it will take me.
There is no way to control exactly when a dog goes into heat or the pups are born, and for all I know the breeder's trip was planned for a long time. If the trip was scheduled for when the bitch was pregnant or the puppies were younger than eight weeks, then sure, cancelling it would be the responsible thing to do. But after eight weeks? Its tight but I'm not going to judge.
If this is the pup you want, from the parents you want, I wouldn't give up on it and its entire lifetime with you just because it would arrive 1-3 weeks earlier than ideal. What are 3 weeks compared to 10-15 years with this dog? Who knows if the breeder will do a repeat breeding, or if a future litter has puppies of the right temperament and gender and color? What is to say that the next litter wouldn't also be an inconvenient time?
I understand the worry about socialization, but also consider what will happen to this puppy if the breeder has to scramble at the last minute to find and screen another home for it. A suitable candidate may not present themselves before the breeder's vacation, and then the puppy will be kenneled for two weeks with no socialization at all.
To answer to ttddinh, it's a Shikoku.
I'll go for it then and fuck the snow and the bad weather. I'll work around it and my boss will have to give me that week of vacation!
PS If they are exporting a pup they keep it until 8-weeks because off the export restriction on dogs younger than that. In Japan they can ship a pup on a domestic flight from 45-days.
Let's be clear on something here, the "8 week" rule for breeders is old-hat and based largely on tradition and not on science. Also, it has nothing to do with the pups being taken from their mother.
Each mother weens their pups at a different time, and it even varies from litter to litter (from the same mother). Most of it, from what I can tell, has to do with the size of the litter (or the size of the pups) - in other words, it depends on how much the puppies are taking from the mother. A large litter, the mother will want to ween quicker, a small litter the mother may take longer to ween.
Also, past the 5-6 week mark, pups have learned all they need to from their littermates. Bite inhibition is learned very early. After that point the pups start to learn from other dogs and from their environment.
The risk of placing pups earlier than 8 weeks has more to do with the pup's further socialization with the new owner, than on them being separated from their mother or littermates.
See, if you place pups in homes sooner than 8 weeks you are passing most of the socialization period (6-14 weeks) to the new owner. If the new owner fails to socialize their pup then the puppy will miss their entire socialization window and potentially become an issue later.
This is the only reason I see for keeping pups up to 8 weeks of age - because, as a breeder, I have control over their socialization for the first 2 weeks of their socialization period. And so, even if the owner screws the pooch on socializing their pup after they leave our place, at least we know they had a sold 2 weeks of proper socialization while they were here.
However, if an owner is on top of socialization, with environment and dogs, then I actually think, as Dr. Dunbar points out, the pup will have a better start at life than if they had stayed at the breeders as it's impossible for a breeder to socialize a litter of pups as well as a resourceful well-informed new owner can.
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Thanks Brad, no need for me to worry then. I won't be working much and will have plenty of time to socialize the pup.