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Comment by Monica, Orion, and Laika on May 6, 2010 at 12:10am

Also once my pup gets home he'll have my brother's australian shepherd puppy to spend LOTS of time with. Not exactly a replacement for his littermates but I feel like that will help with socialization

Comment by Monica, Orion, and Laika on May 6, 2010 at 12:08am

Thank you so much for the information, I'm definitely very new to the dog world. I think the dog breeding is kind of a recreational on-the-side type of thing for her. I think she only has litter every once and a while and she doesn't have a website or anything. I was trying to find a dog I could get mid may so I had all summer before I'd have to go back to school and leave him alone (although it won't be longer than about 3-4 hours a day at the most) and it seemed like for every breeder in Texas all the pups that would be 8 weeks mid-May were purchased before the mom had even given birth until I found this breeder. She sends me lots of pictures and in talking to her she seems informed and responsible so I guess I overlooked the seven-weeks thing. I'm used to bottle feeding kittens without their mom and having them turn out fine, haha. He definitely will still have siblings there because another one of the pups is going to someone from San Antonio who also can't pick him up until around when I can, and one of the pups has not been adopted yet so he'll be there for sure too. I'm not so sure about the other three in the litter though :/ I guess I'm used to kittens raised without a mother or siblings who turn out fine except for the usual inability to cover after they go to the bathroom

Comment by Joanna Kimball on May 5, 2010 at 7:11pm

I'm more concerned about the type of breeder who would let puppies go early. Yes, you'd be picking him up later, but what kind of developmental stuff, what kind of socialization efforts, what kind of knowledgeable work has the breeder done? And will your puppy be with his whole litter until he is nine weeks, or will be be all alone (which is not at all the same thing)?

Ian Dunbar has a bunch of great articles, especially http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/when-get-puppy
and http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/how-select-good-breeder

Comment by Monica, Orion, and Laika on May 5, 2010 at 6:54pm

I had wondered about that. The puppies turned seven weeks old yesterday and I had contemplated picking him up next tuesday (when he'd be exactly 8 weeks old) but it just wouldn't be smart to bring him home when I have a million tests to study for and can't give him attention. She originally said the dogs could go home at 8 weeks but then she said they were doing so well they could come home at 7? I wondered about it but I know know a lot about dog development. I've always had cats in the house and I work for an animal welfare group fostering kittens. But I'm picking him almost at 9 weeks so I think that's okay

Comment by Joanna Kimball on May 5, 2010 at 4:43pm

I am thrilled that you're so happy, but doesn't that mean that your breeder is trying to get the puppies out the door at six weeks old? That's a pretty major red flag as far as I'm concerned; the PWCCA absolutely MANDATES ten weeks, which I think is overkill, but if I were a PWCCA breeder I'd have to abide by that. Even if I were not a club member there's a pretty well established rule that says not before eight weeks. The period between six and eight weeks is when the puppy learns to be a dog, and it's critical that they be in a litter situation (the whole litter is intact and being socialized as a group) during that time. I know you're pre-vet, are you sure you're comfortable with this?