I have read on previous threads that it is a mistake to bring home a new puppy before it is 8 weeks old. I understand the reasoning behind this as these are vital weeks for the puppy to learn from litter mates what correct puppy manners are.

The problem is that very often "breeders" will let people have puppies at say 6 weeks old because the "bitch has lost interest" This happens quite often to people who have had GSD's before as they "know the breed" Surely these are the very people who should know better?

This is happening quite a lot in the U.K. recently - is it money related???

Gwen

It seems like your question went unanswered Gwen.
I have recently been given a female pup at six weeks old, but to be honest from what I saw of the conditions they were living in (sharing one bowl for feeding, no contact with the mother etc) I think that we have done her a favor taking her home with us. I recently posted a thread in which the age of the pup was mentioned and one guy said that it is apparently damaging and that there was a thread somewhere here about that, but so far I can't locate it. Some breeders are just ruthless so giving away pups at that age is no skin off their backs, it's a well known fact that wherever there is money to be made there are people ready and willing to capitalize on it. Hope you have as much fun with your pup as we are with ours.

It's the interaction with other puppies that the dogs are missing. I brought Auster home at 6 weeks because I was 5 hours away from home and we didn't want to have to make a 10 hour trip to pick her up 2 weeks later.

I worked for a vet at the time so she was socalized, but she still doesn't interact with other dogs properly because she never learned from her littermates. She still thinks that everyone wants to play with her all the time. She will chase deer if given the chance not because she sees them as prey, but because she wants to play with them. I'm sure some of this is due to her intelligence (She's a step above a fruit fly according to Deanna <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> ) but it's also due in part to the lack of socialzation with her littermates and other dogs her own age as a puppy.

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I guess I won't know if the same is true for Amber until she gets around other dogs/animals but I can see how that would effect a creature designed for social interaction with its litter mates. Any kid not exposed to a normal amount of socialization with others will grow up to be a tad different (to put it politely) so I suppose there is no difference with pups. I still hold to what I said earlier about our home being a better alternative, at the end of the day if she wasn't spending time with mum and the rest of the litter were on their way to new homes then in the end there wouldn't have been much interaction left for her anyway, (or maybe I'm just trying to convince myself that we haven't traumatized her).

To digress slightly, could you advise me about the length of time I'm to confine her to her crate, she is house broken now (it took two days) and I would like to perhaps have her around me more often, in the living room for instance, but if crate training is integral to her health and balance then obviously I don't want to upset that. Mr Frawley says that after letting the pup out in the morning you should allow them the freedom of the kitchen for a couple of hours, and the same for the afternoon, during preparation of meals etc, so far I have done so and she is happy enough but I haven't got the 8week to 8month tape yet so apart from searching the site for additional info I'm flying blind. Please let me know, nice one <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />