Puppies

I've seen a few post of puppies younger than 8 weeks so my question is , arent puppies meant to stay with their mum up untill 8-10 weeks and 12 weeks for smaller breeds ??. to insure the puppy is mentally and physically healthy enough to go to new home. Only in situations where the mother can no longer care for the puppies or the mothers or puppies health is at risk should they be taken away before this time. Every1 to their own opinion

8-12 weeks is recommended - but that's not always the way life rolls - I had Taz at 6 weeks - and have no problems whatsoever.

8 weeks is best but I prefer at least 12. The time with their mom and litter mates help them to be more socialized IMO.

agree with J, but we had billy from 7 weeks

jstaff wrote:8 weeks is best but I prefer at least 12. The time with their mom and litter mates help them to be more socialized IMO.

Agree in an ideal world, but sometimes it can't be helped, and in the majority of cases going younger doesn't cause any harm.

I had vinnie at 11weeks and i had skye at 7 (but having skye at 7 was a good thing, she was a mess thanks to the idiot who owned her mom )

AS janey said above sometimes it cant be helped, in some cases mom can turn against the pups and not let them feed, sometimes moms milk can dry up and again the pups cant feed etc etc .. however some breeders will hand feed them etc so they can still be around each other untill the correct age etc.

i got my old dog appollo when he was 4 weeks old as the mother wasnt feeding the pups and they were usung puppys like footballs didnt do him any harm he lived to be 18 and half and was only one of litter to survive after 6 months

Eight weeks or older is best but sometimes it can't be helped. Romeo was almost 10 weeks when I got him.

xTitans-mummyx wrote:I've seen a few post of puppies younger than 8 weeks so my question is , arent puppies meant to stay with their mum up untill 8-10 weeks and 12 weeks for smaller breeds ??. to insure the puppy is mentally and physically healthy enough to go to new home. Only in situations where the mother can no longer care for the puppies or the mothers or puppies health is at risk should they be taken away before this time. Every1 to their own opinion

I totally agree except one thing Only in situations where the mother can no longer care for the puppies or the mothers or puppies health is at risk should they be taken away before this time
Even then i think all the siblins should be left together to learn, and develope physically and mentally.

jstaff wrote:8 weeks is best but I prefer at least 12. The time with their mom and litter mates help them to be more socialized IMO.

I agree - I wouldn't recommend early release from mum if it can be avoided - I did compensate by socialising her extensively with friends dogs after her injections - as the litter had already been split up and mom had lost interest - with very soar nipples

MissRogue wrote: Only in situations where the mother can no longer care for the puppies or the mothers or puppies health is at risk should they be taken away before this time
Even then i think all the siblins should be left together to learn, and develope physically and mentally.

I think that's the thing. The siblings should still be together so that they can learn from each other. By 6 weeks the pups are hardly relying on their mum anyway, but they do need their siblings.

Breeders who say "The mum has rejected them" are often (not always) saying that so that they can get rid of the pups before they need to spend money on them with dog food (the mum's no longer feeding them), worming etc. I have always been happy enough for a pup to leave after it has turned 7 weeks, but never before. There is rarely a good reason for it (unles sof course the pups are being ill treated).

I agree with jstaff and Caryll

We got Violet at 8 weeks, although the breeder (I always feel strange calling her a breeder, because she wasn't a breeder, as such, just someone who's dogs had puppies) didn't put a set date on when we could pick her up, but said she wouldn't let them go until she was sure they were eating and drinking well, and ready to leave their mum. We wanted to take her home as soon as we saw her at 6 weeks, and spent the two weeks between seeing her and bringing her home nervous that something would go wrong, or they would decide not to give her to us! Turns out, in the two week gap, the breeder had the pups pretty much toilet trained, &every time I hear about people with dogs Violets age who still aren't quite making it outside, the waiting doesn't seem so bad!

some people just dont care about they well being of the dog they are just interested in getting the money as quick as they can. i know some cases are genuine where mum is poorly or she has rejected the pups but those cases are far and few between

_julie_ wrote:some people just dont care about they well being of the dog they are just interested in getting the money as quick as they can. i know some cases are genuine where mum is poorly or she has rejected the pups but those cases are far and few between

As I said, though, even if mum is poorly, the pups should stay with their siblings.

jstaff wrote:8 weeks is best but I prefer at least 12. The time with their mom and litter mates help them to be more socialized IMO.

agree

We had Vlad at 8 weeks. The puppy photo in my avatar is one we were sent of Vlad by the breeders when he was about 5 weeks old. But we didn't pick him up until he was 8 weeks.

Thanks for all the replies x

We got Bruno at 7 weeks and had no problems

xTitans-mummyx wrote:Thanks for all the replies x

no prob we're talkers here ps. like your avatar

When I bred my gsds the pups were 9 weeks before they went to their new homes I just loved having them running around ( wasn't allowed to keep one as we had mum and dad ) I didn't mind the noise the mess and the expense of feeding them
We got Skye at 12 weeks and buster left his mum at 8 weeks although he came to us at aprox 4/5 months

Herman's Human wrote:

xTitans-mummyx wrote:Thanks for all the replies x

no prob we're talkers here ps. like your avatar

yeh this forum is really friendly and intresting lovin it awww thanks xx

the pups we breed leave us at 8 weeks, but if they have to stay a bit longer thats not an issue at all. under 8 weeks they wont be leaving at all, though the law states they can at 7 weeks..

i got Scarlett, at 7 week and 4 days due to my best friend not being able to cope with the 8 (as the litter she had was a complete accident and she has hyper mobility syndrome which does confine her to a wheelchair sometimes!) and now scarletts settled in, and shes doing great she still very excitable but hey arent all puppies

We got Ruby at 6 weeks, first saw her when she was 4. There has been no problem at all, she has had all the love and care that she needs with us. She goes to puppy socialisation classes now to learn the things she didnt learn from her litter mates. The mother of Ruby was in an awful way, the puppies were great and weaned off her anyway, but we knew it was better that she would be with us than stay in that house. There was 9 chunky pups in the litter and the mother just couldnt look after them, and we felt the owners didnt have the time to dedicate the time she would need as she was the runt and smallest of the litter xxx

I would of said at least 8 weeks is young enough to be away from Mum, they need enough time to learn things from her and their siblings, another couple of weeks older would be OK if we are living in an ideal world!!

RubyRed wrote: She goes to puppy socialisation classes now to learn the things she didnt learn from her litter mates. The mother of Ruby was in an awful way, the puppies were great and weaned off her anyway, but we knew it was better that she would be with us than stay in that house. There was 9 chunky pups in the litter and the mother just couldnt look after them, and we felt the owners didnt have the time to dedicate the time she would need as she was the runt and smallest of the litter xxx

But although socialisation is very important, pups learn so much from their sibling in those couple of weeks.

If the breeders didn't have time to look after the pups, then they shouldn't have bred the litter in the first place. I know that sounds harsh, and I don't mean any criticism of you for taking a pup, but it illustrates once again how many people breed a litter without thinking it through properly. Sad.