5 week old puppies sold?

I am not sure really where I am suppost to put this, but how young are puppies suppose to be taken away from their mothers?

10 weeks is great..but nobody wants to work that long..8 is a must..6 is sad, and pity the poor 5 week old babies that should still be drinking up their Mother's milk and having her love as well as training plus the comfort of their litter mates to roll and chew on and sleep with.

Thats what I though, but this girl was writing about how she got a puppy a few days ago that just turned 6 weeks old today. Can you give me the reasons why the puppies shouldn't have been sold that early so I can show her?

Oh she said she got them from a newspaper ad, which isn't a good sign in the first place, and that "they were eating good and doing GREAT.Doesnt even cry or anything."

So sad!!! Weaning doesn't start until 4 to 5 weeks. They need interaction with their Mom and litter mates etc etc. Late in the 7th week is O.K. ..8th week is the "fear week" so if they have a bad experience during this time it can really stay with them. 9 to 10th is great ! but for the new owners ! Most want them when younger. I wish her well. Tell her to get the book "How to Raise a Puppy you can Live With"...excellent.

OK I will, Thanks

the longer a puppy nurses the healthier it is. they receive great antibodies from Mom that help protect them from this big bad world until they are stronger and bigger. They have emotional needs that are just as important as their health. As wonderful as us humans are..we cannot take the place of litter mates and mom. We get mad at them for biting us too hard and wanting to play in thier most natural way. They would be doing exactly that with their littermates and Mom would teach them what biting is too hard. They cannot hold their urine for very long..yet we expect them to come into our home and hold it until we take them out. It simply isn't fair to the pup and i won't even get started on Mom. At our kennels the mom was always allowed to keep one for about 6 months while it was trained out as a starter dog. I appricaited the fact that my boss understood about Mom's needs too.

The two main reasons are behavior and immunity

staying longer with the litter allows the puppy to learn ranking order and social skills and experience corrections from the mother. It is also pliable to bond to humans rather than dogs.

If the pup is taken away early, it hasn't yet learned how to interact with other dogs and may respond aggressively in the future to the presence of other dogs...also, bite inhibition is usually taught through littermates...biting, wrestling, playing..etc..if you take the pup away from the litter too early, it won't learn all of this...and trust me, it causes problems..I know from experience...I own a puppy mill dog that has been taken away from its litter mates at an early age...not a good thing...

Also, the pup hasn't learned how to respect corrections and a lower rank from its mother...this will also most likely cause dominance problems in the future..again, NOT a good thing..and something I'm also having problems with...

again, I DO own a puppy mill dog...they're ALL taken away from their mothers too early
unfortunately..I wasn't educated about puppy mills back then and when I was a kid my parents bought me the dog from a pet shop...thankfully I was the first to find out and educate myself on all the junk that happens "behind the scenes" and informed my parents..now we solely rescue!..however, my chihuahua is currently 8 years old and has alot of mental and behavioral problems that are very very difficult to control at times...all more than likely due to the very reason we're talking in this thread...but anyways...

If I were you, I would strongly try to convince your friend that she should return the dog to the so called "breeder"...I would rather label them a backyard breeder...
if she returns the dog, it will let the breeder know that people aren't completely uneducated about the situation, and she should furthermore give the breeder alot of heck ....on MY behalf lol...

Let her know that its best not to support people like that...if nobody bought from these buttheads, there wouldn't be backyard breeders or puppy mills.....and a heck of alot of unwanted animals

good luck..and please let us know what happened!

Well, one reason is they learn a lot about how they are supposed to behave from the mothers in those last crucial weeks. Typically a puppy that is taken away from it's mother too early will be more prone to teething on people, or things, a.k.a. biting. I don't mean biting like viciously biting to hurt someone, thought their biting can hurt. I just mean they will bite you when playing. The mother dog teaches them not to do that so much in those last weekes by gently but firmly biting them so they know that it hurts and not to do it.

Another reason they are not supposed to be let go before 8 weeks is for health reasons. There are so many things that are so cruical to a puppies health and behavior in those last few weeks that a mother dog needs to be there to teach and nurture. No REPUTABLE breeder would allow their puppies to leave before the eight week period. None. Now people who have had their dogs get pregnant accidentally would not know any of this. But those people are ignorant anyway.

