Hi everyone, I haven't been out here in a long time but would appreciate any advice you can give me.

I currently have 3 adult dogs, both male (2) and female (1). About a month ago, I was contacted by a BYB in my area about 3-2year old females that she wanted to surrender to me. Needless to say I took them in a heartbeat. But while she was dropping one dog off to me, she was telling me about a litter of pups where all but one has passed away. I gave her pup formula, and and a bottle and told her to take the pup from the mom, and to bring me the pup the next day. To my surprise the next day she came with the pup and the mom to the pup. The pup was now 2 weeks old, and still needed to be bottle fed. I did try her with the mom, but mom couldn't care for her. So the point of all this is, now the pup is 6 weeks old and a gem of a little girl. We have been thinking about keeping her, but I want to do what is best for her. I already have the 3 that I own, so keeping her would really be no problem, but is this the best thing for her? I would be happy to post pictures of our little Gabby, we are very proud of her, she wasn't supose to live.

I'm a little confused.... why WOULDN'T that be a good thing for her??? A loving home with 3 other playmates? What are the alternatives?

OK I have re-read my question here and now realize just how STUPID that sounds, it would be in her best interest to stay here. I guess my concern was/is will she learn how to be a "Real" dog with a human for a mom. But she should learn this behavior from the older dogs, correct?

I don't know about a 6 week old pup, but at 8 weeks when they go to a new home, it's best to keep them SEPERATED from older dogs, otherwise they get too "doggy" and look to the older dogs for leadership and attention rather than their human owner. For a pet I guess this is OK, but for a working dog it's more critical that ALL FOCUS is on the HANDLER and not on other dogs. But even for a pet that you want to have bond to you, seperation is the way to go.

Like I said, I don't know how a 6 week old differs from an 8 week old and if there's anything a dog should learn from mommy n littermates at 6 weeks of age, and I've heard that taking a pup from their mama at 6 weeks can cause lifelong bonding problems or something like that, but there's a reason for the old rule of "never get 2 pups from the same litter unless you have the time to do everything seperately for each of the pups". i.e. seperate feeding, walks, training, play time etc etc.

A friend of mine made a good comment the other week, he let his new working pup interact with his older dog from day 1, n now when they go anywhere with both dogs n the older dog is out of sight, the working dog is more concerned with where the older dog is than what the handler wants the dog to do.

So if "learning to be a dog" is your concern, I wouldn't worry too much about it (unless someone can give you a reason why 6 weeks is drastically different from 8 weeks, and I'm not doubting that it is different, I just have no experience with that age).

up until 7 weeks, it's ideal for a pup to live with its mother and littermates. the pup gets socialized in ways that help it in its relationships with other dogs the rest of its life. it learns how to speak dog, in other words. this is very helpful for preventing future dog-dog interaction problems.

however, your pup didn't have any littermates, so moot point there. if the pup is being mothered by the bitch, all well and good. if it is being socialized with your other adult dogs, all well and good.

imo, the ideal time, developmentally, for a puppy to leave the canine social whirl and enter into an exclusive bond with a human is age 7 weeks. so let the pup be with its mother and the other dogs for another week, and then take him into your exclusive domain after that.

still socialize him with other dogs, but keep him primarily bonded with you. one good way to do that is to leash him to your waist and have him go everywhere with you around the house.

"Quote" imo, the ideal time, developmentally, for a puppy to leave the canine social whirl and enter into an exclusive bond with a human is age 7 weeks. so let the pup be with its mother and the other dogs for another week, and then take him into your exclusive domain after that. "Quote"

I guess this is the part that concerns me, I am this little ones mom, so there is no taking her from the mom. I of course will leash her to me, but I hadn't planned on doing that till she was 12 weeks old, at least that is they way I handled it when I got a 12 week old pup. The pup goes everywhere with me. I work for a vet, so she can go there with me. I do not let her interact with the dogs at the clinic, to concerned about what she could pick up there, but she is around me and other people most of the time.

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but I hadn't planned on doing that till she was 12 weeks old, at least that is they way I handled it when I got a 12 week old pup.

If you're all the pup has got, don't wait till 12 weeks, start immediately, there's no reason not to.

If I understand the 6 wk versus 8 wk controversy, some say 6 is better because it's best to have the pup in the new environment before the "period of fear and avoidance", which supposedly occurs for 3-5 days between 8-11 weeks. So it maybe
alot of hooey, and merely moving from Mom and littermates is traumatic or stressfull enough to cause a loss of bearing for a few days, who knows?
Then there's others who figure after 3 weeks, they got all the brains they need to survive, with litter or not. I've only had one pup @ 10 wks and the other 2 @ 8 wks, so couldn't say. This one is lucky to be where she is, no matter how it works out!

It sounds like you mean "fear periods", I dont believe in them though, I know theres alot of people on the board who believe it, and alot who dont, but I find it hard to grasp the concept that every pup has a designated time in their life where it just so happens to be succeptable to developing fears, it makes no sense to me. I think any major change in a pups life at any time can have an effect on them regardless of wether they are in a fear period or not. A change can be as simple as a guest that stays with you for a month suddenly leaving, anything that a pup accepts as their daily life that suddenly changes can affect a pups attitude for a few days.

i got my once-in-a-lifetime dog when he was only 5 weeks old and he was solid as a rock for the next 11+ years. i'll never have a dog like that one again. my current one i got when he was 12 weeks and he has been the least solid, nerve-wise, of my dogs.

there are no absolute rules, just rules of thumb. much has to do with the situation the pup is in while it is with its mother/littermates, too. in this particular case, there is nothing to lose by beginning the pet/owner bond asap.