Do any of you see any problems with a one puppy litter? There are other dogs around but no litter mates.

How old is the pup? Is it not possible that his siblings have already been sold?

No, the pup is only 4 weeks old. No other pups were sold.

There are developmental stages the puppies go thru learning from each other. I have never had a litter of just one, but a friend of mine did. The one thing that I could say the puppy didn't learn was bite inhibition. OUCH! Other than that I didn't see anything other than a really crazy pup that had learned to entertain himself.

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Other than that I didn't see anything other than a really crazy pup that had learned to entertain himself.

That's what I have seen out of several one pup litters, exactly.

I have a one-puppy litter right now, she is 6 weeks old. I do have other puppies that are 11 weeks old, so she was too small to socialize with them until this week. I am always worried about proper socialization of a one-pup litter, and have had bad results in the past with another pup that did not turn out very well (aggressive, bad nerves). But this little girl is a pistol - completely sure of herself, VERY social with people as that is where she has received most of her attention - entertains herself and plays with her mother like a big dog. Seeing that, I let her play with the 3 older (11 week) puppies this week and she has no problem standing up for herself and not allowing herself to be dominated. She is about 1/2 their size, and so she does get knocked around a little, but she jumps right back at 'em and gives them hell if they try to get her down. So I allow this playtime, under supervision of course - because it is now giving her the kind of litter-mate play/fight interactions that she was lacking before. I think she is going to be a really cool dog - I wish there were a few more pups like this in the litter!

molly

Bad nerves is genetic, not due to a one puppy litter. The aggression is attatched to the nerve thingy.

could have been, you're right. But, the one-puppy thing didn't help that pup at all - he did not receive proper socialization with the litter, and that is very important in molding the temperament of the dog. I blame that more than genetics, but do agree that the pup probably wouldn't have been outstanding regardless.

molly

I am not sure how much environment affects temperament. I know it does, but the nervy aggro thing....my bet is genetics. I have seen dogs with good genetics come thru really crappy beginings, and lives for that matter with flying colors. I guess I need about 100 more years before I can confidently say much. Remember, I am fairly stupid for the most part <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I am sure environment affects temperament quite a bit. I am quite sure this particular nervey/aggressive pup would have turned out differently had he been born into a litter where he would have learned proper social skills, being raised in a litter is very important, this is why it is important for puppies to stay with the litter until 8 weeks. However I agree this puppy probably would not have been 100% different in temperament had he been with a litter, due to genetics.

molly