Is seven weeks too early to go to new home? - Page 3

The two I got at 7 weeks were the best two dogs I ever owned interms of bonding with me.  I always ask the breeder to let them go at 7 weeks.

Lyn

High Desert,

All opinions aside, since you are in California and breeding you may want to know that in California the law states you cannot send a puppy home before 8 weeks of age :)

California the law states you cannot send a puppy home before 8 weeks of age :) 
Why am I not surprised......LOL

"(a)(1) Except as otherwise authorized under any other provision of law, it shall be a crime, punishable as specified in subdivision (b), for any person to sell one or more dogs under eight weeks of age, unless, prior to any physical transfer of the dog or dogs from the seller to the purchaser, the dog or dogs are approved for sale, as evidenced by written documentation from a veterinarian licensed to practice in California."

So, they can be sold before 8 weeks as long as a vet approves.

One thing to note, many of these laws pertaining to the age of puppies being sold have more to do with regulating sales than the state having the puppy's interests at heart.

Thanks everyone

I have read that while bonding with humans will not be an issue, leaving too early may lead to problem with social development to deal with other dogs in the future.

Thanks also for the legal tip.

I brought my current girl (now 9mos) home at 7 weeks 2 days. If I didn't get her then it was going to be after 9 weeks and the breeder and I decided to go for the earlier date. She was the only surviving pup in her litter so it wasn't like she was going to miss socialization from littermates, plus we have a houseful of GSDs of various ages that she could be with (supervised of course). She did perfectly well and I must say was one of the easiest pups I've ever had, potty training was a breeze after the first day and she was perfectly happy in her crate next to the bed at night. My big male slept in front of the crate on his bed so she could see him. 
Annette

A serious obedience competitor will almost insist on both testing and taking in their pup at day 49, or as close as possible.  That's when the puppy's brain is as neurologically developed as it needs to be to be independent of its dam, and is a tabula rasa for training.  In the 80s and 90s the top OB competitors in the US almost had a mantra about this.

BUT there are plenty of exceptions.

If the breeder has already separated the pups from their dam AND is pretty much just warehousing them in the kennel, you might want to pass -- or take the pup EARLIER.

If the breeder is a 'gold standard' breeder who knows breeding, the breed, training, and .... loves the pups, too (and I don't mean she just loves the 'business' of bragging about her dogs), what she does with them for another week or two or three could easily be better than what a relatively inexperienced or impatient or full time working person could do with the pup.  A 7 week old pup is going to be much more stressed out by an impatient, unskilled housebreaking master than a 10 wk old pup.  Both can be housebroken by 12-13 weeks in the skilled hands of a person at home, but the 7 week old baby is going to need a lot more love and patience, and an regular Joe may not understand this very well.  If a full time working person takes on any pup under the age of 12 weeks, the pup is going to be stressed out by having to evacuate at the far end of a huge crate, as it is.  7 weeks would make for a month of serious stress.

When I was competing seriously, I felt I noticed a difference between the pups I took in at 49 days, and the pups I took in at 9-10 weeks (my upper limit).  The younger pups took to a few things better and more naturally than the older pups (who sometimes scared me with their independence).  But the 7 weekers all seemed to be a tad more nervous -- for life.  I decided to accept the independence and take in pups a little later, as long as I was sure their breeders loved them attentively from 7-9 weeks.  I now have a HIT boy who arrived at 9 weeks.

All canines need some time with their littermates to learn to control their violence.  When they bite their littermates and their littermates react, they learn how to modulate their bites. Foxes taken from their litters before 5-6 weeks prove unsociable with other foxes.  Dogs taken in the 5-6 week range often become dog fighters.  I assumed the question was: is 7 weeks too early, not too late.

where can I read some info on a dog being removed from its' litter between 5-6 weeks and having a tendency to become dog fighters...never experienced any such phenomenon.