Letting them go that early can cause health and behavior problems.

Thanks for all the information. I printed this out and am gonna show it to her tomorrow. She really doesn't mean any harm, she just doesn't know better. I will tell her all this and I am sure she is gonna be regretful about not knowing and try her hardest to set things right.

Everyone else has answered this thread very eloquently so I've nothing to add other than to wish your friend luck!!

I got Amy at six weeks old from people who were moving and just _couldn't_ keep her. (One of her sisters had to go to a Shelter.) They lied and told me she was nine weeks. I had a friend who knew them and explained the situation to me later. I was kinda P-O'ed but there was nothing I could do about it.

You're right about immunity and biting. About the biting part, I was fortunate to have friends and neighbors with adult dogs to teach her about biting. Else, she would have been practicing on me! Nothing I can do about the immunity part though. She seems to be doing okay.

I'm not surprised that you can get a five week old puppy. I remember working at the pet store and we would get little Shih Tzus with NO teeth.

Im glad I didnt know all of this when I got Bluedawg at 6 weeks, he was 5 weeks when the ad was posted. I learned really quickly about all the problems mentioned above. Its a good thing he and I learned quick.

He did have his accidents, alot of them because my roommates wouldnt let him out as often as he needed. Other times because he headed to the door without giving any warning. THose instances where primarily of the #1 variety, the #2 happened with playing with the roommates dog, then there was also the puppy see puppy do aspect. First few weeks of getting up every 2 hours was worth it, this was when he learned to wake me up to go outside.

All of the negatives brought up here are true and I cant think of any positives to getting a pup that young. I consider my self lucky with Bluedawg, and its been alot of work.

What pitbulliest said about not respecting corrections is true and you have to teach the dog and teaching the dog who is the alpha as fast as posible is key, one of the first things I learned. I also learned I have a smart stubborn dog but he knows he is not the alpha.

The roommates dog has been great for the biting thing and I think some other things but the biting thing is the major thing.

He has a couple of issues I have not been good on working on though and thats my fault. He wasnt dog socialised because of his situation and was bullied by a spoiled pom. He is also very submisive to young children, he is very people friendly perhaps overly just not to small children, working hard on the no jumping thing.

I know all this was allready coverred I thought Ild chime in with another first hand experience.

Thanks for all your advice and experiences. I showed them to my friend and she was shocked. I guess she really didn't know. Well she has agreed to work really hard with her new puppy and thinks she can commit to helping it. She has the mondy to get a trainer if she needs it and is going to take it to as many obedience classes as she can, when it's old enough of course.
I couldn't convince her to return it as she is already really attached to it and doesn't want it getting sold to someone that wouldn't give it as good a home as she would.
So I am gonna try and help her with a few things. She can't bring it to my house because of the Parvo thing and I don't want the puppy to get it so I have been going to her house to try and help her out. I think Chloe would be really good with the puppy and teach it alot, but again the Parvo incedent is holding me back. I don't think they will get to play to gether for another 6 or 7 months. (I think that's how long the parvo can stay around?)
Other than that, she is off to a good start. She is thinking of joining our site and I told her how to do the NILIF thing.

This is really nothing.

Before when I was looking for a dog I found 4 week old puppies and 5 week old puppies for sale A LOT. Mostly in the paper.

I got Rocky at six weeks old which I don't think is bad. Got him from a reputable breeder too.

They're all people who know nothing about dogs who're selling them after breeding their neighbors pit bull with theirs.

I almost got one of these so-called breeders but I started doing research prepping for my new dog, whatever it would be.

And almost every article I read could not stress enough how absolutely IMPORTANT it was to get from a GOOD breeder.

So I realized, obviously, a 4-week old puppy coming from someone who posts in the paper to sell a dog is not reputable, at all!

So I went to the vets office and asked about GSD breeders in the area (even though I traveled an hour and a half for Rocky ). One person they gave us didn't even have a phone number so we went with the other who is supposed to be pretty famous for his GSD's.

So, that's how I got Rocky. At six weeks old and besides some nipping problems, I really don't see any harm.

I wouldn't return it if she is attached to it. Every lesson is a lesson learned. Love is love and I am glad that the puppy has someone who loves it so very much.