NOOK/ANNA 96 Posted August 18, 2009 Report Share Posted August 18, 2009 (edited) What would be the earliest age a pup should be seperated from the litter and dam? My new pup i bought is 5weeks old and the dam has stopped producing milk. So how long should i wait to bring her home? Is there a set age? Edited August 18, 2009 by NOOK/ANNA Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jac 12 Posted August 18, 2009 Report Share Posted August 18, 2009 (edited) Yes 8 to 12 weeks most at 8 weeks. the pup learns some vital lessons from mum in the first 8 weeks. And research has shown that a pup who leaves its mum before this age can suffer from behavior problems and be harder to train. Edited August 18, 2009 by jac Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skycat 6,174 Posted August 18, 2009 Report Share Posted August 18, 2009 6 to 8 weeks for me. Pups settle in better into a new environment before they reach 8 weeks. After 8 weeks they start to view the outside world with more fear than curiousity. Obviously if you are out at work all day this is not a sensible thing to do, but then again, I wouldn't want a pup of mine to go to any home where it is going to be left for 8 hours a day with no supervision, alone or with another dog. Pups do learn a lot from their dams, but many bitches won't stay more than a few moments with pups once they are past 5 or 6 weeks, and its down to the breeder to put the time in socialising etc. If the pups are simply left in a kennel and see no one bar the breeder when he or she feeds them, then your'e better getting it at 6 weeks old if you can be with it most of the day. That way you can put that vital early socialising into the pup before it reaches the fear stage. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Scallywag 78 Posted August 18, 2009 Report Share Posted August 18, 2009 Seven weeks seems ideal to me, for the reasons skycat mentions. Up to about 6 weeks there are important neurological developments going on that are stimulated by being with the dam/litter mates, so any time after that. Although I do know that some breeders of slow to mature types (say those with lots of deerhound in) prefer to keep the pups longer to take account of this, so it might depend a bit on the breeding, too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bullmastiff 615 Posted August 18, 2009 Report Share Posted August 18, 2009 As above really, I was always told when buying a pup not to get one younger than 7 weeks, although they might of stopped feeding from the Dam, they still need their Dam and litter mates to learn important lessons. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NOOK/ANNA 96 Posted August 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2009 thanks for the advice. Picking the pup up in a few weeks now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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