Hi trainers, I'm having a dilemma I hope you can offer insight on. I am a foster home for a breed rescue. A few months ago I took in a female who ended up being pregnant. I whelped the litter (even though I have NO experience with puppies) and I have done my best to socialize them to new surfaces, sounds, and situations.

Now the puppies (there are 4 males) are 10 weeks old. Because they are rescues, they need to be neutered before they can go to new homes. They have an appointment for Nov 29 at which time they will be 13 weeks old. After they heal and are ready to go, they will be 14 weeks old. Unfortunately, the people who are adopting these pups live a minimum of 8 hours away from me (long story). So for the most part they will be shipped out.

So my question is: What do I do with these puppies until then?

I know pups are usually placed in homes at age 8 weeks. If they stay with me, I have no way of separating these pups (I also have 3 adult dogs in my home, for a total of seven). I just don't have the physical space or time needed to take 7 dogs out, one at a time. So, if they stay with me until age 14 weeks, they will have to be kept in with their littermates. They will receive human interaction but NOT 1-on-1 time with humans.

The other option is I am trying to find a temporary home for 2 or 3 of the puppies. This would allow them to be given more socialization and one on one with humans. The downside is they will be uprooted from my home, then uprooted a second time when they are sent to their adopters. The other downside is I won't have much control over the quality of socialization the pups will receive while they are with their temporary families. What I mean by this is the temporary homes will obviously need to start things like discipline and housetraining, and I just can't have much control over HOW they do this.

At this time I honestly cannot decide which option is the best one. I have put a lot of time and money into this litter to try and assure the best temperaments possible. So far they are very confident and outgoing and have lots of drive.

Yes I have talked to the breed rescue about this, they are pretty much neutral either way, but I want what's best for the pups.

I really need the input of someone experienced with raising litters.

Thanks in advance