5 Week old pups.

I must say, i'm so sad to hear about so many WAY TOO young pups being taken from their mothers and siblings. I know in some cases, there is no choice, but in general.... it makes me angry.
The most recent cause for my anger is that my cousin, how just got an Amstaff pup, now HAS the staffyXAmerican bull dog pup....and its only 5 weeks old!
As far as i know there was NO reason they needed to take it that young!
So far, the reason that i believe that they are using to justify taking it so young is that the owner of the mother and pups was heading back to their home town with the dog family. Its 3 hours away from my cousin, and i simply think they didnt want to drive all the way there and back to pick the baby up when he was really read.
I'm so angry at them!
So now they have a 5 week old, a 12 week old and a 5 year old dogs.... DAF***?
My cousin is a nice person, but she is also very bull headed and her Rottie, the 5 year old is NOT the most friendly of dogs. dont get me wrong, he does like many people... but i would never trust him with strangers or other strangers dogs.... he has bitten me before and he will often stalk or corner people, and now... with him and 2 babies...one WAY under aged....
AHHHHHARGA!

5 weeks is too young to be away from the mother and siblings. The puppies learn so much from them and missing out on what is such an important time just makes training later so much more difficult.

I would have left them all together and made the trip later, at least 3-4 weeks later.

That's so sad, and so wrong on many levels.

Tut tut tut 5 wks is way to young. In-fact at that age they have only just been weaned onto solids and will still be sneaking a suckle from the milk bar if their Mum allows it.

There is no excuse for it.

When I bred my gsds I felt bad when they went at 8 weeks old
Even if you did have to drive 3 hours it to me would prove you had the pups best interests at heart
They should only leave the mum so young if they were in danger and even then should stay with the litter mates ( only exception I can see if there was only one pup)

I never realised the implications tbh, I love learning new things Xx

How sad poor little pup The sad thing is the poor pup has no choice, just silly people making silly choices

Far FAR too young.
Apart from all the things the pup needs to learn from mum and siblings about simply being a dog, what about nutrition? Shouldn't he still be at the weaning stage? Needing mother's milk? Immune system development? I'm new to Staffy ownership so forgive me if I'm wrong - (and please feel free to educate me).
I'm not so naive not to realise that sometimes early separation is unavoidable, but if it is for purely selfish reasons i.e human convenience, then it is just plain wrong.
This is incredibly sad and disturbing and I dread to think what problems are being stored up training wise in this scenario.

It is really sad. Although you think your cousing didn't want to take the drive to fetch the pup at a later stage, it is also the fault of the "breeder". He should know better, but IGNORANCE REIGNS SUPREME.
The breeder of our dogs lives about 450km (285 miles) from us, which is roughly a 4 hour drive. He insisted on the pups staying with him until the age of 10 weeks, and I must say, our dogs are really well adjusted.
We have a friend who also took a 5 week old pup, but really, this was for the benefit of the pup, more for its survival. They were being treated so poorly, the guy they got it from didn't bother with proper food, it was laced with worms, and they guy said he was fed-up with looking after the pups. How rediculous can you get - but its too much of an effore to have the dogs spayed and neutered. Some people should be banned from owning pets, honestly.

Chantel wrote:We have a friend who also took a 5 week old pup, but really, this was for the benefit of the pup, more for its survival. They were being treated so poorly, the guy they got it from didn't bother with proper food, it was laced with worms, and they guy said he was fed-up with looking after the pups. How rediculous can you get - but its too much of an effore to have the dogs spayed and neutered. Some people should be banned from owning pets, honestly.

I totally agree!

yeah. the pup, Jax, He was from an unexspected litter, they didnt know the female was carrying. But still.... i feel very ashamed of my cousin for taking him just because they didnt want to drive and the females owner for giving him to them when they already have a pup to take care of. so now they have an intact Rottie male, an intact Amstaff female 12 weeks and now a 5 week old staffxAmerican bull dog....
I would have loved to have left Romeo until he was 10 weeks old. But i was told to come and get him at 8½ weeks as his mother had had enough

Taryn wrote:But i was told to come and get him at 8½ weeks as his mother had had enough

I know a few parents who have said the same thing about their newborns!

first tri wrote:

Taryn wrote:But i was told to come and get him at 8½ weeks as his mother had had enough

I know a few parents who have said the same thing about their newborns!

I'm still saying it about my kids & they're 20 & 18!

Its awful. I dont like it at all. Sometimes yes there are reasons (i myself had to give a pup away at 5 weeks because he was the biggest pup and the other pups barely got a look in and he was eating solids by his own choice by stealing off mum and he could get out of the whelping box and we frequently found him half way down the drive! he was a monster, but he went to a family member so we were able to keep check on him until the day he died) but just because you can't be bothered or want them gone is horrible